Belfast-bound JLS talk Brits, touring and cracking America

The band, which features Aston Merrygold, whose family hail from Dunmurry, alongside Marvin Humes, Oritse Williams and Jonathan 'JB' Gill, will be hitting Belfast at the end of the month for a three night stay at the Waterfront Hall; the longest run on their debut tour outside of London.

Taking time out from their tour, band member JB Gill spoke exclusively to the Star this week ahead of their first headlining performance in Northern Ireland and this week's Brit's, where the multi-nominated group have promised they will be delivering a performance the likes of which their fans have never seen before.

Speaking to the Star, JB commented: "The tour is going really well. We've been wanting to do this for a long time so we are taking it in our stride and having fun. We can't wait to come to Belfast, it's going to be good. Belfast has the most nights that we are doing on the tour outside of London so we've had a great response from the people of Northern Ireland."

Looking ahead to Tuesday night's Brit Awards, where the a band is nominated for Best Breakthrough Act, Best Single and Best Group, JB said the guys were feeling "nervous and excited".

"We're slightly nervous but excited as well," he stated. "We're performing on the night and it will be a great night despite what happens. It is absolutely incredible to be nominated for three awards, we are just looking forward to it."

With this being the 30th Anniversary for the Brit Awards, JB is aware that all eyes will be on the awards tomorrow night, with some of the world's biggest stars performing on the night.

"The line up this year is crazy, Jay Z is performing and Cheryl (Cole), obviously we can't wait to be part of the Brits 30th Anniversary celebrations."

The boys are keeping details of their performance on the night top secret, however, rumours of a 'Superhero' theme have been gathering pace. All JB would divulge, however, was that, "it's going to be crazy; you've never seen anything like it from JLS."

International interest in the double MOBO winning band has been growing in recent months, with top record companies in the US said to be fighting for their signitures, whilst their song 'Everybody In Love' is getting plenty of airplay in America right now.

However, JB revealed that JLS is happy to concentrate on giving back to their British fans who have been supporting them since their days on the X Factor.

"There is nothing concrete," JB said of rumours of a US record deal. "Management is in talks but right now we're concentrating on our tour. We really want to stay over here and cater to the people who have supported us since the start."

The band will certainly be seeing plenty of their local fans this year with their three night stay at the Waterfront Hall, which will see Aston's Dunmurry-born family descend on the local area, as well as being the support act for Westlife's concert in Croke Park this summer, where they will perform in front of 85,000 Irish fans, and a date planned at the Odyssey Arena in January 2011.

Speaking about their part in the Westlife gig, JB said: "We performed at the Emirates Stadium last year and that was nuts and there were 75,000 people there so obviously with 10,000 on top of that it's going to be crazy. It's always been a dream of mine to perform to a stadium. The response has been incredible for us so obviously we're pleased to be involved and we're thankful to Westlife for allowing us on the tour. We worked with them on the X Factor so we're looking forward to working with them again and we're excited to get down to planning it."

Sending a message to the band's local fans, JB stated: "I want to give a big, big shout out to all our supporters in Lisburn and Belfast for showing us the craziest love. We've had three nights sell out there on the tour which is incredible and we'll bring something exciting to our fans later this month.

"To those who can't make it this time, hopefully they can come along to the arena tour next year and we'll see you all soon."

• For the full interview with JB, check out this week's Ulster Star.