Date: December 22, 2006
Funday editor Dave Coombs meets four members of the vocal group Libera -- Liam, Josh, Tom and Ben -- who tell us about singing, sushi and being famous in Japan.
Funday: How and when did you each join Libera?Ben: I joined in January, right after my birthday. It was like an audition. I did a bit of singing, and they told me I had got in right away.
Liam: I joined a couple of years ago, I had an audition where I had to sing a hymn. I had done quite a few auditions before, so I wasn't very nervous.
Josh: My cousin Sam was in Libera first, and he told me what it was like. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't done many auditions before. I had to sing Away in a Manger and it went well, I think.
Tom: I didn't know anybody in the choir, my music teacher told me about it. I didn't think it sounded like a good idea at first, though, because nobody in my school did any singing. Once I got there I really enjoyed it. I was quite small, it was about five years ago when I was seven. Because I was young, they didn't take me straight away. They made me wait for two weeks.
Funday editor Dave Coombs meets four members of the vocal group Libera -- Liam, Josh, Tom and Ben -- who tell us about singing, sushi and being famous in Japan.
Funday: How and when did you each join Libera?Ben: I joined in January, right after my birthday. It was like an audition. I did a bit of singing, and they told me I had got in right away.
Liam: I joined a couple of years ago, I had an audition where I had to sing a hymn. I had done quite a few auditions before, so I wasn't very nervous.
Josh: My cousin Sam was in Libera first, and he told me what it was like. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't done many auditions before. I had to sing Away in a Manger and it went well, I think.
Tom: I didn't know anybody in the choir, my music teacher told me about it. I didn't think it sounded like a good idea at first, though, because nobody in my school did any singing. Once I got there I really enjoyed it. I was quite small, it was about five years ago when I was seven. Because I was young, they didn't take me straight away. They made me wait for two weeks.
Funday: How many boys are in the group?
Tom: It changes over time, because people leave and people join.
Liam: When your voice breaks, you don't get chucked out. You can join the men's choir. They sing with us on Sundays, although they don't go abroad with us when we sing in other countries.
Funday: What did you make of Libera once you joined and started rehearsing?
Josh: There was quite a happy environment, when I got there. Everybody was really friendly and I got settled in quite quickly. Because everybody joining is quite young, it's laid back and there isn't a lot of pressure on you. The older boys wait for the younger ones.
Funday: Is it easy to help the new younger boys now that you're used to it?
Liam: No. I know I shouldn't get frustrated when smaller boys can't get the note right, but I can't help it. But we all support each other, and it really helps.
Funday: How easy was it to learn to read music and sing together?
Josh: It's quite easy, but you have to be interested in it and want to do it, otherwise you don't really get anywhere. People say it really helps to sing if you can read music.
Tom: I found it quite hard to learn music, it took quite a while. But I was young at the time so I got distracted easily.
Funday: Do you sing regularly in a church?
Liam: No, we're don't call ourselves a church choir, we're more like a vocal group.
Tom: We're like a boyband, but a real boyband.
Funday: How much rehearsal do you do?
Josh: It's a big amoung of commitment. It's Monday nights, Friday nights and Sundays too, in the morning and the afternoon.
Funday: What's it like being a group with all different ages?
Tom: We all mix together, it's not like the 14-year-olds and the 7-year-olds split up when we play games. We all have fun together.
Funday: Do you feel like you miss out on things by rehearsing so much?
Liam: No because it's our hobby, so I'd rather do it than play football.
Josh: And it doesn't mean we can't do other things, anyway. Some people think it's not cool to be in a choir.
Tom: But it's really good fun.
Funday: Where have you been with the group?
Josh: We've been to Japan three times, and South Korea which was quite mad. We sang in lots of different places and we went sightseeing too. We went to Disneyland Tokyo, which was amazing.
Tom: Our first two visits were concert performances, and our last visit was promotion. So we did lots of interviews. Some of us have also been to Holland and we want to go to Germany.
Funday: What was it like being interviewed in Japan?
Tom: It's really weird because you have to have a translator. And you try to make yourself funny but it gets lost in the translation.
Liam: And sometimes you try to be funny and they don't understand, which is really embarrassing. You just want to shrink into the corner.
Funday: What did you eat in Japan?
Josh: I loved the sushi. And we had these noodles in octopus oil, which I really liked. It tasted like fish and chips.
Tom: I would have run for miles for fish and chips, I didn't like sushi.
Liam: I liked the pancakes we had at breakfast, they were fantastic.
Funday: How famous are you in Japan and South Korea?
Liam: Here, nobody really knows us, but in other countries we are famous.
Tom: In Japan, people stop us in the street.
Josh: It feels pretty cool, and in Japan the fans are really polite.
Tom: They say things we don't understand and then give us a pen to do an autograph.
Funday: How does it feel that people so far away know you and your singing?
Liam: I just felt like we were the coolest people in town.
Tom: And they had ringtones of our music, which was pretty good. I was like: "wow" when I heard that.
Hear Libera for yourself. Their new album, Angel Voices, is out now
