School's Out

So lads, what were your school uniforms like?
Rich: My school was quite posh, I suppose - we had to wear a blue blazer, white shirt and a maroon tie. Then in the sixth form we had to look smart so I had about four proper designer suits and waistcoats. I guess I went a bit over te top!
J: Mine was pretty standard - black truosers, white or blue shirt and a navy jumper with the school badge sewn on it.
Sean: Just the usual, black and white. The tie was purple, but I ate it. (?!) I chewed the sleeves of my school jumper as well. I still do it - I chew on anything material, plastic or paper, and sometimes I swallow it by mistake. Good job I've got short sleeves today!
Abs: Black trousers, brown shirt, black and red striped tie, black blazer. It wasn't that bad, actually.

Did you take packed lunches?
Rich: No. They really went to town in our canteen - it was really good. Then they introduced curry! The curry counter had chutney, poppadoms, the works, and me and my mates would eat curry every day. Then it started to messing our stomachs up so we had to lay it off!

Did you have a high school sweetheart?
J: I was in a relationship for four years all the way through school, from when I was 14 to 18. She was in the year below me and it's the only time I've been out with someone younger than me!
Sean: Erm... I had one or two. In the first year I had a girlfriend who was older, in the second year I had another girlfriend who was in the year above me, in the third year I went out with someone from another school, and in the fourth and fifth years I went out with girls in the same year as me.
Scott: On and off, but nothing serious, really.
Abs: Nah. I wasn't interested. I just wanted to play Kingball. Have you played it? It's a bit like tennis except you hit the ball with your hands. I thought that was much ore interesting than girls.

What were your fave subjects?
Rich: Drama - I used to love being in plays.
Sean: Music. It was mostly composing and I wasn't allowed to do my style of music - you had to compose classical music. It was pretty good, but I'd rather have done soul music because I've always been into that.
Scott: I wasn't any good at any of the normal subjects. I was alright at art I suppose, but most of the time I didn't try very hard.
Abs: Art because the teacher was so cool. He was this big fat geezer who let you listen to your walkman in the lessons.

And your least favourite?
Rich: Well, I wasn't very good at French. I was in the worst set, but we had such a laugh! The teacher was a genuinely nice man, but so naive! Me and my mate asked to have a picture taken with him once and we're standing on either side of him doing all these signs behind his back. It was a terrible picture - I've got this awful hairstyle and I know it'll surface one day!
Scott: I used to hate maths. Once my hole class convinced our maths teacher we had a free period when it was supposed to be his double maths lesson and ended up down the park playing football with us for two hours! At the end he said 'I'm sure I was supposeed to take for maths this morning. Oh well'!
Abs: I hated Geography. I thought I was really good at it but I kept getting bad marks!

Did you ever cheat in tests?
Rich: Oh yeah! If you were doing a test in class, you'd always sneak a look at the person next to you - everyone does that, don't they?!

Did you have cookery classes?
Sean: I was ment to, but I always ended up washing the pans because I'd forget the apron and that! I remember making ginger biscuits in the first year, though.

Were you suspended?
Rich: I was internally suspended - I had to go in wearing the school tracksuit, and you weren't allowed any free time, you had to do chores instead. The worst I ever did was clean out a pond that hadn't been cleaned in twenty years! There were so many weeds we had to saw them off!
J: Twice in the last year. The first time was really unfair - I was totally picked on by this teacher who'd always had it for me. The second time, my mates were messing with my hair so I ran into the girls' toilets to get away from them. Someone grassed on me to the headmaster and he came in and caught me and I got suspended!
Sean: Yeah, I got suspended a few times. What for? Oh, all sorts - fighting, the usual lad things.
Scott: No, but I got letters and stuff. At the school I went to no one really got suspended, you just got expelled if you were really, really bad. I got a couple of letters saying if I didn't buck up my ideas I'd be out, so I started behaving myself and doing my homework on time.
Abs: Nothing like that, no. I was scared in a way 'cos I didn't show my mum up.

Did you ever have school discos?
Rich: When we were younger we did and there was one in the sixth form that was brilliant. They made it into a proper club with sheets draped all round, reflective things on the walls and podiums and everything. It was really good.
J: Yeah, but I stopped going to them in the third year 'cos I started going into proper clubs!

Did you used to cover your books?
Rich: Well, funnily enough I was a bit of a Pearl Jam fanatic, so I covered my books with pictures of them. Then there was all the, 'I love Emma Wilson' scribling type stuff.
Abs: I used to write stupid stuff on them, a load of rubbish. Usually two big eyes, a stupid hairstyle and a bit of graffiti writing. I always used to get told off for scribling on them and get made to pay 15p for a new exercise book.

What did your school reports say?
Rich: I was always told I could do better, even though I was quite a good pupil!
J: I used to feel physically sick when it was parents' evening. The odd time I came back with a good report it really made me want to work harder as it wasn't worth the hassle, getting into trouble. They'd always write, 'Could do better, would be on top of the class if he gave his mouth a break and stopped trying to entertain people'! I always knew through school that my grades weren't going to be any use to me 'cos I knew I was going to get into music.
Sean: They always used to say, 'He's got the potential to get really good marks but he's lazy, he's not confident and he gives up too easily and starts messing about.' I suppose that's true, really - I could have done the work, I just couldn't be bothered!
Scott: Pretty bad. I didn't go out of my way to cause trouble, I just got into trouble! I'm quite a cheeky person, that's just me, but some of the teachers didn't like it. I was always on special repeot or special special report and I used to hide them from my mum. I used to tell her I was doing sport when I had detention!
Abs: Mine weren't that bad 'cos I always used to pull it off at the last minute. Somehow I managed to get away with it, so I never got into trouble with my mum.

Did you have a crush on any of your teachers?
Rich: Yeah! I liked my art teacher, Mrs. Hat. Every boy fancied her.
J: Everyone had a crush at our English teacher. Once I was messing about and she said, 'Actually, I had a very nice dream about you last night,' and was like, 'So what was it about?' and she said, 'You're a bit too young - come back in a couple of years and I'll tell you!' Man, everyone was so jealous!
Scott: No way! My form teacher was really nice, but I didn't fancy her. She was always telling me off, but she used to find me quite funny! I used to turn up after lunch an hour late and when she asked me where I'd been I'd say, 'I was watching Home And Away at home!' Then I'd tell her what happened and she'd burst out laughing!
Abs: I remember them all being really ugly!

What do your teachers think of you being popstars now?
Rich: All my teachers are really pleased for me - it's nice. One lad who was the brother of someone in my year bought ten copies of Slam and I'd only ever said 30 words to him in my life. Thats brilliant.
J: I haven't heard, but I bet they're all like, 'Oh we always knew he'd make it!'
Abs: I hope Mrs. Kerrigan knows 'cos she always used to think I was a loser...

Back to Interview Page