JLS are set for a full UK arena tour. Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes, Jonathan “JB” Gill and Oritse Williams have secured three No 1 singles and a No 1 album since coming second in the X Factor in 2008. SCENE SOUTH finds out the latest on the boys… Aston: We’re eating breakfast.

AND WHAT’S IN A JLS BREAKFAST?

Aston: Porridge, fruit, Lucozade. All very healthy.

ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE CHANCES WITH YOUR MUSIC?

Oritse: It’s about developing the sound. The JLS sound will always be there, but we want to progress, from our first album to our second.

When Beat Again came out no one knew us, and when Club Is Alive came out no one knew it was us. It’s great knowing that people will get into the music before they know who the band is behind it.

Marvin: No one wants to hear the same thing over and over again though, they want things to sound different and not get bored with an album. We don’t want that!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM OUTTA THIS WORLD?

Marvin: It’s going really well.. We’ve written all the singles apart from The Club Is Alive too, so it’s been a really interesting process for us. We’ve had a lot of fun with the writing.

JB: We’ve written 50 or 60 songs for this album. We don’t mess about, we like to write as many as possible.

YOU’VE BEEN VERY BUSY IN THE STATES PROMOTING THE FIRST ALBUM. ARE PEOPLE THERE TAKING NOTICE?

Marvin: Things have been going really, really well in the US. We’ve actually been all over the US and Canada as well. We’ve spent a lot of time there, doing different things, writing, lots of photoshoots, filmed The Club Is Alive video over there, and promoting Everybody In Love. It’s gone very well, we’ve laid some great foundations.

YOU CAN’T BREAK AMERICA IN ONE GO, YOU HAVE TO CHIP AWAY AT IT. ARE YOU PREPARED FOR A LONG SLOG?

JB: Definitely. When we came out in the UK, we came off the back of X Factor; playing to half the nation each Saturday night. We don’t have that advantage in North America, so we’ve got to start from the bottom and work up. We’re not afraid of the hard work though, we actually like it.

THE CLUB IS ALIVE VIDEO LOOKS LIKE IT WAS A LOT OF FUN TO MAKE – GIRLS, NICE CARS, DANCING – IT’S A HARD LIFE.

JB: Yes, it wasn’t bad! It was choreographed by Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, Marty Kudelka. The whole video is based around Entourage, you know the series? It’s about guys going out and having a good time. Us having a laugh in the video is all genuine though, it really was fun.

ANY MISHAPS?

Oritse: The stage we were dancing on was a spinning stage so you can imagine how hard that was to stay on, doing double time dancing and things.

And in front of lots of beautiful girls too.

That was interesting.

DID YOU EMBARRASS YOURSELVES?

Oritse: Not at all, we kept our cool and stayed on there.

Aston: We made sure the focus was on the girls at that point!

YOU’VE TOURED ALMOST ALL YEAR. HAVE YOU NOTICED IMPROVEMENTS AS YOU’VE BEEN PERFORMING SO MUCH?

Oritse: We’re a very well rehearsed band – we’re perfectionists – and there’s one thing to be talented individuals, but it’s another to be a talented group. We always keep on top of each other too, so if any of us aren’t on it, the others will just say straight away. It’s all to make the best shows possible, and each show has to be better than the previous one.

HAVE YOU SEEN SIMON COWELL LATELY?

Oritse: We have, actually. When we were in America we went to American Idol and saw Simon. Ryan Seacrest interviewed us and we sang for him. Simon said ‘Boys, you’ve improved!’ and we were blown away. It’s amazing to hear people that have known us a while say something like that. It shows we’re on the right path.”

■ JLS play BIC on Monday. Tickets: 0844 576 3000 or visit bic.co.uk.