X-cellent! Interview with boy band District3

Since making it as X Factor finalists, boy band District3 have been in a whirlwind of tabloid headlines and photoshoots. One third of the band, Micky Parsons, made time to talk to Victoria Nangle about Louis Walsh, girls and true mates

Greg, Micky and Dan aka District3 are having a photoshoot and surprisingly they’re still running on time. 18-year-old Micky Parsons is just grabbing a sandwich before having a chat with me and then he’s on the line, the consummate professional. This is what he wants to do. When I ask what he would like for Christmas, as we’re talking the week before the big festival day, he gives it some consideration and then reels off the spec of some complicated sounding piece of music tech.

For all the talk of fabulous hair and being the next One Direction, these three teens love their music first and foremost. You’d think then, having played to millions of people on Saturday night prime time ITV1, he might be forgiven for being a little cocky, an arrogant upstart or just a bit of a twit – but instead what comes across is a modest and very nice young man (who might still enjoy a visit to the odd strip club). Who’d’ve thought that tight harmonies and a stage school education would produce that?

How are rehearsals going?
“We haven’t started the tour yet and rehearsals start next month, but we’ve just been doing our own rehearsal – just us boys, trying to prep ourselves for the tour.”

Have you got your set list yet?
“Not yet, no, but we’re just trying to practise on the songs we know.”

Did you enjoy the whole X Factor experience?
“Yeah, it was really good! It was a little bit stressful. It had its ups and downs and whatnot. But overall the experience was really good.”

What was the best piece of advice you got from Louis Walsh?
“Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse [chuckles]. His famous motto he kept drilling into us.”

You three guys that make up District3 have been together for quite some time now, haven’t you?
“Yeah, we’d been together for a year and a half before we did it [entered The X Factor].”

Do you think that really helped with the pressure of The X Factor?
“Yeah, definitely. Because we were able to, like, be freely speaking to each other – obviously not having to worry about being new with each other and whatnot, and not being able to express what we want to say. It was actually quite good in that respect. And we were quite open with each other.”

I read somewhere that you guys all met at Sylvia Young Theatre School…
“Me and Greg met outside of Sylvia Young’s. I met Greg through a show actually. And then we met Dan through school.”

Do you think your training at Sylvia Young helped you cope with the amount of attention and rehearsing and so forth?
“Yeah, I think it did. They do cabaret and whatnot there, which is quite stressful and high intensity – high pressure, so it’s quite good.”

How incredible is it that you know the person who got the 2012 Christmas Number One [X Factor winner James Arthur]?
[laughs] It’s really strange, to be fair. He deserves it though, he really does deserve it. He’s a good chap and an incredible singer.”

“I’d love it to be ours next year. But I don’t want to, you know, hope too high”

Is the Christmas Number One going to you next year?
“Is it going to ours? I’d love it to be. We’ve just got to work hard… I’d love it to be ours next year. But I don’t want to, you know, hope too high.”

What are your plans for next year?
“Do you mean after the tour? Do you know what? I don’t know yet. We’ll probably get an album together and see what happens from there.”

Do you write your own songs?
“Yep! Yeah we do. We write our own songs, we produce.”

The world’s your oyster…
[laughs] “I dunno… yes, I guess in some sense. Like, we could go out and just take it, take what we want but it’s obviously a lot harder said than done.”

You were quoted as saying that you were going to go out and meet as many ladies as you could. How’s that going?
“It’s alright. That was taken from The Sun wasn’t it?”

Yes.
“Yeah they kind of… that was a little bit twisted, that. But, it’s alright. We’ve seen a few girls here and there.”

What’s a District3 ideal night out?
“We haven’t been out for a couple of months so it’d be a big one. First some drinks at home. I like a Budweiser and the other guys… a Corona… and then out clubbing, snog a few girls [chuckles], a strip club, and then home.”

I think we can provide that in Brighton…
[laughs] “Oh, great.”

What question would the other two thirds of District3 – Dan and Greg – say I should ask you to have a dig?
“‘How long do you spend in the shower, and why do you spend so long in the shower?’”

And what’s the answer?
“I just really love the hot water!”

The X Factor Tour, Tuesday 29–Thursday 31 January 2013, Brighton Centre, £32.50–£110, 0844 847 1515, www.brightoncentre.co.uk