SECOND COMING - THE REBIRTH OF ALL SAINTS
Words: Damon Syson & Nick De Cosemo
February 2000 - Sky Magazine.

Seeing the four of them together - joking, laughing, fooling around - at first seems quite odd. They've not released a record in over 12 months and, as with the Spice Girls, it seems each Saint, for whatever reason, has developed their own celebrity aura. Away from the band.

They've hardly been idle. They've been on two UK tours, writing the second album and, for all but Shaznay, filming 60s-set Brit flick Honest. But, it's the tabloid frenzy that follows their every move which has created the impression of All Saints as a band of celebrities - not a celebrity band.

In their 12-month life through a lens, Nat ditched Jamie Theakston and got it on with Jonny Lee Miller. Nic and Robbie were off and on like a light switch before finally parting. Mel got on with being an OK! mum. And despite every effort to lay low and keep it real, Shaznay still couldn't avoid seeing pictures of herself in a skimpy bikini, frolicking in the sea with her man.

Today, however, four have become one. They breeze around the studio, giggling, advising on hair and clothes, even joking how Shaznay can't get Geri's Lift Me Up out of her head. Like a bunch of mates. Like a band.

With new single Pure Shores, a William Orbit-produced slice of winter blues-curing, summery pop from The Beach soundtrack, and the new album - tentatively called I Need The Mic - the Saints are ready to silence the "they'll never do another album" whispers.

So have All Saints got what it takes to go the distance? Sky found them on fighting form.

NATALIE
"I really hate being called a ligger. I don't go out to ponce free drinks. I'm getting such a bad reputation. I've got a boyfriend." Natalie Appleton is ranting with a lisp.

She's recovering from surgery on her tongue to correct a childhood problem which affected her speech. The idea was to "loosen her tongue" and aid her diction. It seems to have worked. "People link me and my sister with this guy or that guy. That annoys me, I was spotted with so and so at this party. That's why I dyed my hair, so no one'd recognise me."

It's no wonder Natalie was selected to play Mandy in Honest - the nutty one of the three main characters. "I was typecast," she giggles. "It was good just to let myself go. I've always wanted to shoot a gun and get away with it. I've always wanted to threaten people with a gun."

Sky swiftly checks for concealed weapons before moving onto the touchy subject of Natalie's nudity in the movie. "I was worried at first, but only about showing my parents. We had a trailer for it on video and I had to fast-forward past the rude bits." The newly-brunette 26-year-old is no stranger to the film world. Long-term squeeze Jonny is, of course, a Brit cinema high-roller. Any talk of a collaboration? "We've talked about it and if the time is right, then we're going to do it. Maybe next year."

This isn't the only solo project the eldest Saint is planning. "I'm doing a single for the film in character, as Mandy. It's an old Supremes number called Reflections. Dave Stewart's going to produce it. It should be fun."

Natalie's always faced flak for supposedly preferring fame to music and putting her own interests above the band's. And all this solo action could set tongues wagging again about "the end of All Saints". But she's adamant they're here for good.

"We're coming back with a big, big bang. The music on the new record is so good. You'll see.

So many people said we'd never make it this far, never make a second album. What do I say to them? Uunn-luucky."

SHAZNAY
"It was embarrassing," mutters Shaznay Lewis, shaking her head. She's referring to the Saints' - level of media exposure last year despite not releasing any tunes. "Imagine being in the paper every five minutes when you've done nothing. I became very aware of It. It's annoying to everyone - and the last thing I want to be is annoying."

Does she think the public lost sight of the fact they were a band? "Yeah," she nods. "We just became... celebrities. We sort of lost the plot.

So of all the things that have been written about All Saints, what's been the most ridiculous? "That I'm bloody seeing Leonardo DiCaprio," she laughs. "Usually I'm very sensitive when I read stuff, whether it's true or not, but that Leo thing made me howl with laughter."

Shaznay has been described as "the moody one". The 24-year-old admits people often think she has an attitude because she doesn't talk much. Today, though, she's chilled and chatty. Perhaps it's something to do with her "happy" one-year relationship with dancer Christian Storm ("She's in love," Mel reveals later). Or maybe it's to do with her new philosophy on life

"It makes you realise at the end of the day, we are nothing. It's so easy to die. I used to moan that my legs were too skinny. Now I'm like, fuck that. Tomorrow I could have a car accident and have no legs. So I'm just going to be happy with what I've got."

NICOLE
The younger Ms Appleton is slumped elegantly on the studio's leather sofa, all tight trousers, lip gloss and cheekbones.

She was first to arrive today. Dressed in her civvies (jeans, trainers and black jacket) and full of energy, she bounded in, looking younger than her 25 years and personally introducing herself to all present.

Nicole gives off a sense of warmth but it's mixed with a niggling doubt she feels she has to prove something. Prove that she's a "nice person". It's hardly surprising. With Robbie, she was half of Britain's most titillating tabloid couple. And she's gone on record saying she believes someone is trying to "fuck her over". Is she past caring what's said about her?

"I always care but I don't dwell on it. When I go out I don't think, 'Oh no, I'm going to get photographed.' I went out much more before All Saints, but now I'm in the band it's like, 'Oh she goes out all the time.' I don't, it's just that every time I do somebody's there with a camera."

Being caught stumbling out of the Met Bar after one too many Cosmopolitans is nothing compared to the hype already generated by Honest and the Appleton sisters' much-publicised nude scenes. Their parents seemingly the only people who haven't seen the leaked stills.

"It's all done in good taste!" Nicole protests. "People have seen these little clips of some boobs and think, 'Oh, they get their tits out,' and it's not like that. I mean, they are there but there are a lot of people who are nude in the movie. Other women show their fannies but I don't. Mine's a romantic love scene, not just walking round with my tits out.

"Our characters are pretty much like us. Apart from the guns and drugs and stuff. We play three sisters - Mel's the quiet one, Nat's the crazy one and I'm a bit of both. Which is very much how we are when together." And what of The Beach? Is Nicole among the Planet Earth's several squillion Leonardo fans? "i think he's a great actor, but he's not my type of... phwoar." Who is? "I'd really like to have someone to go phwoar at. I just don't. But I'm not going to go out looking for it 'cos you just end up looking an asshole.

"Christmas and New Year are the worst, when you think everybody's together and I'm the only fucking asshole without a boyfriend. It's not something I worry about every day 'cos I go on dates and stuff. Still, it would be nice."

MELANIE
Halfway through Sky's one-on-one with Ms Blatt, there's a knock on the door. A hand appears at the window and sticks two fingers up. Then the metallic grin of drum'n'bass don-cum-Bond baddie Goldie appears in the window (he was in another studio and heard the girls were here).

Nicole comes bouncing in, "Have you seen? Goldie's here." "Yeah," says Mel. "Ask him to get me a copy of James Bond on DVD."

We're in the dressing room with several Posh Spice shopping trips' worth of designer clothes littered around us. "This is like playing dress-up for me these days," she says with a grin. "When I'm at home I'm just a mess."

For anyone who's been living in Siberia, Mel and fiance Stuart Zender (formerly of Jamiroquai) had a baby daughter, Lily, in November '98. She admits it's strange simultaneously being an All Saint and a mum. "Mothercare World in Purley Way is my favourite shop at the moment," she smiles, only half-joking.

"I get to go out occasionally," she explains. "I have to, to let off a bit of steam and to remember I'm still 24. I had a really good night a few months back. I went clubbing and got pissed on vodka and Red Bull. I'd never tried it before so I was like, 'Wheee!' Then I tried to go to sleep and I was like, 'Euurggh!' I think me and Stuart proposed to each other about five times that night. Again. On bended knees. Very embarrassing."

It's been a hectic last 12 months, with the baby and filming Honest ("Doing the film has made me appreciate All Saints so much more") and Mel's also been collaborating musically with 'im indoors. "Stuart's really hard to work with in the studio, which is good because he pushes me. If he doesn't like something he'll go: 'That's shit' and I'll be like (faking sobs), 'Alright then, sniff sniff.' And then go and write something better."

She won't be appearing on the credits of Stuart's new album, however. "I've offered my services but they don't want me," she jokes. Adding in her b est comic northern drawl, "I've got to stay at home an look after t' baby."

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