'Our audience are all mums with kids now' says B*Witched star

B*Witched
B*Witched

Their concert is still four months away, but members of Irish pop group B*Witched are already packing their denim and preparing for their trip to New Zealand.

It's a location they remember fondly. They last came here in 1998 when an appearance at St Lukes Shopping Centre forced authorities to cancel the event and evacuate the mall due to overcrowding.

Sinead O'Carroll of B*Witched spoke to Newshub and remembers how much she loved New Zealand.

"I remember the record company telling us we were doing well in New Zealand and we came down to do some interviews. We were only here for four days, but we all remember it. We actually cried when we left because it felt like a second home and we had made great friends with the record company people there."

Eighteen years on and O'Carroll is well aware of how the pop music industry has changed.

"When we first did a reunion gig, I got on stage and realised all our fans were grown up, they were families with kids."

O'Carroll said the team behind B*Witched would spend months building up a the brand of a pop band in different regions before releasing an album, now it happens instantaneously around the world online.

"It seems like every month Taylor Swift is releasing a new single and it goes out around the world at the same time. That's a lot different to when we released our music."

B*Witched were in a better financial situation than some '90s bands as they had writing credits on their albums, meaning more income from royalties.

"We didn't do too badly because we wrote the songs.  We could have earned more had we done what bands do today like a clothing line or fragrances.  Maybe a range of double denim?"

The girls are happy to be back on the road with the other bands heading to Auckland.  But getting groups back together after time apart isn't without a bit of drama or emotion.

"When we first got back together it was quite hard to do, but we had to do it. There were things that needed to be put out in the open."

"Back when we were formed we were as young as 17 traveling the world working 18 hours a day with no family or friends, so it took some time to process everything, so it was good to get back together and actually just say how we felt."

B*Witched, Atomic Kitten and S Club 3 are performing for two nights in Auckland in February.

Newshub.