Star interview: The Saturdays come to Epsom Downs Racecourse

No Matter how many girl or boy bands are around, there always seems to be room for another.

Last July The Saturdays broke into the charts with their first single.

They may look like a sultry bunch as they pose in the photo, but band member Mollie King, who comes from up the road in Richmond, represents the band as a friendly and warm 22-year-old as she chats away to go!.

"We try to come across as a band where you really know each other," she explains. "We wanted it to be that they [the fans] actually know us."

And fans logging on to The Saturdays' website can chat, read news and blogs and find out all about them from their individual biogs.

You'll even find band members' individual MySpace, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Mollie continues: "We have always felt that we are the type of girls you can approach – come and join in our gang, come and have fun with us."

The group – Mollie, Frankie Sandford, Una Healy, Vanessa White and Rochelle Wiseman – were formed after the girls were invited to audition.

"It was a really long process and we are all very proud to have got through," says Mollie, who was in a couple of girl bands when she was younger – including 2007 X Factor contenders Fallen Angelz – although she never got to the stage where any music was released.

So what was it like getting together with a group of girls you don't know?

"We were so lucky – we were all after the same thing," says Mollie.

"We went from not knowing each other to spending every minute of the day together. We know each other - we are like sisters. I think that's why we get on so well.

The fivesome, who are signed with Polydor's Fascination Records label and looked after by Maximum Artist Management, toured with Girls Aloud ahead of the release of their first single, If This Is Love, which made it to the top 10, as did the following three singles. Debut album Chasing Lights came out in October.

The Saturdays won the title of Best New Act in last year's Virgin Media Music Awards while Una won the title of Hottest Female.

And they have even appeared on Channel 4's Hollyoaks and the BBC Myths programme.

Their latest single, Work, was released on Monday (June 29) and currently the girls are busy travelling the country on their first headline tour, The Work Tour.

They come to Epsom Downs Racecourse on Thursday, July 16, sharing the night with Alesha Dixon as part of Epsom Live! racing and music nights.

But if you hadn't heard of The Saturdays before, you would have been made aware of them when they released a cover of the Depeche Mode song, Just Can't Get Enough, for this year's Comic Relief. They sang on the television show and also travelled round the country seeing projects supported by Comic Relief for the programme.

Mollie says: "It was really, really good. It was such a privilege to do it. We had all grown up watching it and seeing huge bands doing it before us.

"I think our fan base did increase," she says, adding: "The main thing was to raise money."

So who are their fans?

"It's funny you should ask," says Mollie. "Before the tour we didn't really know. We realised our fans really vary - some are so young - there are some of about four waving these sparkly things.

"We have lots of mid to late teenagers and we have parents – that kind of age. We are really lucky in that we appeal to lots of ages."

The girls are more than just singers as well. Una plays the guitar – and she isn't the only one.

Mollie says: "I'm playing with Una on tour. Frankie also plays the guitar. We all like to have a go at different things. We are all writing bits for our second album.

"We really get stuck in – I think you can tell that. We had such a big impact on our second album."

So what for the future of The Saturdays?

"We just want to go everywhere. We want to go to every single country and make them aware of The Saturdays and achieve world domination," says Mollie.

Deborah Morris

See The Saturdays and Alesha Dixon perform after an evening of racing at Epsom Downs Racecourse on Thursday, July 16, as part of the Epsom Live! series of racing and music nights.

Tickets starts at £27 for adults in advance, children's tickets and tickets on the day available. Call 0844 579 3004 or log on to www.epsomderby.co.uk.