A quick word with Girls Aloud's Kimberley Walsh

Kimberley Walsh, left, and Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud. Picture / Martin Sykes

No one expected the British girl band would last beyond their first 15 minutes on reality show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. But after nine Top 10 singles in their homeland, and a critically acclaimed third album, Chemistry, pop has never been so cool.

The girls dropped into Auckland this week for a half-hour showcase at the Studio and a gig on Top of the Pops.

Great show but you were 45 minutes late - what was going on backstage?

Oh, God. Five girls. It is always a nightmare. We had like, girly getting-ready problems which was a bit of a drama, we do apologise. We haven't got our full-time stylist with us so she sent all the clothes to another stylist and she didn't really know our shapes.

The outfit for me just did not fit. It was a pencil skirt and there was no way it was big enough for me to even move in, never mind dance. I was like, "Oh my God, there's just no way this can happen!" And Nadine had these pants on that were just far too baggy for her. She doesn't really suit trousers anyway. So we had to do a bit of a swap and then pull bits from here and bits from there ...

We made it in the end but it was a bit of a panic for a few minutes.

So we should arrive a couple of hours late to your full show?

Ha ha. Our tour is more like Girls Aloud, the musical.

How hard is it dancing in those heels?

We've got used to it. In the beginning we were like, "Please can we wear trainers? We're gonna fall over." But we've realised you look better and you tend to dance better in heels so we've mastered the art. Your feet just kill afterwards.

You do some sexy dance moves.

The choreographer we've got now is fantastic, we really love how she choreographs us. We've had male choreographers before but a woman knows how to make a woman look good. We trust her. It's a little bit sexy, but hopefully not too much. Sometimes you get really into it without even realising.

So are you the new Spice Girls?

We used to get that a lot at the start and obviously we were really flattered to have that comparison, purely because of how successful they were. People compare us because everybody likes to pick a favourite, y'know, everybody used to have a favourite Spice Girl.

Any of you hooked up with famous footballers?

Cheryl [Tweedy] is marrying Ashley Cole who plays for England. The wedding's in June.

What do you argue about?

We know each other so well that we know what not to say to make the situation worse. Obviously there are things you disagree on like, song order, silly things like that. Because there are five of us, we can always come to a majority vote and be quite diplomatic. But when you're having a clothes drama and one person is really stressing out, it's like, "For God's sake just get on with it."