Sex, babies and rock 'n' roll
All Saints have played to the crowd with their hellraising image, but now, 
with Nicole expecting Liam's baby, could the archetypal rock chicks
be mellowing? Louise Gannon thinks so.

Not even Mystic Meg could have possibly predicted that the day ELLE chose to meet All Saints would turn out to be the most momentous day in the four-year history of Britain's coolest girl band.

It's the morning after the night before, when the news was leaked that All 
Saints' most scandal scarred member, Nicole Appleton, is pregnant by her lover, Oasis wild boy Liam Gallagher. 

The story is on the front page of every tabloid. Reporters are camped outside Nicole's north London home. Her sister, Natalie is also under siege, as is Robbie Williams (Nicole's embittered ex-fiancé and Liam's sworn enemy) and Patsy Kensit (Liam's ex-wife and mother of his 11-month-old son Lennon).

Meanwhile, over at a warehouse studio in east London, the ELLE team, a PR from All Saints' record company and the band's founder member Melanie Blatt are waiting for a photographic shoot to begin. The PR is deeply anxious. She has ordered the ELLIE team not to mention Nicole's pregnancy to her - no Champagne, no flowers and absolutely no congratulations. ELLIE is also warned not to mention the L-word. Nicole's relationship is strictly out of bounds.

The news that Shaznay Lewis, the fourth member of the band, is ill in bed under doctor's orders, prompts furious negotiations. The management isn't happy with the idea of a photo of just the three members of the band - too reminiscent of the disaster that was the film Honest. An hour ticks by. It's touch and go whether the whole thing will be cancelled but, finally, ELLE gets its way and is allowed to shoot just the Appleton sisters.

It seems the band's reputation for being bolshie and rude is spot-on. We haven't met the Appletons yet but we think we know their sort. Suddenly, there is a flurry of excitement. The Appletons have arrived. In walks Natalie, Nicole and, wait for it, Liam. They say 'hello', they smile, they chat. Hell, they even offer to make tea. Nicole positively glows with happiness and Liam, allegedly the wildest boy in rock, seems shyly pleased, although it's difficult tojudge his expression as his face is obscured by hair, Burberry scarf, sunglasses and then Nicole, as they engage in a long, slow kiss. If this relationship is low-key, then Calista Flockhart is a size 18.

'Sweet' is not a word you'd expect to find in a sentence about Liam Gallagher but that's exactly the way he behaves with Nicole. She makes him toast and spreads it with peanut butter. 'It's crunchy,' she coos, and gives him another kiss. He tries to act cool but is far too happy to pull it off. He eats his toast like a good boy.

At this point, it would seem churlish not to say the forbidden word 'Congratulations'. Nicole melts. She hugs ELLE's deputy editor, Rachel. 'It's cool,' she says in her soft transatlantic tones (the Appletons spent their childhood in the UK, Canada and America). ' I'm looking forward to being a mother, but I've only just found out myself.' No tantrums after all. 'The thing is,' explains Natalie, 'people think we're a bunch of hard bitches and they always give us a rough time. People cuss us and it hurts - we're just human like everybody else. I suppose that makes people who care about us very protective.'

Natalie is the band's official protector. 'I'm the one who fights the fights,' she smiles. 'I'm the eldest, so I feel like everyone's big sister.' She admits she is worried for her real little sister Nicole who, at 25, is 18 months her junior. 'I was nervous when she started going out with Liam,' she says. 'The pressure doubles when you go out with someone so high profile. It was the same with Robbie. But she's so happy with Liam. She did it right. They didn't start seeing each other until his divorce came through and now she's pregnant, well... I'm just really happy for her.

'My mum guessed something was up and then Nic found out. I feel sorry for her that it leaked out because it's so early, it's not official for another month. And the madness started immediately. But Nic is actually very strong. She never lets anything get to her. She takes it in her stride and she just does what makes her happy. 'I know Nic will be a good mum and I know she's really happy with Liam. Individually they were both pretty wiId, but together they're so calm. She's stopped smoking and drinking and they both stay in a lot. They watch Countdown and Jerry Springer and make tea. It's not exactly rock'n'roll but they're so in love and so happy.'

But with Nicole pregnant, Mel's daughter Lilyella (by her musician partner Stuart Zender) almost two and Natalie's daughter, Rachel, eight years old, how will motherhood affect the band? Nicole is characteristically cool. 'I'm not sick, I'm just pregnant. It's business as usual for the band,' she says. Natalie is not so sure. 'We're planning a tour and new singles, but I don't know how it's going to pan out. It's tough having a baby and working. I've got so much respect for Mel because she's taken Lily everywhere with us, but it's not been easy. Being a working mother never is.'

Mel agrees. 'I'm not sure whether it's possible for me to carry on doing both much longer,' she says. Only a week earlier Mel walked out of All Saints because she could no longer cope with the emotional tussle. 'I'm so happy for Nicole,' says Mel, back in the band for now. 'But it will have an effect on the band. When you become a mother you change. Your child becomes the most important thing in your life. My daughter is nearly two and she's about to go to school. I just want her to have as normal a life as possible. I'm grateful for the money I've earned from All Saints, but my work does affect the degree of normality I can give her. 'I walked out because what I was doing was not as important as the things I wasn't doing. I need to sort out our house, potty-train Lily. To do that I need to be there to take her to school and pick her up. I love what this band has achieved, but the bigger you get, the more things change. It starts off being about the music and ends up being about money and music. All I ever wanted was for All Saints to be big in Ladbroke Grove. None of us ever  expected or were prepared for what happened.'

It's clear that if the girls do breakup it will be for reasons of love not hate. However much they fight (and they do) they remain very close. Natalie laughs: 'Jamie Theakston [her ex] used to say we were like a pack of wolves when we were together. We're so close it can be scary for outsiders. I'd be frightened of us if I wasn't one of us.' With four strong characters, the band has never been branded boring. They have never toed a record company line. They partied hard, dated famously and created some of the best songs of the last few years (Never Ever, Pure Shores and Black Coffee), most recently winning the MTV Europe award for Best Pop Act.

Not surprisingly, they've never been short on scandal. 'We've never played the game,' admits Natalie. 'We let everything hang out. It's true we fight a lot, but we've never actually come to blows. Show me a group of girls who work together, play together and don't have rows.' Mel agrees: 'It's our sense of humour that has kept us together.' Possibly this is the key to the relationship between Nicole and Liam. As he sits at the table drinking tea, reading the Sunday newspapers and making conversation with the rest of us, he's quiet, thoughtful even - very different to his famously yobbish behaviour of old. He seems happy. With Patsy Kensit he came across as miserable and moody. With Nicole he looks relaxed. In between make-up, clothes changes and shoots, Nicole showers him with kisses and giggles. When she gets him a cup of tea and a Kit-Kat, he kisses her tummy and she smiles. A small, semi-domestic moment that says something about the way they are, the way they are together.

Natalie says she feels all the band have reached a good point in their personal lives. Shaznay has been dating dancer Christian Storm for almost two years, and Mel has been with Stuart for three. Natalie has been seeing the Prodigy's Liam Howlett fot three months, about the same length of time Nicole has been with Liam. 'I think we're all very happy right now,' says Natalie. 'We all feel a lot calmer. Then again, I guess we're all growing up.'

She, in particular, deserves some personal happiness. Natalie was left to bring up her daughter on her own when Rachel's father Carl Robinson (a former Dreamboy) walked out. It was a struggle. She was on the dole, trying to make it with the band. 'I spent all my dole money on Rachel's schooling because I wanted the best for her,' she says. 'And now I can send her to a good school and look after her. I miss her when we're apart, but the bottom line is that most of what I do is for her sake.' She pauses. Her eyes fill with tears. This is a side to Natalie that is rarely seen. 'I sometimes feel so guilty about Rachel,' she says. 'When I can't be there for Parents' Day or when people say horrible things about me in the papers, it all falls back on her. She has to deal with it in the playground. When we won the MTV award, the only person I wanted to thank was her because I wanted her to hear me say that in front of the world. I rang her immediately after I came off stage and we were both in tears.'

Natalie, like Mel, admits things could change for the band. 'Who knows what's going to happen.' After appearing in the movie Honest, alongside Mel and Nicole, she is keen to do more acting. If the band ever broke up, the Appletons would happily go it alone. 'It would be fun working with Nic,' says Natalie. 'I think people always want new challenges.' Perhaps the last word on the future of the band should be left to Mel . 'Hey, listen,' she says. 'Fuck the All Saints. I just want us all to be happy as individuals. We love and respect each other. We've fought a long fight and what we want is happiness - whatever that means.'