JLS say US trip has been 'grounding' experience

JLS are performing at Radio 1's Big Weekend on Sunday 23 May

JLS say they are looking forward to coming home after spending the last month in America and say it's been a "grounding" experience.

Speaking from New York on The Chris Moyles Show, Marvin Humes said they were ready to return to the UK.

He said: "It's been really good. It's been really weird. We've done a lot of writing for the second album.

"We've done a video for the new single and we've also been promoting Everybody In Love over here.

"So it's been a bit busy and crazy. It's been mad."

'Working hard'

The group, who finished second in The X Factor behind Alexandra Burke in 2008, have been in America for four weeks and have just arrived in New York for their final fortnight in the US.

Marvin Humes, 25, says because no one knows who they are in America, it's been a bit of a humbling experience.

"It makes you massively appreciate what you've got back home," he admitted.

"We did a gig in a shopping centre in Connecticut about two weeks ago and if we did a shopping centre gig back home it would be crazy.

"We turned up and there were about 10 people there to watch us. It was definitely grounding.

"It's been amazing and we've been working hard. We're looking forward to getting back home though."

The heavy work schedule has been taking its toll on the group's health with Aston forced to have some emergency dentistry work done.

Marvin Humes revealed: "We were in Miami about five days ago and we were going to a radio station and he was in absolute agony.

JLS' new single The Club Is Alive is officially released in the UK on 5 July

"I thought he was going to burst into tears. He was holding his jaw and he couldn't talk. That's not like Aston to not be able to talk.

"We were like, 'He needs to go to the dentist'. So he went to an emergency dentist and he basically had some form of abcess or root canal.

"You don't even want to know how much it cost him to have that done."

The new JLS single The Club Is Alive got its first play on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio 1 today (10 May) and is officially released on 5 July.

The chorus is based on famous 1960s musical The Sound Of Music.

The group arrives back in the UK on Friday 21 May and two days later they play Radio 1's Big Weekend in Bangor's Faenol Park.