The Wanted's Siva Kaneswaran reckons he owes a lot to the ladies of Belfast.

The hunky Dubliner from the five-piece pop band got together with his gorgeous girlfriend Nareesha while he was modelling along with his twin brother Kumar at Belfast Fashionweek three years ago.

And it was down to some intervention from a few local lasses that saw Siva hook up with the Nottingham-born shoe designer.

"Nareesha was doing an internship with the designer who was providing the footwear at Belfast Fashion Week when I spotted her," Siva tells me. "We got together then and we're still going strong."

I point out that he'll break a lot of female hearts in Northern Ireland with that news, given The Wanted's strong fan base here.

"Well, it's all down to the lovely ladies of Belfast," he laughs. "They were egging her on. And they were coming over to me, saying 'she really likes you'. It was all their fault, so they only have themselves to blame!"

It was through his modelling work that the 23-year-old secured a place in the chart-topping boy band. Born to an Irish mum and Sri Lankan father, Siva and Kumar's exotic good looks brought them to the attention of several top agencies, including Storm. The brothers, whose sisters Hazel and Gail are also household names in Ireland (Hazel's a singer, Gail a model), then landed roles in the 2008 television series Rock Rivals, starring Michelle Collins and Sean Gallagher.

Around this time, Jayne Collins, the woman responsible for breathing life into The Saturdays, was holding a mass audition for a new boy band and Siva was immediately snapped up. Was it difficult leaving Kumar behind?

"He came to London too and is studying at college," he says. "He's doing good and I see him a lot."

In 2009 The Wanted - Siva, Jay McGuiness, Nathan Sykes, Max George and Tom Parker - was formed, with the band's debut single All Time Low charting at number one. Since then, the boys have notched up a top five album and a number of top singles, including this year's Comic Relief release Gold Forever.

Although they haven't got round to playing Belfast just yet, the band will join forces with their old pals The Saturdays and Alexandra Burke, to headline the Portrush Beach Party on June 25.

And Siva says he can't wait to visit the seaside resort. "I've never been to Portrush before but I hear it's like Brighton," he says.

"Everyone keeps saying to me that it must be great playing a gig like this with the likes of the Saturdays and Alexandra Burke, but for me, the best thing about it is getting to come back to Ireland.

"I'm always telling the lads about the Irish fans and how loyal they are. Then we played a show in Dublin and they got to see for themselves. I'm not exaggerating when I say they were the loudest screams I've ever heard and I was like 'I told you so'.

"For me, it's pretty frustrating that we don't get to play more gigs in Ireland because I'm hardly ever home now. But hopefully we'll get some gigs pencilled in, including one in Belfast. We'd love to play there, but you know how it is, it all depends on our schedules and those change all the time."

At present, the five boys are holed up in a big country house in Surrey, working on the follow-up to their debut album.

Siva says: "We're getting to write more stuff for this one and it's all good quality material.

"We're hoping the album will be out in November and there's a definite different feel to this one.

"To be honest, I reckon all the songs we've done so far could be really massive hits, which is great.

"Hopefully, we'll get to play a few of them at Portrush, as long as the crowd gives us a good response."

Since getting together in 2009, The Wanted have shared a home in south London. Do any of them have bad habits then?

"Tom has no cleaning skills whatsoever," Siva replies. "Jay used to clean up all the time, but then we got a cleaner in.

"We all lived away from home before, except Nathan, who joined the band straight from school, so we have some idea of how to cook and do our own laundry.

"But I have to admit, I do miss home."

* The Wanted play the Portrush Beach Party on June 25.

Tickets are on sale NOW. Head to www.plmpromotions.com or Ticketmaster, or call the ticket hotline on 0844 277 4455 from NI/UK or 0818 719300 from ROI.