There may only be four of ‘em now, but 5ive have been one of the highlights of ITV’s recent The Big Reunion show. They perform at G-A-Y this week. Cliff Joannou talks to Abz, Ritchie, Sean and Scott about the almighty highs and extreme lows of boy band life…
ABZ
Did you keep in touch with the guys when you were broken up?
I’d see Scott every other day, because we did little gigs up and down the country to keep the money coming in. Not so much Rich, but I kept in touch with Jay so I was kinda disappointed he didn’t wanna be a part of it. With me it was always 5ive with that formula, and I was a bit concerned how it would come across with us as a four, like how the dynamics would be. It was the shape of a star before, and now we’re a box.
A happy box though.
[laughs] Yeah, a happy box.
You sold so many records, so people would assume you’d leave the band a millionaire, but that wasn’t the case…
Your first number one and people think you’re a millionaire and a celebrity. But it don’t go like that, man, it’s a lot of hard work. It’s that kind of industry where you give someone else your power and control over who you are and what you are as an artist and it can go tits up for you if you don’t know what you’re doing.
How did you deal with life after 5ive?
I didn’t. I had a bit of money in my house and then I met a foggy agent and he stole quarter of a million from me and that was all my money. It wasn’t a bit I had on the side, it was all my money. And his shady moves left me broke. I literally had to start all over again with this stigma that was attached to being in a band, like you said, people are like ‘you should have money’ and all of that shit. So it’s just been a reset for me, that’s why I’m grateful for the opportunity, I’m feeling blessed right now.
How did you get to the point of being bankrupt?
My accountant was like “Abs has spent so-and-so money here” and I’m like that’s fucking ridiculous, how have I done that? I was fucking partying, and rock ‘n’ rollin’ with money and girls and all this stupid shit. £2,000 leather Armani trousers in a size 38, what the fuck? I needed a slap back then, I needed somebody to just shake me up a little bit, but nobody could get close I wouldn’t let nobody in.
“MDMA. Weed, All kinds of alcohol, cocaine, fuckin’ ketamine. All along that madness, I was partying the same time.”
So how did you first come to terms with having a drug addiction?
I think I turned to the drugs because I had to numb the reality that I’d been skank to have this money fucking taken off of me by this Arabian man, and I felt like I was some sort of pet to a millionaire. And it was all getting a bit fucking weird man, I wasn’t living at all. I wasn’t living my life, I was living for everybody else and to please everyone else. So, that threw me a little, so I think I took the drugs to try and just numb that.
What were you doing?
MDMA, especially. Weed, All kinds of alcohol, cocaine, fuckin’ ketamine. All along that madness, I was partying the same time. Literally I’d done it all, seen it all, I guess this is how I’m gonna go out man. Go out with a bang! You know what I mean? Rock ‘n’ roll until it hurts.
How did you break that cycle?
I started like this one night, I just remember, on my heart, three times this happened and I thought if it happened one more time I was gone. But my heart had like these palpitations. I was laying on the mattress and my heart was punching out of my chest, and I was like ‘FUCK! One more of them and I’m gone.’ But I’m always one of them brothers that at the last minute something will open for me; a door will open for me. That’s when my girlfriend came and I just saw this light, this angelic dame and I’m like ‘what tha’ fuck I need to go this way.’ And I just gave up all of that riches, diamonds, £5 million worth of jewellery every night or whatever. Crazy partying, crazy money, crazy celebrities…
How did you recover from all that?
My girlfriend helped me. She offered me a place to stay, ‘cause I was staying in someone’s basement at the time and I was like ‘I gotta get outta here’. It was kinda rough, it was rehab shit and I was mashing up the place and going through hell, but she put me through it; so everything I owe to her really.
And you own a farm now?
Nah, nah I rent it. I mean I wish I could own something so I’m hoping to work towards a little something. But I’m loving just the nature, back in the garden, back meditating, I’m planting fucking carrots and vegetables, I take my dogs and we go for horse rides. There’s been a whole new life opened for me that I didn’t even know existed. It’s a beautiful thing.
RITCHIE NEVILLE
You guys are doing G-A-Y next week. You’ve performed there before and I hear you and Jay stage dived once and nobody in the crowd caught you…
[Laughs] I remember stage diving, I don’t remember hitting the deck. We’ve done a lot of shows over the years!
How did you reinvent yourself after 5ive?
It was really tough, mate. I did genuinely fall into a bit of a black hole. I’d been doing some recording, but I’d gone down this rock cliff and I finished a uni tour and I kept losing my voice badly, and I didn’t even know if I wanted to be in the music industry anymore and I knew to succeed you had to had to really want it and I just didn’t have that attitude. I was a major pot-head at the time and I just hit the weed and the drink really hard. I was swigging neat bottles of brandy in the afternoon. I got really into cooking, so I’d cook every day and get pissed and stoned. It went on for a couple of years and then I decided I’m not the kind of person to sit around wasting my life and I had the interest in cooking, so I worked with a really good chef for a while, and then that snowballed and then I decided to learn about property, then I ended up marrying an Aussie, went there, then set up a bar, now here I am back in the music industry!
SCOTT ROBINSON
What are some of your favourite memories from being in the band?
Experiences like performing with Queen, it was just amazing. And we did Party in the Park with Roger Taylor and Brian May who actually sung, me and Rich actually got the opportunity to sing live vocals with Brian May doing ‘Tie Your Momma Down’. It was incredible, and we done Rock in Rio to 250,000 people or more, you know. Rocking out to 5ive on the same bill as Oasis.
So you guys are performing at G-A-Y next week? You’ve done it quite a few times in the past as well…
We did yeah, it’s gonna be quite weird going back to the same place, but Jeremy will still be there and he’ll have his dog, Hayley, with him and it will be pretty mental to get back on that stage.
SEAN CONLON
How have the first gigs gone for you?
Hammersmith Apollo was unbelievable, an amazing atmosphere; I’ll never forget that. You could sort of hear the crowds screaming and whatever. It was the first time after twelve years, it’s a unique sort of feeling.
I heard you guys set a hotel on fire on tour…?
No, that wasn’t me! That was Scott and Abs. I was laid in my hotel room, the next minute I could hear Scott and the hotel porter banging on the door telling me to get out, and I’m in my boxer shorts and my t-shirt and I’ve literally had to run out. All the corridors covered in smoke, then all the hotel’s been evacuated so everyone’s running out in their dressing gown. So, we got moved to a different hotel, and yeah it turns out they’d totally blackened the whole room.
How would you describe 5ive today?
We are a dysfunctionally functional band! [Laughs]
• 5ive perform at G-A-Y (Heaven, Villiers Street, WC2n 6NG) this Saturday 20th April.
