5IVE LIVE!
Scott Robinson, one of the founding members of 5ive, talks to KEVIN COOPER about playing with Queen, and 5ive’s forthcoming tour – The Boys Are Back!
The Boys Are Back! Is it good to be back on tour?
Yes, it is always good to get back out on the road. Don’t get me wrong, 5ive are out on the road and working every single weekend but they are one-off shows. When you do a tour, you are fortunate enough to get real feedback from your fans every night, which let me tell you, is really nice. The line-up for the tour really does work for us together with the fans who are buying the tickets. They are getting a good ticket price for a lot of acts.
On the subject of the other bands – A1, Damage, 911 – do you all get along?
Do you know what, I personally have never not got on with any of them! It’s true that in the past there would have been some egos on show, but now there are no egos at all. All the guys in the different bands are all in this for the same reasons. We all want to do it because we want to and not because we have to. We have now all got families, we all get along together, and I have to say that it is a really nice atmosphere.
You say that there are no longer any egos on show, but I must ask you, will there be a competitive edge on the night to see just who can put on the best performance?
Not really; at least not in real terms. However, at the end of the day, obviously there is pride at stake. You want to go out there and know that you have done a great job. You want to make sure that everyone leaves the theatre talking about your band rather than anyone else’s purely on the basis that you want people too really like what it is that you are doing. To be honest with you, we get along so well with all the other bands that there will certainly be no hoping that they don’t put on a good performance. At the end of the day that would have a negative effect on the gig for all of us. There are other shows that we have been offered, together with other bands who I won’t mention, that we have refused to do simply because we didn’t feel that the line-up was right. You must make sure that it is going to be a good night.
Putting you on the spot, what would you say has been the highlight of your career so far? That really is a tricky question for me to answer. There have been so many highlights; for us to perform with Queen really was quite incredible. We opened the Brits with Queen, we closed the MTV Awards over in Milan, we have performed in front of 450,000 people with Oasis; all these things are part of an experience, but I suppose getting the chance to relive it really does top it all. However, for me, having the chance to reconnect with the boys on our own terms really must be the highlight.
May I take you back to September 2001 when 5ive split. Looking back, was it the right decision at that moment in time?
I believe so, yes. I don’t believe in regrets, and so I think that it was totally the right time for 5ive to split both physically and mentally. Perhaps we should have done what a lot of bands are doing nowadays; perhaps we should have said that we were taking a break and then come back ten years later, so for us to break up was possibly a step too far. Perhaps we should have gone on a hiatus, reconvened after a year and took stock of where we were at that moment in time. But for me, I would say that it was the right thing to do because I think that mentally and physically no one was ready until we did The Big Reunion anyway. We got back a little while after that, five years in fact, and it didn’t work because at that point, no-one was mentally strong enough to do it. You can’t be in a band like 5ive and do things half-heartedly; one toe in and one toe out, you can’t do that. You have got to be doing it and doing it because you want to do it. You must do it for all the right reasons. Other than that, it is just going to fail.
You mention The Big Reunion; how did it feel when you all got back together for the show?
I have to say that it really felt great to be honest with you, and I will tell you why. There was a lot of unfinished business together with a lot of things that had been left unsaid, and for us to be able to put it right, and for us to be able to move forward, and for 5ive to be a band once again, we had to talk all of those things through; thrash them out, being totally open and honest with one another, we had to do that. We really did need to go through that process. Before that, I had wanted the band to get back together for a very long time, partially because I felt guilty for the breakup. Sean [Conlon] had left the band, I had a breakdown and said “look, I can’t do this anymore” so at that point, I pulled the plug on 5ive and that was that; the writing really was on the wall. From that point on, I felt that I owed it to the boys to do it all again and give 5ive another chance. And I must tell you that we have never ever had a better time, and when I say ever, I really do mean that this is the best version of 5ive that I have ever been in.
I have spoken to Jimmy Constable from 911 and he said that he was amazed at just how much baggage and ill-feeling was worked though on the tour bus as you travelled from city to city on The Big Reunion.
Yes, we did, that’s right. The thing is that for us now, there is absolutely nothing for us to work through. We have stayed together as a unit, we enjoy each other’s company, and it still feels as though we are brothers who are doing something we want to do together and not colleagues who have to. We genuinely feel like we are having a great time singing the songs that we want to sing, for people who want to hear them, in each other’s company. We all bring our wives along to the shows and even our kids come along to the shows.
Who has influenced you musically along the way?
You know what; I just like real singers, proper singer-songwriters. Ed Sheeran has had quite an influence on me; his attitude towards music and the way he writes music is incredible. However, going back to when I was a kid, I loved Wet Wet Wet, I loved Phil Collins, and in fact I still do, Richard Marx, the sort of people who can really hold a tune.
In 2008 you took part in Celebrity Scissorhands, the reality show that was part of the BBC’s Children In Need charity campaign, where you were trained as a hairdresser under the guidance of Lee Stafford. How was that experience?
I did, I really did, and you know what, I still cut hair now. In the two weeks that I was on the show I learnt how to cut hair like I would have done if I had spent three years at college, it really was that intense. I really did enjoy it. Even now my friends will call me up and say,
“Oh Scott, could you cut my hair as I am going out tonight”. What’s funny about that is that if a hairdresser was to watch me cutting hair then technically, he would know that I do things the wrong way. But the end result does look OK so I can still cut hair which is quite amazing really.
What next for 5ive; are there any thoughts regarding any new material?
No, not really. Do you know what, we have spoken about this on numerous occasions and it is one of those things that will run on and on. We have written some new songs that are really good, and I know that there are people out there who would like to hear them, but I personally feel that it is really self-indulgent when you do that. The fans who pay good money to come along and see us don’t want to hear new songs, they want to relax, have a good time, and hear the old ones. Whenever you go out on stage and try to promote your new album or your new single, it naturally creates a lull in the show because the fans simply want to hear the hits. So, if we did that, we would be doing it for us, not them and I think that the best thing to do at the moment is for us to sing the old ones.
■ The tour comes to De Montfort Hall, Leicester on Wednesday, March 11. Tickets: demontforthall.co.uk, 0116 233 3111, from £24; Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, on Friday, March 13, trch.co.uk, 0115 989 5555, £25-£35.