Retracing their STEPS
It’s been 20 years since Steps first hit the charts. Now they’re back with a new album and a song penned by ABBA’s Benny and Bjorn. JOE NERSSESSIAN finds it’s a case of deja vu for the fab five
HIT Nineties pop group Steps are playing a game. Lisa Scott-Lee and Claire Richards are trying to work out who the Chancellor of the Exchequer was when they formed, almost 20 years ago, in May 1997.
As they confer, a giggling Ian ‘H’ Watkins, sitting behind the pair, slyly tickles their backs. Swatting him away, Claire correctly answers “Gordon Brown” to the delight of her bandmates.
It’s just one sign of the affinity and energy retained by the group, who split acrimoniously at the turn of the Millennium.
Since then, of course, things have been patched up, and the band reformed in 2011 for a Sky Living series and a string of concerts. Now, more than five years on, with the exception of 39-year-old Claire, they have all celebrated their 40th birthdays, but that doesn’t seem to have slowed them down.
Hauling suitcases and carrying takeaway bags, they bundle into the studio where they’re set to have a photo shoot. The five, completed by Lee Latchford-Evans and Faye Tozer, start swapping make-up and hairbrushes, giggling and breaking into song before finally taking their seats.
I catch up with them 24 hours later, after the release of Scared Of The Dark, the lead track from their first album proper in 17 years (they released a Christmas record of largely covers in 2012), and the fivesome have somehow grown even more excitable.
Taking over the corner of a restaurant in a London hotel, their manager, Adam, looking at his laptop, exclaims, “We’re on Vice”. The comment is greeted with startled yelps – along with an inquisitive query: “Is that good?!”
The Vice declares Scared Of The Dark a “bombastic, ABBAreferencing pop beast that will soundtrack someone’s postdivorce drinking this year”, declaring it “banger of the month”.
This reaction has come as a complete surprise, says Lee, flanked by mum-of-two Richards, who arrives a little later than her band mates after completing the school run.
“We didn’t know how people were going to take it,” confesses Lee. “We know fans love the old stuff. But the new material, we thought, ‘Oh God, we’re from 20 years ago, the charts have changed, how they buy it has changed, how it charts...’.”
Although they still aren’t quite sure how the charts work (they repeatedly ask about the difference between streaming and buying), they take great delight in following Scared Of The Dark’s climb on the iTunes Store, and admit they’ve been sharing updates via WhatsApp.
They listened to the song’s first play on the radio in the car together – almost 20 years to the day after they gathered to hear their debut release, the now iconic 5,6, 7, 8.
“It felt like we had started all over again,” reflects H. “There were tears, and shivers and camaraderie and love, and it was so amazing. We were together for 5,6, 7, 8 listening in a van. It feels like deja vu.”
“New music is the key for us to have a new energy with Steps,” says Faye, “we couldn’t have asked the fans to come and see us again with just the old songs.”
They promise new album, Tears On The Dancefloor, which includes song Story of a Heart written by Abba’s Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, will add some colour and light relief to a “grey world”.
“I think the world needs a bit of light-hearted fun,” says Lee, “Steps always brought that.”
The album was two years in the making.
“We are really protective of us,” explains Claire. “Protective of Steps. It is ours, it is our legacy and we’re always very cautious about doing something that might damage that.”
It’s clear the group really want this comeback to succeed.
“Do you not think though that music, and fashion, have a 20-year cycle,” Faye reasons.
After a pause, an unsure H asks: “Does that mean we’ll do this again when we’re 60?”
“Oh God, that scares me!” Faye replies – but don’t bet against it.
Tears On The Dancefloor is out on April 21 while tickets to the Steps UK tour are on sale now. Visit stepsofficial.co.uk