Monday, January 26, 2015 10:22am ET by  
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Sean Conlon interview: 'There’s nothing more I’d rather do than be in Five'

Five were one of the most popular boybands in the UK in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The group reformed two years ago for ITV's Big Reunion as they brought their sprightly pop to a new generation of listeners.

The group - who are now comprised of Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville and Scott Robinson - are due to hit the road in the UK this spring on their Loud and Intimate Tour.

Pressparty caught up with Conlon to find out more about the live show, today's boybands and his audition on The Voice in 2012.

What can fans expect from the tour?

"They can expect what they always get from us, which is dysfunctional functional madness. But they’ll get all the hits and the dance routines as expected, but as it’s called the Loud and Intimate tour, they’ll also get a side of us which is more acoustic and little bit more stripped down. So we’re going to play some of hits in a more close, intimate way. And we want to create more of a sing-song, crowd participation sort of vibe. But also, as I’ve already mentioned, still give the fans what they expect from us, which is the loud part."

What part do you prefer - the loud or the intimate?

"I like both sides. I think if I was performing on my own it’d be more stripped back, playing the piano and more intimate sized gigs. But being in Five gives me the opportunity to be a bit louder and animated on stage, so that’s why I personally really love being in the band."

Do you feel lucky that you still get to play live with Five?

"Absolutely. Being away for so many years from the band, I was struggling with not performing and struggling to watch even live performances on TV of other bands - it’s all you want to be doing. We’re really aware of what the alternative would be to doing what we’re doing, and there’s nothing more I’d rather do than be in Five performing. All three of us feel like that. We’re 100% committed and we just want to keep it going. We’re really appreciative and thankful to be given this opportunity again."

Do you think the tour might lead to recording new music?

"We’re kind of in the studio at the moment experimenting with new material, so we definitely want to do something in the future, but we’re not quite sure what form it will be - whether it will be a single or an EP or whether we’ll go the full hog and do an album. We definitely want to stay together and continue to do new music."

You're down to a three-piece - have you ever thought about changing your name and reinventing yourself?

"No - when we started the band originally, there was obviously five members and you can’t change that history. We’ll always honour and have respect for the other two members who were part of the band, but we’ve evolved and we are the band now. But the name has got meaning and it has got relevance to the band’s journey. We’ll never change the band’s name. Look at Take That - they’ve gone down to a three and nobody really questions it because they haven’t got a number in their name. We’re quite inspired by the Take That route and we’re really thankful that the fans are still supporting us. Five is still very much going."

Do you feel then that you three are the most dedicated members who have been in Five?

"Yeah, I mean J obviously didn’t want to come back full stop this time around and when Abz did come back, it seemed like he was really wanting to do it, then it was kind of half-hearted and after a half a year he had had enough already. We were getting asked by fans if he was interested because you had us three giving it 100% and really wanting to be there, and he was sort of giving it 50% because he wasn’t happy. But now it’s stronger in a sense because you can see we all want to be there - we interact with each other and we’re not going through the motions. We love what we’re doing, we love our songs and we love performing them."

 

 

 

Abz previously suggested in an interview that he did the reunion for the money - are you doing it for the music?

"Obviously we’ve got families so we need to support ourselves, but there is nothing we’d rather do than be in Five. Music is in our blood and it is everything we want to do. We’re very much in it with our hearts and passion. Me and Scott were watching the Take That performance at the BBC Awards the other day...they’ve got the interaction with each other and they’re really happy to be there. We’re inspired by that because we feel when we perform, the reason it goes down so well is because you can see the passion. We give it absolutely everything."

Does being in Five feel quite different now than compared to when you started out?

"Yeah, I think this time around it feels like a proper band. The first time it felt quite temporary cause you thought it might fall apart at some point because it was so dysfunctional - there were so many personalities and whatever. But this time around, there is a peace about it and we want the same things. It’s easier because we all want to do it."

I take it there was a bit more scandal back in the day?

"You’ve got to grow up at some point. We’ve still got character, you don’t have to become like wet lettuce. You don’t have to keep acting like a 20-year-old to stay relevant. You grow with your music, grow with your performing, grow as a band. But we’ll always be slightly immature for our age, I think that’s a given."

Have you ever felt restricted in Five in terms of it being an outlet for your musicality?

"I think back in the day I certainly felt like I wasn’t really expressing myself. I think that was a massive thing for me to do Five this time around, because from my own personal point of view I really wanted to do it differently and really enjoy it and embrace the performing and the connection with the fans. The first time around I was there in body, but not there in spirit. I feel like I’ve really done that this time around."

Do you still have plans to have a solo career at all?

"It’s been a journey for me. I love playing music on my own and I love performing on my own, but you kind of come to the realisation that you’ll never really be doing anything bigger than Five. When we come together as a band, we’re all stronger than we’d be individually and I think with maturity you can see that and you embrace that you become thankful to play your part in that. We’ve all worked our way up to allow us to express ourselves and let our characters come out, because that’s what makes the band. Richie is a bit more rocky, and I’m sometimes a bit more serious, then Scott is more poppy. It’s all balanced out."

You were on the Voice a couple of years ago but failed to interest any coaches - how did it feel to be rejected?

"Well I never really thought of it as rejection. I thought that I wasn’t suited to the show and the show wasn’t suited to me. I didn’t really play the game, because I sang a song that was very low key, the chorus was lower than the verses. I think to explode on that show you need to do a chorus and really show the range of your voice.

"But I just wanted to go on a big platform and show who I was. I didn’t think that far about where I was going in the competition - I kind of knew that even if I got further in the rounds, it’d be very difficult to give somebody from Five the chance to win it, when somebody else has never had that opportunity. So I didn’t think about it with a logical mind. It never made sense on paper, but I was just burning to perform. I thought I had nothing to lose. Thankfully the process didn’t go too far and I got what I needed out of it from a personal perspective and thankfully Five got back together - it’s happy days.

Do you see any similarities with boybands today like One Direction and Five when you started out?

"You do see a lot of similarities from the perspective that they’re so young. I was watching them pick up an award the other day and they’d broken some record set by the Beatles. But I could see that it didn’t even register in their brains what they had done and what they’d achieved. I was thinking in ten years when they’re older, they’ll look back at that moment and then they're going to really realise what they’ve achieved.

"There’s so much going on at the moment - it’s almost like they’re too young and overwhelmed that it’s not registering quite what they’re doing. I can relate to that - that it sort of becomes a whirlwind when you’re just a kid, you can’t fully embrace what’s going on."

So you do think they’ll burn out soon?

"I think you can tell that the individuals are trying to come out and I think because they started so young, like us and a lot of boy and girl bands, then at some point they’re going to want to go off and find out who they are as individuals. If I could give them any advice, it would be to have a little break and stay together. But they’re not going to listen to it like we didn’t. I wish somebody could have stopped us from splitting up and that we could have found a way to carry on."

Five are due to embark on their Loud and Intimate UK tour in April.

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Watch Five in action below: