BOYZ DONE GOOD
From disagreements to regrets and break-ups, Boyzone talk 25 years in the spotlight and calling it a day for good
AND SO, the end is nigh. After a quarter of a century (just let that sink in for a minute), the Boyzone boys are calling it a day, and this time they mean it.
“We’d like to go out on a high and not let those memories just dwindle and fade away,” says Ronan Keating. “We want to celebrate the life of the five of us in the band.”
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That five being Keith Duffy, 44, Mikey Graham, 46, Ronan, 41, Shane Lynch, 42, and Stephen Gately, who passed away from a congenital heart defect in October 2009 aged just 33.
Put together by Louis Walsh in 1993, they were barely out of school when they were catapulted to the top of the pop charts with early hits like Love Me For A Reason, Words and No Matter What.
But after seven years, amid acrimony and exhaustion, they took a “break”, which became a split. They then reformed in 2007, and have notched up five No.1 albums. This week they release their seventh studio album Thank You And Goodnight to coincide with their last ever tour. And the boys are adamant that this is it.
“We’re over it. We have to call it a day,” Shane tells us matter-of-factly. “Look, none of us really wanted it to end, in our hearts, if you want to be that blunt about it. We know that last gig is going to be absolutely horrible, but for now, this road we’re going down is a massive celebration. At some point you just have to call it a day, and that’s what we’re doing.”
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Now all settled down with families (they have 10 children between them), as they reminisce about their years together, the finality seems to dawn on them. Drawing that line under Boyzone means accepting they’re older, slightly worn out, and that the fun has finished. It really is the end of an era.
How long has the big farewell been in the making?
Keith: 24 and a half years!
Ronan: Two years, really.
K: In 2015, we started talking about doing something for our 25th anniversary. We started off as a boy band, we never ever expected to still be around 25 years later. We want to go out and be remembered for the successful band that we were and leave a little bit in the barrel for somebody else.
R: It’s dignified. Having your integrity and your dignity, it’s what you do.
Shane: Personally, I’ve never thought about being remembered in any way.
K: OK, forget what I just said!
How have your relationships changed over the years?
Mikey: We were five working-class boys plucked from obscurity and put on a pedestal, so it was difficult to get used to that, and also getting to know each other. We had problems sometimes, disagreements of different types.
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What’s the biggest disagreement you’ve had?
M: I just have vague memories of different dressing rooms around the world when we’d be tired and there’d be a shouting match. But we were never physical with each other, we did it all verbally. Sometimes it would be finished in a second, sometimes it might take a bloody year. We were all so young and naive, it just takes time to grow up and it’s difficult to grow up in the public eye.
How did losing Stephen change you as people?
M: Initially, we were all in disbelief and numbed by it. It still feels like yesterday, it really does. We miss him dreadfully and still can’t believe he’s not with us. We try to keep his memory alive as much as possible, especially on stage.
Did it make you re-evaluate your own lives?
M: Yes, and your own mortality as well. When you’re younger, you’ve got a bulletproof state of mind. That was shattered when Stephen passed.
R: It brought us closer together as people, and we realised how important we were in each other’s lives.
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Why did you take a break in 2000?
S: I was in self-destruct mode. We were at the end of our tether with each other. It was getting into mayhem and carnage and, personally, the best thing that happened to me was that we called it a day then. I didn’t recognise it at the time, but looking back, thank god it happened. I was destroyed, absolutely exhausted. I never came out of my house for months… I don’t know if you call it reclusive or depressed, but at 21, 22, you don’t know what it is, you just don’t want to see the world.
You had initially decided to take a year off, right?
K: We’d made that decision, but then we had a big meeting in America and were told we were going to be made the priority act to be broken, over the Backstreet Boys, over *NSYNC, over the Spice Girls, I was like: “Holy s**t, we’re going to break America!” But then we had to tell these people: “Sorry, we’ve decided to break up.” They got pretty annoyed with us, I remember.
How did that make you feel?
K: I was frustrated for a long time. And I suppose I was childish and I blamed Ronan, Stephen and Mikey for wanting solo careers. But looking back now, I think we all needed a break.
R: It was the right thing for all of us, but I went straight into recording an album and promoting and touring. I just kept doing what I was doing, but I didn’t have the lads there, which was tough. We had planned to get back together again, but I continued the break longer. I didn’t come back to the band as soon as we had talked about, which I regret.
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Why do you regret that, Ronan?
R: I went from one train to another – I jumped. And when you’re on that juggernaut and you’ve got blinkers on, you just keep going. I thought I’d go away and make one album but it was extended. The album did so well and they wanted another album. I was on a high. You make hay while the sun shines and I was doing it and you think about yourself, that’s what you do. But anyway…
S: It was good that Ro continued that train because it allowed us all to create our own ripples in a new world. It made us find ourselves and if we had just slipped back into the band a couple of years later, I wouldn’t be the guy I am today, so it was the right thing to do.
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You were all so young when Boyzone started. Looking back, what advice would you give yourselves?
R: Have more fun. I took it very seriously for the first six years.
K: I would have said: “Calm the f**k down!” I was always boisterous and hyper. To be honest with you, I was actually very shy. I used to try to rebel against the shyness and unfortunately, that was the perception everyone got from me.
S: I’d say listen to my dad a little bit more and not think that I was Charlie Big Balls. Once you turn 14 you think you know it all, but then you become a pop star and you definitely f**king know everything, and then before you know it, you don’t know your arse from your elbow.
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What’s next for everyone?
M: I’ll be constantly writing and producing with various artists and producers. The studio is my home ground, it’s where I most come alive, apart from on stage with the band.
K: A couple of years ago, I started working with Brian McFadden and we’ll record our debut album next May. My passion is acting and theatre work, but you don’t make much money from doing theatre – £700 a week. At the moment, the music business pays me more, and when it affords me the ability, I’ll go back and do more theatre.
S: I’ll continue to do what I always do and that’s make TV shows, mostly motorsport-based, and continue various businesses I run. A regular life for me.
R: I’m going to start writing a new album – I might go to Nashville. Also recording and touring, and there’s a film that might happen in the spring.
How will your last ever show be?
S: Horrible.
M: To hear someone say that back to me, that’s the first time I’ve actually ever felt something about it.
K: It is a sad time, the reality of it is upsetting. We have a great time just the four of us in the back of a van or hotel room, and it’s like a therapy session when we’re together because we know each other inside out and backwards. We’ve had all the highs and some of the biggest lows together. It is tough because you become a little bit institutionalised by each other. It’ll be like taking the stabilisers off your bike before you learn to ride it. That’s what it feels like.
– Boyzone’s album Thank You And Goodnight is out on Friday. For tickets to their 2019 tour, visit Bookingsdirect.com.
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Boyzone give an emotional final farewell and reflect on being one of Britain’s greatest boybands
- Grooming: Gemma Whitbread using Bumble and Bumble and Mac
- Styling: Nana Acheampong.
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