In an era often described as a golden age for boy bands, Abz Love, Scott Robinson, Ritchie Neville, Sean Conlon, and Jason "J" Brown, collectively known as Five, reigned supreme. Catchy but credible, they released their first single in 1997, and by 2000 had won the coveted Brit Award for Best Pop Act – plus a host of other awards and over 20 million in record sales. Tensions led to a split in 2001 and, despite the fact that various members have performed together since, it was a covert meeting on the outskirts of Birmingham last year that first saw all members back in the same room at the same time.
Scott Robinson (three-time winner of Best Haircut, 1997, 1998, 1999 as voted by readers of 90s pop bible, Smash Hits) filled me in on all the details, ahead of Five’s headline show at Royal Windsor Racecourse next month.
Scott, I read on Wikipedia that the band came back together after meeting up at an Airbnb in Birmingham...
The Airbnb wasn't about getting back together as a band, it was about reconnecting as humans. We had to be incognito, so we booked an Airbnb. We disabled the Ring doorbell, went in, and spent the night there.
We’d seen each other individually, but not as a five piece for over 20 years. We was in a room together, and within seconds, we were laughing and joking and everything was back to normal. We didn't meet to try and thrash out a deal: we met to see whether we could be friends.
Every time I've ever been to an Airbnb there's been a lot of negotiating about who does the pre-shop, who washes up, etc. I want to know all the domestic stuff. Who did what? Who arrived when? Spill the details…
I can tell you that me and Sean went to the Sainsbury's down the road to get the beers. We bought beers and some wine because we didn't know who was drinking what, so we bought a selection of stuff.
Me, Sean and Ritch turned up at the same time into the Airbnb because we were the people that had seen each other more. We'd done some shows and stuff, so we'd been in each other's space. Then Abs and J turned up together. I hadn't seen them for a long time. Hugs all around. Crack open a beer. Let's chat. Let's have a good time. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Are you excited for your show at Windsor Racecourse?
We can't wait. We feel like we're kind of a summer band; our music lends itself to the good vibes, and our set is always very uplifting.
We're just really looking forward to getting people jumping. It's a high energy show. I’d say it’s been 25 years since we've done a summer show, so it’s going to be incredible as a full lineup to be smashing these out.
Twenty five years on, has the energy you get from the crowd changed?
What's been amazing is the fans have come back in their droves to support our comeback. The night before we announced it I was [talking to] my wife, and I said, ‘What if no one cares?’ And she said, ‘You're overthinking it. Everyone's going to care. Everyone's going to love it’. And she was right.
They’ve come in their thousands to see us, and they bought their kids with them. These women are now in their 40s and they've got, like, 20-year-old children, you know? [and] the guys in the audience are absolutely not afraid to sing a Five song. They seem proud to be there. I imagine there's lots of men that get dragged kicking and screaming to other shows, and they're not really vibing, but these blokes are absolutely loving it. We appreciate that, and we feel very, very humbled by it.
I know you’re a Gunners fan, so I have to ask, what's better? That feeling, or Arsenal’s success this season? Honest answer, please.
[he laughs] Honestly, I don't think there's anything better than the reconnection that we've had with ourselves. The fact that I've got the boys back in my life, and we are on stage enjoying it and embracing it: almost for the first time.
I was really stuck in my own head in the 90s, only worried about myself, not really looking out to the crowd, not really seeing the boys for who they are. Now I can see it, and I appreciate it a lot more. I know we're very lucky to be in the privileged place that we're in. So yeah, I'd honestly say what we're doing with the band is pretty special.
How do you keep it all sounding so fresh?
The response that we get from the crowd really helps. We've done these songs so many times now you'd think we'd be bored of them, but they sound good. I mean, they've stood the test of time. The 90s was such a good time in history for pop music.
We wrote a lot of our songs and that helps when you're performing. There’s nothing better than [performing] a song that you wrote, or had a hand in writing, and when the crowd sing it back, it's quite incredible.
This might sound a bit strange, but do you ever get that feeling where you want to just reach back through the years and say something to your younger self about what to expect in the future?
I would love to give [young Scott] a hug and say, you're fine. I'd love to tell him that.
This is a weird thing, and people [tell] me that makes no sense, but Scott from Five is a very, very different person to Scott Robinson. They're two completely different people. Scott from Five is very confident. He's got a bit of swagger, you know? He sings and dances. Scott Robinson doesn't. If I go out with my wife, I don't dance, I'm not confident, I sort of fade into the background, like I'm happier at the back of the party with a beer in my hand. I'm quite timid.
So then, what part of Scott Robinson wanted to become Scott from Five?
I suppose the show-off that's in there. The guy that wants to show that he can sing, wants to show that he can dance. And putting on the [costumes] I always say, Scott from Five would wear this. Scott Robinson doesn't
Wow. So, these two ideas are really clear in your head…
Massively. Like, I can't go to my local pub in a jacket that I wear on stage because it's too glitzy, it's got too much going on. But, I've just been into a styling meeting for the summer shows, and I’ll be wearing trainers that Scott Robinson don't wear but I am wearing them because I know that Scott from Five will look quite good in them.
Would you ever want to reconcile the two Scotts?
I don't know. I think it's quite good to have it separate. If I walked into the pub in some of the outfits I wear on stage, I think my mates would go, ‘who the f*ck do you think you are?’
Haven’t they noticed that sometimes you're not there on a Friday night because you're on stage performing to thousands of fans?
I've had my friend say, ‘I didn't even know you could do that’, because I'm so normal in my normal life. When they see me perform, they go, ‘who's that guy?’
I speak to Robbie Williams quite a lot, and he's the same. He says, ‘Robbie Williams is confident. Rob isn't’. I went to a show that Robbie done recently at the Roundhouse and it was incredible, right? I go backstage and he goes, ‘Scott, was it all right?’ And I go, ‘It was amazing. You had the crowd in the palm of your hand’. [But] when you're talking backstage, you're talking to Rob, you're not talking to Robbie.
That breaks my heart,
Yeah, but a lot of performers do that.,
Final question, of all the hits, which is your personal favourite to perform?
Closer to Me. It just hits different now, because it had such sad connotations as it was the song that we broke up to. Now it's a song that we sing every night on stage and we're back together, we're all healed, and we love each other again. We're brothers, and we're having this journey.
Five will be performing at Royal Windsor Racecourse on Friday 14 August. Support acts include The Wanted 2.0 and Bradley’s S Club Party. More information and tickets are available from yoursummerlive.co.uk/five-windsor.
