Keep On Movin’

At the tail end of the nineties, one British boy band with a serious attitude dominated the charts. Mark and Ross from Brit Cult caught up with the quintet to discuss their careers and their upcoming tour.

Mark Knox I feel like we're long-lost pen pals, because I was once a member of the Five fan club. The question I really have is: did you guys have any input in the stuff that was on those fan club letters?

Abz We personally wrote back every single person that wrote to us. Yeah.

Mark Knox Brilliant. The transition from you guys auditioning to becoming massive feels quite small for us. But what was the moment where you were like, "We've made it"?

Richie I mean, the first ever show we actually performed at – other than like, the launch at Harvey Nichols for the record label – was the Radio 1 Roadshow. So it was a pretty big thing, and we were all dead nervous, and people knew who we were, which was odd. But actually something for me was — I was in a van, pulled up at some lights in London, had the window down. There was a bloke waiting to cross the road. He was like, "Oh, alright Richie." How does he know who I am? That was one really weird moment.

Scott For me, I've always been a big fan of EastEnders, and I remember phoning my mum and dad and saying, "Oh my God, 'Slam Dunk (Da Funk)’ is playing in the cafe – in Cathy's cafe.”

Ross McConnell That's class. We’ve seen Boy Bands Forever – there's so much footage of you guys going through mobs of crowds and literally hiding your necklaces so they don't get ripped off. How did you deal with the fan attention and the media spotlight, especially when it's so intense?

Richie To be honest, back in the day it was difficult to go out to a restaurant or anything like that. So in all honesty, a lot of the time I would choose to just stay in and have a bit of peace, because you're so busy anyway.

Abz On the flip side of that – it's because of what we do. It'd be pretty rubbish if we got no reaction at all. So, you know, it's kind of like a balance of: are we respected? But sometimes you just want to hide.

Sean But it is really different now, because when we were kids, you know, a lot of our – well, I don't like calling people fans – but people that liked our music, they were kids as well. You know how school kids react when they see a celebrity. They'd be screaming, running down the street. It was pandemonium, and it was anxiety-inducing. We were nervous about it; nervous about other people recognising us, and then thinking they think you're arrogant or things like that. Whereas now it's much cooler. You're just in a bar or a restaurant, and an adult recognises you and goes, "Are you Sean from Five? Are you J from Five?" You say, "Yes, I am." They go, "We really love the music." It's actually much, much nicer now, in all truth.

Mark Knox J – at what point did you take the eyebrow piercing out? And is it time I let this go? 

J Well, the eyebrow piercing I think I actually took out either before the very end of the band, or as the band finished, really. I had it in since I was about 17, I think, and it just felt like it was done. And I think it was also – it had become part of my character and personality. I was J From Five, even though I had it in years before I got into the band. So when the band finished, I was completely done with that image. It just felt like a natural thing to take it out. Now I’m J from Five again, I’m just going to get a massive piercing right through it.

Mark Knox And for the general style – looking back and looking ahead – are there any highlights or regrets looking back? And is there anything planned, or have you any idea of direction for style on stage in this tour?

Richie Our trousers were so baggy that if, like, a gale-force wind blew, we would have actually taken off.

Scott I've got size 42 jeans in my loft. I was a size 28 waist.

Richie The tour styling – yeah. You know, that's a conversation for later, but I think we'll look pretty good.

J J's doing the backless leather chaps. The first thing we said, "Yes, J, are you going to rock the chaps?" He said, "Yes." And we said, "Oh, we're going to shift some tickets."

Ross McConnell Are we going to see the full Kappa tracksuit?

Scott That's what I auditioned in. And no, I've burnt it.

Ross McConnell You guys appeared on loads of TV shows back in the day – what was your favourite when you first started out?

J MTV was always really fun. Even in the mornings, we'd be quite tired because we’d been working the night before, but then you'd get there, and just the whole vibe would put you in a stupid headspace, and you just had fun the whole time you were there.

Richie Big Breakfast. That was always real fun, and that had a similar vibe because it was just stupid, and you could kind of do anything.

Scott Remember you'd have to wake me up? I used to be asleep in the van, and they'd come and wake me up.

Abz I remember once I woke up, turned on the TV, and you mans were on The Big Breakfast. I was like, “Was I meant to be there?”

Scott My dad used to pick you up, yeah, and you just did not get up.

Abz I don't know what happened. Anyway, it was an early one. 

Mark Knox Looking ahead again to the tour – I don’t know how much you've thought about the setlist – but as a Five superfan, I have to say my favourite Five song is not a single, but ‘Mr. Z.’

Scott You're not the first person to say that.

Abz Can we ask why?

Mark Knox It's just always stuck in my head, and it’s a reference that I expect everyone else to understand – and they don't. So someone tells me their friend got a Mini, and I always go, “Used to have a Mini but he’s 6 foot 4...” and they look at me like, “What are you talking about?”

J Simon [Cowell] didn’t like it when we played it to him from the studio. He was like, “It’s not going on an album. It’s not going anywhere.” We were like, “It’s got to. It’s funny.” But we’ve not got into the setlist properly yet. Maybe we’ll do a tiny bit of it.

Richie Yeah, there’ll be some album tracks for sure.

Mark Knox That’s what I wanted to hear. And J, have you kept up the rapping? Are you nervous about losing your flow?

J No, no. It’s like riding a bike. Funnily enough though, for a lot of the intervening years when I wasn’t doing anything – which has been about 20 years – there have been periods of time where I’ve actually looked back and thought, “I can’t believe that I was that dude doing that on the stage.” Because I’d become such a different person. But then when I kind of go back into it, it’s just there.

Abz Yeah, I went to see J one time when he had his long beard and everything, and I went up to his house, and he was like, “You shall not pass!”

Ross McConnell What kind of music were you guys into when you were starting out? 

Richie We all personally love music. But you know what it’s like when you’re a teenager – you have certain things, and I think that’s what makes the mix of us interesting. Like these two [J and Abz] were obviously really into hip-hop. I was heavily into grunge: Stone Temple Pilots, things like that. Sean’s into all sorts. Scott was a bit more poppy.

Scott Yeah, I like a bit of Guns N' Roses and stuff. But I definitely like me pop music. It was a really good blend, and that’s what makes us what we are.

Mark Knox Back in the day, you guys would have been in those Smash Hits roadshows and stuff. Enough time has passed – who were the good people to hang out with, and who were the worst people to hang out with?

Scott Do you know what? In a weird way, you're in your own sort of bubble, and you're concentrating on your performance. So it wasn’t like we were hanging out with loads of people, but there was this rivalry that was in the press with Westlife, for example. We were good friends with Westlife, but it was easier just to go along with it.

Ross McConnell You talk about these other celebs that you were actually just friends with, but were there any other boy bands that you idolised?

Richie I remember really early on in our career, we went to Holland and played a show, and the Backstreet Boys were on before us due to a mix-up. We’d barely rehearsed, and we were doing ‘Slam Dunk (Da Funk).’ I remember watching them, and they’d been going for years, and they were slick, they sounded amazing. 

Sean I think my memory would be seeing *NSYNC, who came on with bike helmets, which was a little bit strange. But when they took them off, I remember seeing Justin Timberlake, and you couldn’t take your eyes off him. He was just mesmerizing. His talent and his stage presence – it was clearly all there.

J I mean, I was a Backstreet Boys fan before I got into the band. I used to listen to their first album and think, “Wow, that looks like a cool lifestyle.” Then I was lucky enough to get into a band myself.

Sean That’s what stopped us cracking the States as well as we could have done – because he had a restraining order and wasn’t allowed to fly.

Mark Knox What are your personal favourite Five songs that you still really love?

J One of my favourite songs at the moment is ‘Human,’ which is on our first album. It’s quite a fan favourite from an album perspective. 

ScottI ’ll go for ‘Slam.’ I really do like that tune. It brings back memories of the start of everything, and it kind of gave us a bit of our sound that we carried on through everything.

Abz It’s always the same for me: ‘If Ya Gettin’ Down.’ It just does something to me every time. 

Richie I’ll go with ‘Everybody Get Up,’ because I love the kind of rebellion and the kind of... well, Jay eats with his fingers. I mean, what more do you want?

Sean I normally say ‘Keep On Movin’,’ but this time I’m going to say ‘Got the Feelin’,’ because I think it’s maybe slightly underrated by us as a band. The audience absolutely loves it. And you get a buzz off that. You feed off of that.

Mark Knox Have you seen all the TikToks going around about the amount of Five lyrics that were concerned with getting up or getting down. And Jay, what were you laughing at? There’s so many ‘ha-ha’s.

JI think I was just laughing at the absurdity of my life. At the time, I didn’t actually realise.

Ross McConnell So I guess the last question is: what advice would you guys give to new artists that are starting out, who want to be the next Five?

Richie Do you know what, honestly? Something that’s dawned on me now is the most important thing – obviously, follow your dreams, follow your creativity and all of that – but it’s the team around you. You’ve got to have a team that you absolutely trust, and that makes everything so much easier.

Sean And I would say, just be true to yourself.

J And have fun. That sounds cheap, but have fun with it.