Five: ‘That music video should never have been allowed to happen’

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Among the influx of pop nostalgia acts clenching the thirst of millennials desperate for another taste of the 90s, Five always seemed the least likely boyband from the Smash Hits era to reform.

But lo-and-behold, Abz Love, Jason ‘J’ Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon are performing on stage together for the first time in 21 years on a nationwide arena tour this autumn.

‘Never in a million years did we think this would happen,’ Ritchie tells Metro, sat beside his four band mates.

‘Not like this,’ says J, the one member who has been absent from the band the longest.

After achieving 11 top 10 singles across three albums, Five first split in 2001. As documented in the recent Louis Theroux-produced three-part series Boybands Forever, which aired on the BBC this year, tensions between members and their management – which included a pre-Pop Idol Simon Cowell – became far too explosive to continue.

In one episode, Cowell said he ‘came close to punching’ Scott when he had what sounds like a manic episode.

Just over a decade later, they reformed as part of ITV2 reality series The Big Reunion, alongside fellow pop giants Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, 9-1-1, Liberty X, and The Honeyz, but without J.

Instead, he watched on from home, shocked by accusations of ‘bullying’ which he categorically denied and it seemed any hopes of getting all five equally boisterous men back in the same room ever again were dashed.

Then around 18 months ago, Scott booked an Air BnB for the band to bury the hatchet once and for all, each of them arriving with their own baggage and trauma.

‘But instantaneously the door opened and we just hugged,’ he says.

J explains: ‘Even wives, girlfriends, and family members will never, regardless of how much we try to explain to them, be able to feel what we all went through together and that’s part of our bond.’

Five are hitting the road for a nationwide tour later this year (Picture: Carver)

The energy, they say, came back immediately.

A week after announcing they were hitting the road again, they come to Metro offices and it’s so abundantly clear that bond is as palpable now as it’s ever been. So much so it’s inconceivable to think 20 years has gone by with wounds left open and little contact between them.

Time is a healer, and they’ve worked harder and longer than most bands would to rebuild that friendship before announcing a lucrative comeback really worth rooting for.

Sean says: ‘We’re all at the same place, at the same time, for the first time.’

But even they were confused when J finally felt ready to fully commit to Five again.

‘After we got all the stuff out of the way and we were just really getting easy with each other’s company, Rich just looked at me and went, “Brown, why do you want to do this then?” But I just knew.  

‘I’ve been so far removed from it all I’ve never felt ready to do it, and he just had this real perplexed look on his face when he asked me that question.’

Richie responds: ‘He was adamant that he’d never do it again.’

‘Now I’m the one who’s going to be embarrassing myself,’ J laughs.

After talking about the future, we look through footage of their past.

Five burst into pop with a bang with their debut single in 1997 (Picture: Getty)

Just months after auditioning for Spice Girls managers Bob and Chris Herbert who were looking to form a boyband with ‘attitude and edge’, Five had their first top 10 single with Slam Dunk Da Funk.

‘Not the – da,’ they remind me.

It was the perfect introduction to Five, with super-slick production traditionally reserved for pop acts on the other side of the Atlantic with a punchy opener. ‘Five bad boys with the power to rock you.’

J says: ‘I used to actually be quite embarrassed by that line for many years. I was like, “seriously?”’  

Their next single, When The Lights Go Out, performed even better in the UK, reaching number four and cracking into the top 10 of the US Billboard charts.

For the next three years their lives moved at an unhealthily rapid pace with little to no to time to reach the surface for air.

Between 1998 and 2001 they released three albums, all reaching the top five. But life as a popstar in the 90s meant relentless promotion in working conditions that quite rightly few singers would ever be willing to endure today.

We were utterly deflated when we played Top Of The Pops

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Seldom do current artists actually get to perform their music during the promo tour. They’re on social media, their strategy is more focused on blowing up on TikTok, not making it onto Top of the Pops – the pinnacle of any popstar’s career two decades ago.

‘When we all walked into the studio for the first time, we were utterly deflated,’ says J.

‘You’d grown up watching it, especially if you wanted to make music, like “I’m on Top of the Pops!” but it was just this little stage in this small studio.’

Deflation didn’t slow their energy down though, which perhaps would have been helpful.

‘There was a lot of miscommunication,’ says Sean. ‘We were a ball of madness. We were stressed and we were struggling so we were misinterpreted. People would feel intimidated or unsure of us and that’s unfortunate.’

‘There would be a bad vibe coming of us because we were actually having drama,’ says Ritchie.  

Abz admits: ‘We weren’t looking for trouble but if we were tired enough and you crossed our path…’

Five were a regular fixture on Top Of The Pops (Picture: Top of The Pops)

Another TV show just as obligatory as Top of The Pops for any boyband was SM:TV, the anarchic Saturday morning kids show presented by Ant and Dec with Cat Deeley.

It was more rebellious than any live television you’d get now – pre or post watershed – both on and off-camera, British popstars rubbing shoulders with visibly bewildered US megastars while Ant, Dec and Cat appeared to make up their lines up on the spot.

Watching back Chums – a parody of Friends – titled ‘Ant Aid’, which saw the band crash the studio with Mel C, Victoria Beckham, Louise, Billie, Martine McCutcheon and Atomic Kitten to name a few, Scott says: ‘I don’t remember that at all.’

Granted, it was more than 20 years ago but Richie seems to remember the day more clearly.

‘He’d gone back home and he’d partied and not stopped and he wasn’t just hungover he was still completely out of it.’

Scott concedes: ‘It all makes sense now.’

Abz suggests that was a fairly common occurrence for the band.

‘I remember CD: UK we’d been out the night before and I remember sitting on this wooden box that they’d set up for us. I felt sick as a pig and the close ups while you’re trying to sing a ballad but you’re about to throw up- it was so hard.’

Their career turned a corner in October 2000 with the release of Keep On Movin’.

It debuted at number one, their first chart-topper, and to this date has shifted more than 1.4million units in the UK alone.

It’s partly the reason they’ll comfortably sell out the 02 this November and generations who weren’t fortunate enough to grow up with Top of The Pops still discover their music today.  

Sean shrugs: ‘I wasn’t that keen on it, I wasn’t that bothered. I thought it was a decent tune but I never ever thought it was still going to be played on the radio 25 years later.’

‘I’m not comparing us to The Cure,’ Ritchie says cautiously. ‘But it reminds me of Friday I’m in Love. It was a bit different and we were a bit different.’

That same year, Five were finally recognised for being one of the most successful acts in the UK at the Brit Awards.

They won the trophy for Pop Act (which Abz sold for some extra cash) when the genre had never seen so much stiff competition and they performed We Will Rock You with surviving Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor.

‘I’ve never watched it,’ says Sean. When I ask why not, he takes a moment. ‘I don’t want to bring the mood down.’

While the others watch with pride, asking ‘How do you top that?’, Sean instead says: ‘I find it overwhelming… because I might like myself.’

Five performed We Will Rock You with Queen at the 2000 Brit Awards (Picture: Rex Shutterstock)

The end of Five, however, was just around the corner. The following year they released Kingsize, their third and final album before the cracks in the band became impossible to hide.

Sean took a break from the band and Five told fans he’d been struck down with glandular fever. He later revealed he was having a nervous breakdown due to tensions among the group.

Still, they ploughed on with the release of the lead single Let’s Dance – the label couldn’t wait.

When it came to the video, they had to find a way to include their missing member. The solution: just use a cardboard cut-out.

Watching the video back, the mood in the room shifts.

‘We didn’t know if he was going come back or not, so it was almost like we were holding the fort,’ explains Richie.

Five resorted to using a cardboard cut-out of Sean in the Let’s Dance video

‘That shouldn’t have been allowed to happen,’ says Scott.

Sean found out when the video premiered on TV. ‘Nobody called me – nothing,’ he says, before breaking the tension.

‘If anyone’s got it though, we’d like it back,’ he jokes, turning to the others. ‘If I can’t make Manchester, you can just put it on, can’t you?’

Scott, Ritchie and Sean have continued touring as a three and in 2022 released their fourth album, the aptly named Time.

Finally though, Five, with its original line-up, back on the arena stage where they belong to round out 2025.

Days after they made the announcement they were on the Brit Awards, being gently roasted by a visibly excited Jack Whitehall.

But it wasn’t just a moment to affirm their place back in the music industry, it was their first time altogether in the most prestigious music venue in the UK, London’s 02 arena.

It’s the biggest venue on their 16 date tour, and a dream few could ever have imagined would have come true before that spontaneous meeting in an AirBnb 18 months ago.

For now, there’s little they can tease other than ‘we do know we’re having it‘ and ‘we will play Keep On Movin’. You heard it hear first’.

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