5 They're Absolutely Fabulous!
Q&A with J, Abs, Scott, Sean, and Rich
Their first single, "When The Lights Go Out," has been all over the
radio this summer and 5 is fast developing quite a following. J, Abs,
Rich, Sean, and Scott are having a blast with their newfound fame,
only they don't see what all the fuss is about. When they dropped by
to talk to us about their self-titled debut CD, they charmed us
easily with their dreamy good looks and raucous sense of humor.
Check out what the lads from 5 had to say!
All-Stars: Tell us how you all met and got together.
Jason "J" Brown: There was a talent search held around the country in England.
There were about 30,000 people at the first audition, and the second audition
got rounded down to 14 boys. When we go to that point, there were nine other boys,
and we said to them, we want to go forward as five, and here we are.
All-Stars: Did you immediate success come as a huge shock?
Scott Robinson: It was amazing! But, it was really weird because there was meant
to be more auditions afterward, but basically we got there on that day and it
all happened really quickly, We moved into a house together last spring and we
went from here. We kind of got thrown into the deep end, from day one.
Richard "Abs" Breen: We moved into our first house together, and then the next
day, we went to Sweden and recorded. The very first thing we did was perform for
a radio station in Britain. We wanted to get the crowd going before we went
on the air because it was the first time we had performed as a band. We went
on and did a warm-up, and the deejay came over and said, "The crowd has
gotten so crazy over you we want to put you live on the air!"
Richard Neville: We got lots of fans, lots of people were following us
on the road. Word spread because we were doing a small tour for like, a week.
Some people traveled to see us at one show and then traveled for hours in the
car to go to the net one. We're still getting used to it.
Scott: We go on stage, and all these people are going absolutely ballistic! We
didn't know what to expect. We've been together for about a year now. We've
done an awful lot but we still don't see it. I mean, we all still see
ourselves as just Scott, Abs, Sean. J, and Rich.
All-Stars: How did all of your parents react when they found out you were serious about pursuing a career in music?
J: I always knew I was going to do something with music. My parents were
with me all the way.
Sean Conlon: It's a dream come true for me. I always used to say at school,
"When I'm famous, and when I do this," and people would say, "You shouldn't say
that because there are millions of people worldwide trying to do it." I knew
that music was inside me, so, I actually couldn't picture myself doing
anything else.
Abs: It's something that's been there inside of us all. It's not like we just
decided oh yeah, let's be a band for a bit.
All-Stars: Do any of you come from a musical background?
Scott: No, my mum can't sing a note at all-absolutely disgusting!
J: My mum and dad were singers. That's how they met.
Sean: My mum can sing but she's never made anything of it, and my dad's Turkish,
and he's got his own little group, a Turkish band, that would do weddings and
all that kind of stuff.
Rich: My sister used to do shows and stuff.
All-Stars: Have your families come to see you perform yet?
Five: Yes!
Abs: Loads of times. Scott's mom and dad have seen every performance and
bought every magazine. I think Scott's dad has had to take on an extra job for
buying all the magazines. It's nice when your family comes to see you, because
when you're performing, you are trying to spot them in the crowd, and when you
do, it's like, aaahhh!
Sean: Mine and J's come the least because they live way down in the south of
England.
Scott: They're just not interested in you, J. They don't love you one bit. I'm
sorry, mate!
J: They love me.
Abs: No they don't.
All-Stars: So, who are some of your inspirations?
Abs: Sean knows a full John Denver track in Chinese! For me, it's always been
Michael Jackson. I've grown up on him.
Rich: I really like Pearl Jam
Sean: I mostly listen to soul music, Marvin Gaye and Jackson Five.
J: I listen to all different music-soul, 80's, stuff like that.
All-Stars: Have you written any of your own music yet?
J: We've co-written virtually every track on the album. Before I got into 5,
I would write some soul and stuff like that. So, we want people to sort of
know that we're not just totally manufactured things that just go on stage,
and that we really are into our music.
Sean: We make sure that we get to write on our albums. Like on our second
album, we're not going to let anybody write all of our music. It's
something that's important to us and something we enjoy.
All-Stars: What are your long term goals?
J: We all have things that we want to do while we're in 5, as well as,
after 5. That's why we don't like being cast as a typical "boy band." A
lot of these acts are very put together. They might get four or five guys,
but the guys have to look, dress sound, and dance how they want them to.
We're definitely not like that at all.