Like Barlow, Mark Owen enjoyed initial solo success but then also found
himself being dropped. “An absolute low point. Everything that had happened
up until then had been positive. I didn’t know there could be a downside. To
find yourself making records on your own that sell three copies… It hurts.
But you’ve got to hit the bottom before you can rebuild.” (For him, the
turning point came when he took part in – and won – Channel 4’s Celebrity
Big Brother in 2002.) For Howard Donald, meanwhile (like Orange he
admits readily to self-confidence issues), there was the sense of having let
his family down. “People around you think it’ll never end. And when it does,
they want to know, ‘What are you going to do now? What’s your plan?’ I
didn’t have one, which made me feel I’d failed.” That the record company
chose not to release the solo album he then went on to make can hardly have
helped.
Yet throughout all of this, and as Barlow has mentioned, Take That’s music
remained alive on radio stations across this country and beyond, be it his
own highly efficient originals (prime examples being Pray, Everything
Changes and Back for Good) or judiciously chosen covers (Could
It Be Magic, Relight My Fire, How Deep Is Your Love).
Along the way, and thanks to the tabloid soap opera that was their
competitive relationship with the departed Williams (the cheeky chappie of
the original line-up, he had gone thoroughly bad boy after bonding with the
Gallagher brothers at Glastonbury and quit the band in July 1995 to begin
his own erratic solo trajectory), they’ve won the nation’s collective
affection in a way that very few pop acts do. The Bee Gees, Abba, Kylie…
That’s the ballpark Take That are in. Residual affection for them remained
huge. You might even say they were loved.
Not everyone was fully convinced getting back together was a good idea. Says
Orange, “I was wary, I admit. I’d not been wholly comfortable with the pop
star thing before. In fact, I’d fought it, thinking, ‘I’m more complex than
that. It’s not who or what I am.’ But that was just a silly fight I was
having with myself. The people who care about this stuff want me to be a
Take That person, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It doesn’t have to
represent my whole being. Realising that, I determined to relax and enjoy it
more this time around.” And as the only band member without a current
partner or children (Barlow has two kids and is currently expecting a third,
Donald two also, while Owen’s second is due imminently), he found himself
benefiting once again from the company of his old colleagues. “From that
point of view, being in Take That is just the best thing ever. I wish
everyone could experience it.”
To the industry’s surprise (for there is nothing less commercial than a boy
band past its sell-by date), 2006’s comeback album, Beautiful World,
outsold anything TT had previously released. “A nostalgia tour is one thing.
A lot of bands reform for those,” notes Owen. “But to then release a record
that eclipses your own past? We feel blessed. Honestly, we really do.”
Endearingly, two years on, a certain we-can’t-quite-believe-our-own-luck
spirit still prevails. Says Donald, “There are many more talented
individuals out there than me. I don’t have what it takes to shine on my
own. But when you get the four of us together there’s a real magic,
something people respond to. They see the friendship and commitment. Good
songs, hard graft and chemistry… That’s Take That.” Their original fanbase
of screaming tweenies, now sensible mums with daughters of their own, could
only agree.
What made the difference this time around (there’s a gentle acknowledgement by
each that one needed to be made) is Barlow’s newly relaxed and democratic
stewardship of the band, one that allows him to share the singing and
writing opportunities more evenly. “I think,” says Owen, “we all feel we
have a more valid role now, which is very positive.” And Donald: “Winning
Brit Awards this time round [Best British Single for Patience in 2007
and Shine in ’08, plus this year’s Best Live Act, too], it felt like
we were all being rewarded, not just Gary.” “Mark’s been the one who’s
driven this whole thing,” adds Orange. “It’s he who’s held it together. He’s
developed into a brilliant pop songwriter, meaning we now have two. Howard
and I help wherever we can and the result is that it feels like a band
effort, rather than…” One designated driver and three passengers, in short.
Barlow himself acknowedges that a change was due. “In the old days, lead
vocals were a sensitive issue, basically ’cos I wanted to do them all. I was
young [the four are now aged between 36 and 40], ambitious and selfish.
Robbie was the first to challenge that, but hearing him would only make me
want to try to do the same song better. My own insecurity issues, totally. I
don’t have them any more and as a result I’m enjoying letting everyone else
have time in the sun.” That mention of Williams, for a long time resident
here in LA, and variously reported to have become a bit of a recluse, even a
UFO hunter and possibly long-haired and bearded since the relative failure
of his last album, Rudebox, provokes an inevitable question. There he
is, just down the road, doing nothing very much as his four old mates live
the pop-star high life once more. Might he ever be invited to rejoin the
band?
Privately, and after all the media-encouraged and reported animosity between
he and Barlow, the five are back on good terms. They’ve seen him twice in
the past week (protective to a fault of his privacy, they have sought his
permission just to tell me this) and will be meeting up again. The ever more
confident tone of their work as a four-piece has proved they don’t need
Williams. But would they actually want him? Interviewed individually, only
Owen volunteers an opinion. “It would be bloody brilliant if he came back
some day. There’s nothing missing without him in a musical sense, but still
it would be so great. I think we’d all have Rob back tomorrow if he wanted
it and the time felt right. For now, though, it’s been just brilliant to
have nights out with him again. We’ve had a right giggle. I’m really made up
to be seeing him. I think we all are.”
For the foreseeable future, though, the line-up remains as it is. Take That
have been in a London studio recently, writing and recording their second
post-reformation album, The Circus, the stylistic breadth and verve
of which represents a genuine step forward for the band. This visit to LA
was precipitated by the need to oversee its mixing with producer John
Shanks, and to shoot the video for its lead-off single. From here on in, the
hard slog and hard sell will begin. The four marked the transition from
private to public last weekend by driving themselves to Las Vegas to catch
the latest productions (Take That’s own stage shows have always
beencheerfully over-the-top) and re-bond. And while they were there, Barlow
confides, he found himself telling his friends: “These are the best years of
our lives, here, right now. We’ve got to enjoy every second, ’cos these are
brilliant, brilliant times.”
Take That’s new single, Greatest Day, is released on Polydor
on November 24; their album, The Circus, follows on December 1.
Styling in the exclusive Take That vodcast was done by Luke Day, hair was by
Liz Taw and make-up was by Makky.
