The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - CRAZY FOR 90S BOYBANDS! Let Loose & Bad Boys Inc Uncovered!

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

It's the episode you ALL wanted to happen. On The Phonebox Podcast this week we have classic 90's boyband Let Loose! Which now features Matthew Pateman from Bad Boys Inc. It's a 241 Boyband Bonanza. They tell behind the scenes secrets of life on the road in the 90's, their weirdest fan gifts and why they think floppy hair made the girls go wild. Such a dream interview to do. So much fun!Where you can find Let Loose:Let Loose Official On InstagramLet Loose Official On TikTokLet Loose Official WebsiteIf The World Was Ending On SpotifyFor more of me follow @brummymummyof2 on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok and follow the @phoneboxpodcast account on Instagram for polls and nostalgic fun.If you have any guest suggestions, topics you would like me to cover email [e-mail] and be sure to tag so I can see where you are listening!Editing by Soundtruism.#90s #90smusic #letloose #badboysinc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan, you know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Phone Box podcast. It's a great episode. It's a very exciting episode. It's one lots of you have wanted. You've always wanted a boy band episode. And what better way to have a boy band episode

with an actual boy band. Hey! Hey! Cool welcoming. Guys, I talked about it in my stories and you were very excited. Let loose.

Ooh. Hey! Party. Don't believe it! We're all doing hand gestures but it's a podcast and no one can see us. I'm going to refer to you as a boy band and lads, even though you're a little bit

more on the man side now. A little bit more? Just a little bit. So lads, can you introduce yourself? Go on Lee, you start. Oh okay, fantastic to be here. My name's Lee and I play the drums. Yeah, I'm Rob, I play guitar. One of the original Let Loose guys from about 30 or 35 years ago. So a lot of history. And I'm Matthew the Infiltrator. Now Matthew for people who don't know what band are you originally from? Well obviously I was in Eternal. No I was in Bad Boys Inc. So I knew the guys back then sort of going up and down the M1 and eating Ginster's pasties

on a hard shoulder somewhere. So yeah I am now replacing Mr Wormaling, who has retired from music. So Liam Robb needed a singer. So I am Let Loose's new singer. Yeah, you said it. More hand gestures in the air. More hand gestures. Woo, woo, woo.

Proud and proud. Yeah, that's brilliant. Because, Matthew, you've always had a cracking voice. Bad Boys, Ink and Let Loose were two of my faves back in the day. Thank you, darling. I used to go to, like, the odd supermarket had a cracking voice. Bad Boys, Ink and Let Loose were two of my faves back in the day. Thank you, darling. I used to go to, like, the odd supermarket. Not supermarket, like shopping centre, and you might pop on a little road show. All sorts of places and sign-ins.

Amazing. So what's your new song called? It's called If The World Was Ending, which sounds like it's all doom and gloom, but it's actually more of a positive slant on that title. If The World Was Ending, but it's actually more of a positive slant on that title. If the world was ending, but it's happy. Well, yeah, no, because if you've got each other and you've got that sort of love between you and someone else or people or family or friends or anything, that's all you really need. It's like you don't need all the material stuff. It's like that's all you need.

Yeah. And I will leave a link in the description. It's on Spotify, isn't it? Because I've listened to it on Spotify. You can get it on all the streaming platforms. Okay, and you're going to be doing tours. So what kind of places are you popping up in? We're going here, there and everywhere, really, aren't we?

Yeah, well, what happened, just briefly, we only decided to reunite at the back end of last year. So this has been a real whirlwind. So we played in here in third one was that guys which is the first gig we did for about 26 years you know a couple of months back we're playing what to London shows 27 28 jam which is so it sold out we saw the first night sold out in about four hours which was very well possibly got

a gig pending in February at Pontyns, but we're not sure whether that's happening because I think Pontyns are in a bit of dire straits

at the moment. Got a bit tipped up. Yeah. We've got a festival in Nottingham around August time with Banana Rama.

Oh, that sounds a cracking one. Yeah, 8,000 capacity. We've got a hell of a load of Buckley's books in. Which of these 90s nostalgia weekend? I've been, I love a 90s

nostalgia weekend. Have you been? Yeah, of course. Did you see? Of course. I went a long time ago before children. I can't remember. Now, this isn't 90s. Is that what BC stands for? Oh, children. This isn't nostalgia, Now, this isn't 90s. Is that what BC stands for? Oh, children. This isn't nostalgia,

but Stavros Flatley were there when I was there. Oh, my God. That's hysterical. Legend. Absolute legend. So that was quite exciting. Yeah, but the Butlin,

oh, you're going to have to be careful at the Butlin's weekend. I'm taking a tin hat with me. I'm taking a tin hat and I'm with things. It gets wild on those weekends. Oh, I love a bit of Butlins. That's what we've been told.

That's what we've been told. Do you just sing the new song? Do you sing old classic songs of yours? Yeah, yeah. So it's a two-pronged approach, really, with this, because, you know, people do... Three-pronged. Three-pronged, even.

That's how you're out of people do pre-pronged pre-pronged so anyway yeah with all the uh the legacy stuff if that's what you want to call it so obviously we do crazy 17 make it with you and you know the the songs that were that mean something to a 90s crowd so dip into obviously some of our new songs and we're writing more um as well as if the world was ending and we're also going to dip into some of our favorite songs so it's going to be quite as quite an eclectic mix of all sorts of different tunes and so on but i think really with obviously the 90s weekend as people really want to hear the songs that um put us on the map so we'll certainly be the third problem which is without to mention, is the Bad Boys It song. Yeah. So you do a bit of more to this world.

More to this world. So, yeah, we're doing that as well. Oh, I love more to this world. Upstairs in my office, I've got my mum and dad moved house and they gave me a big box. And I've got, like, all let loose singles. I've got one single, which I don't know if you remember this. You open it out and you've got all your fans' names it and my name's at the bottom and I've highlighted it I must have like when I was my little note and I've got like picture dist and all all sorts upstairs

so yeah it's a big big fan of both of you here so okay why did you decide to reform at this particular time computer pure fluke uh just totally off the cuff i spoke to lee about just doing some drums for me in a pub and lee couldn't be asked to play in the pub because he's doing drum teaching and was like all drummed out but he said look i'll do some 90s festivals and what have you so i said well that sounds great he said yeah we can do those said yeah but we need a singer yeah they said within 48 hours we'll have a singer so lo and behold within 48 hours about appeared on the scene that's amazing so did you keep in touch all this time have you been friends no well not really no we've been arch enemies for like 30

years rivals you know i Not to go solo, but that one was interesting. Lee and I have been chatting a lot over the last few years about various things, just about life in general and stuff. Yeah, her years. Surviving being a boy band and stuff.

And then he went, do you fancy joining the band and being the new singer? And I was like, it was like a really weird but a really easy decision just to say yes it was like

of course I'll do it yeah do you know what it'll be a laugh as well it's like it's gonna be so nice to kind of relive that

that heyday it must just be like so exciting and I love the Let Loose catalogue I love the back catalogue they're bloody brilliant they were great songs

and they still sound great now all jokes aside we're having the time of our lives we don't need to be on top of the pops on Thursday night we don't need to be on the Saturday kids shows That'd be brilliant. They were great songs and they still sound great now. All jokes aside, we're having the time of our lives. Yeah. We don't need to be on top of the pops on Thursday night. We don't need to be on the Saturday kids' shows. We don't need to be all over the TV.

We can just do some promo on the socials, do some gigs, write some new material, and we can enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah, for those who can't see, I'm just reclining on my bed right now. This is just literally fun. Lazy-ass productions, we should be called. Just full line on your bed. So that kind of moves on nicely.

This podcast talks a lot about... Because my children are becoming teenagers. Teenagers then and teenagers now. So do you think it's... Does it scare you having fans that have got teenagers now? You're like, oh, my gosh, the fans have got really old. That's not the scary bit. It's the gap between a teenager growing up in the 1990s.

Yeah. You could only talk to a friend on a landline or have pen pals across the world, which is really bizarre and was very common. And now it's just communication like craziness. Even for us guys, writing the new single was all done through whatsapp and emails and bouncing stuff backwards and forwards do you think life in the 90s would have been easier with

social media with regard to being a boy band or you're glad you didn't have it difference in my opinion is if you was going to be a successful pop band in the 90s or before social media you needed a major record company behind you for the financial side of it for their radio pluggers for their press people for their tv people and you needed a van and you needed you needed about five years of traveling up and down the motorways to get known about where nowadays so you can do that with social media yeah where you can reach with social media is where these TV pluggers, radio pluggers and all this stuff was trying to reach years ago,

doing it the old-fashioned way, which, believe you me, was a slog. Oh, yeah. As I said, a lot of my followers saw you all in their secondary schools. Exactly. You're turning up and I suppose people just do a TikTok in the bedroom now and reach probably more people, don't they? Yeah, they've got loads of followers, it's so instant. And it's weird that when we put out the sort of stuff on social media

saying we were coming back and there was a new line-up, it literally exploded around the world. It was like Canada, there was bits about it, Australia, people in Iceland. You're just like, this would never have happened. Yeah, because how would you have communicated to people in Iceland you you're just like, this is just, this would never have happened. Yeah, because you, I suppose also, yeah, because how would you have communicated to people in Iceland? You were coming back. You'd have had to do a newsletter, wait for it to be posted out, wait for people to get it. Send it to the printers, that's the really weird thing. You didn't even have women computers and stuff. I was upstairs in my box, I've got one of your

newsletters, because i was looking through it and you had a page this was bad boys inc you had a page where girls had just put their addresses for other oh my god other people to write to them and i was like this this is this is a bit dangerous that's how it worked there was no data protection it was we were just i was just pen pal in probably six year old men in Coventry that I thought was... Exactly, exactly. He'll probably still write to you now. Yeah, I thought it was a 14-year-old. Do you think that social media would have helped your bans be bigger back in the 90s?

Or are you happy the way it was? I think for me, I quite like what social media does now I don't know what it would have done back then but it just I think it's it makes things a lot easier it makes things just like so instant like we were doing a video in Hawaii and it's almost be like radio silence because the only way we can communicate with telephone um you couldn't send images back you't do little updates to your fans. They literally found out when you got back and did like go in live the next Saturday or something

when you flipped back. So I like the instantaneous thing and that you can do it. But it also just becomes like, there's a lot of fodder out there. It's a lot of old, it's like getting a load of leaflets for your letterbox, isn't it? It's like, all right, I've got a pizza leaflet.

I don't need another 600. It's like, it can be a little bit sort of, it's just too much of it sometimes. I remember doing a Top of the Pops from under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And it was supposed to be live on Top of the Pops, but because the technology wasn't available, it was filmed the day before.

The film was put in a tin can and put on Concord. No! They put it on to can and put on Concord and they'd throw them to the BBC overnight on Concord so they could put it on their machine in Wood Lane and then broadcast it as live because back in the day a satellite link would have been far too expensive

so they'd film the day before put the reels on Concord and fly them over now obviously today you could do that on your mobile phone yeah you'd just have your phone like that and everyone could like that instantly the back of the day things were completely different no it's crazy and also i suppose did you perhaps because i'm on social media you get a lot of trolls you get a lot a lot of negativity did you kind of bypass that not being on social media back then not particularly the stuff would still get through i think a lot of stuff was hidden from

us I know I remember getting a load of stuff delivered to the management and there was some weird stuff in there there was like pictures with her eyes cut out people saying I love take that you need to die people sent vials of blood no yeah people said their hair a girl cut her hair off and sent us their plat and said, I love you so much, I've cut my hair off. And you're like, you've probably done that to your six-year-old sister. You sit there going, what have you done to me?

You'd still get that. But I mean, now it's instant and you get it in your inbox. You're like, oh, OK, right, lovely delete. It was a lovely delete button. One girl knocks on my door, I open the front door, and it was one of the fans. And she had tattooed this is

I mean everyone's got tattoos now right but these tattoos weren't fashionable she had tattooed Rob on her arm and of course it all came out wrong

and it looked horrendous and she's like Shona what do you think and you're like oh no it looks horrendous so she's like is it like a biro

and a compass that's what I was it's a compass like that a biro and a compass? That's what I was, it's a compass like that and then just like, pencil-leaded in it. Yeah, exactly. That is grim, that is grim. Do you think, though,

you got away with doing naughty stuff back then because people couldn't take the photos? I didn't go clubbing that often, but occasionally I did. I remember I went out with Louise Redknapp one night when she was nerding at the time. And our management went mental. It was like, who told you we went out?

And they went, oh, someone knew you in the club and you shouldn't be seen together. It was like, yeah, but there was no packs or anything like that. There was no Eat magazine. Or there was no, like, in the next day in the paper going, oh, shit, that's me falling out of a club. You could do that and stagger down Old Compton Street, piss together, and no one would take a blind bit of notice,

which was quite nice. Yeah, but now, now like you can just have one picture or there and suddenly you're like oh shit or like one like tweet that might have been a bit worded a bit wrong and you like scared me and cancelled and with the fizz loyalty program you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan you know for, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. Yesterday in rehearsals about being cancelled and all that, that wasn't around. There was none of that.

I remember being at a hotel bar at half ten at night 11 o'clock and after a few beers and if a if if if a fan was videoing you it was obvious because they had this bloody thing so the tour manager just alternatively was having a drink but of course nowadays people could be doing it without they could be yeah the other side of the bar without your knowledge, I could probably make a fool of myself and pass out on the bar. But I think back in the day, not that many people had the technology to do it and what they did have, it was so large

you could see what they were doing. Yeah, you don't have to go home, get your dad to put it in the video and try and work it out. And there was no platform for it either, there was nothing you could really do with it. No, you'd just be like, oh. Show it to your friends. Put it on the could really do with it. No, you'd just be like, oh. Yeah. Show it to your friends.

Put it on the shelf. Just put it on the board, baby. To show it to your friends, you'd have to be like, you've got to come round my house and watch it. Wait till the parents have finished watching Corrie and then we can stick it on. And your dad's taped Amidale over it. You know, I forgot to say. Go and watch it.

Okay. I have got some questions for my followers and some from my sister at the end. Now, my sister's a bit concerned you might not answer them because hers are a little bit dodged. But, okay, so first question. A lot of people asked, what do you miss about the 90s the most? So my son now is the same age that I was when I started, which is terrifying. So he's sort of 22, 23 now.

And I just, I sort of look at the way he leads his life. I mean, he works and so on, you know, he's got a job. But everything just seems, you know, it's quite simple. But I think I miss the simplicity of just how life was. I mean, there were still pressures and so on particularly being in a in a pop group you're very very very tired because the schedules are pretty relentless and it's very competitive you know and everything that you do in one country is repeated all around europe so if you're knackered enough doing you know endless promo in this country and gigs and you know radio

shows and schools and the stuff that you were talking about earlier on. You do the same in Denmark and Finland. And half the time you don't know where you are because you get off the plane. You could be anywhere. But nonetheless, I think, again, going back to the whole social media thing, I just think, I think life was probably a little bit simpler without it. I don't think I would have responded particularly well being in a pop group now with all that going on.

Cause I just think you come under such tremendous scrutiny and it can be, just be brutal. You know, you can get it from every angle. There are so many sort of platforms where people can say anything that they like, you know, some of it is obviously is really positive. And we've been lucky this time around that actually, I think 99% of what people have said about us has been, it's been pretty positive. You know, we were worried when Matt took over, we thought, okay, how, how's that, how's it going to work? You know,

we're very happy. We all get on really well and it's a lovely sort of dynamic, but how's everybody else going to, going to take that? That was, that was interested in us back in the day and it's been all right. It's been, it's been really good, but I don't don't know i mean i just think you know with back in the day i don't think i'd have been very good with social media at all i think i'd have made me a bit paranoid if i'm honest yeah i think the bright the the human brain isn't meant to have this much interaction with people all the time it's it's it's too much and it does make me

worry a little bit about my teenagers as well um going onto social media and WhatsApp and all, you know, knowing where so-and-so is. I don't think your brains can quite compute with it. You know, back in the day in the 90s, what your fans saw of you, well, it was solely what was broadcast on the TV. So they saw you on Top of the Pops Thursday night, they saw you on Des O'Connor on Friday night, and they saw you on Gulley Live on Saturday.

That's all they saw you on Des O'Connor on Friday night and they saw you on Going Live on Saturday. That's all they saw. Okay? But what they see now is, if you're that way inclined, they can see what I've had for my dinner. They can see me down the gym. They can talk to me walking up the road. You know, they can see me talking about my

cat's not very well. You see what I mean? So they're actually really coming into my space. Where back in the day, it was only what was broadcast. Your TV appearances were what the fans saw of the artist. Yeah. And not right in their living room. Yeah, you have to share, you can share everything now, can't you? You have to share absolutely every, you know,

minute detail of your life, if that's the way you want it to be and actually people expect that quite a lot i think you know they want to know that'd be some of the hardcore fans want to know absolutely everything about what what you're doing and sometimes you know we come from the generation that we do where we don't really overshare everything you know we just we just don't yeah but the idea of being a star was... That's the idea. The star is up in the sky, you can't touch it. So, like, Shirley Bassey was a star, or Elvis, they were stars. No one could get close to these people.

You didn't watch Elvis eating his fried banana sandwich in the morning. No, on the toilet. Or do you love that? Or see him sitting on the loo having a good time? It's just information overload now isn't it because there is so much of it it's even more disposable because kids

literally flick flick flick flick flick it's like what did you take in from those oh I saw Ariana Grande having her hair plaited and it's but they're already on to the next thing they don't want to watch anything that's like a four minute video or they just want that instant it's the dopamine hit isn't it they don't really take it in it's not really processed is it yeah i mean my whole job is just doing what you just said i'm like

morning guys in my pajamas till i leave now but you know what though like i am a 46 year old woman who lives in birmingham i can have a job where i don't have to leave my house i can take my kids to school and like it served a real good purpose for me yeah yeah so so i am you know i i am very but there's also a lot to be said for leaving your house and for interacting with people i do leave i do leave my house sometimes you don't have wine with your friends i do leave sometimes sometimes once a week um okay so now this is a weird question but on this podcast we talk about lots about crushes and blah blah blah every week every person who's come on it their crush has had floppy hair was it an unspoken we've had was floppy hair an unspoken band boy band member rule you all have floppy hair why is

this i had floppy hair because when i joined babble when i auditioned for babble my hair was back to my shoulder. And I've got really curly hair. I wanted to look like the guy from the Madonna tour, the blonde ambition who had long hair and flicked it all around. I used to work in nightclubs and dance and I just loved flicking my hair around. And then literally

as I joined the band that evening, I had all my hair cut off to like a quarter of an inch and grew it ever since. As soon as it was floppy they loved it floppy hair so it was a battle from day one of oh thanks you've been giving me this thing that i really hate and can't do anything with it half the time i look like ireland when i was trying to grow out a friend i was an aficionado of floppy hair okay you're you're an award-winning floppy hair you're still floppy hair in no let me tell the story

the bottom line was I was a rocker and really I wanted my hair down to my waist but it wouldn't have been cool for the demographic

of fans so the nearest as damn it I could get it was to grow it to sort of shoulder length

right and it just happened that floppy hair was in fashion but I actually didn't like the floppy hair oh no but moving forward 26 years rapidly when i when i did the recent tv a couple of months back and i showed it to an ex-girlfriend of mine she said rob you've got to get your floppy hair back so what do you mean she said look these women are 45 years old that's

the demographic that's their old they come to but, they're going to want to see exactly what they saw back in 1994, 95, 96. Yeah, albeit a slightly older version. But they've got to see that.

They've got to see me flicking my hair around, playing the guitar, making all these funny racket on the guitar. And she's right. So that is why this is the pink to rim

floppy hairness in the stage where you can't do it. It is. He's coming back. The floppy hairness for stage where you can't do it. It is. They're floppy hair for the cause. We're a historic, call it nostalgia, call it legacy act of the 90s. Listen, floppy

hair must make an appearance. There's no two ways about it. It's not for me, it's not. I'm not having a Richie Wormelin clip on Gold Fringe or something at the front. I'll have to do with what I've got. You never have proper hair. Your hair's the same as what it was back in the day.

It just sits on the top of my bean like a bird's nest. There's nothing else to do. The good news is, right, we've all got hair. Yeah. That is the good news. I have got hair under my head. Result, you've got hair. Okay, well, you did touch on this a little bit.

What is the weirdest gift from a fan? I don't know about weird, but it was, well, it was weird. It was weird. So I had a couple that followed me, well, followed us, followed us. Let's not make it about me. They just followed us, but they kind of seemed to focus in on me, and it was a dad and his daughter and he was trying to get me to uh marry her yeah this is really weird marry marry this young lady and i said well look you know i'm i'm so grateful for you to come you know support us and visit

you know come and come to the gigs and buy the records. I'm so grateful. We're all very, very great anyway. But it was relentless. It was relentless. It was relentless. And and then it got to a point where I got I received jewelry. Now, they weren't you could tell that they weren't particularly wealthy. It was pretty obvious that I just kept getting this jewelry, jewelry. And every time they saw me, it was jewelry, jewelry, rings. It was. I remember. Why? Why. How could you tell they weren't wealthy? Say again.

How could you tell they weren't wealthy? I think you just get a measure of people, don't you? Was it because it said Ratners on it or something? Oh, the jewellery. Yeah, maybe it was that. Anyway, it got to a point where one of their family members wrote to the fan club and said, we are so broke because they're spending all this money on jewelry and they're sending it to you.

So then I had to get the phone number of whoever it was. I can't remember. And I said, I phoned them and I said, look, you have to stop. You have to stop giving me this jewelry. I didn't know how much it was worth. I mean, I don't think it was worth very much, but, you know, clearly they were they were struggling. So I just said, you know, you've got to stop. You've just got to stop sending me this jewellery. I didn't know how much it was worth. I mean, I don't think it was worth very much, but you know, clearly they were struggling. So I just said, you know, you've got to stop. You've just got to stop sending me this stuff. And it didn't stop. It didn't stop. It just kept on and on and on.

And I just, you know, felt horrendous because you think... So when did it eventually stop? No, it carried on after the band finished. It carried on. That's why you wear so many bracelets. And he lifts his arms No, it carried on after the band finished. It carried on. Yeah. That's why you wear so many bracelets.

And he lifts his arms and he's got like... Yeah. Pongles. Pongles, yeah. No, I owned a daughter. He never wore this on a Sunday because he's always at a boot fair. Wow, that's crazy. A dad and a daughter.

Wow, that is an interesting... That's the weird bit, though. It was really... Yeah, the dad was very pushy and it was really yeah the dad the dad was was very pushy and it was very uncomfortable really really yeah that it yeah do you know what that is weird mine's not a gift but someone did fly me to japan to sing at their wedding a fan flew me to just sing and all i did was sit there no one spoke to me because no one spoke english i sat there on my own going this is just really weird and she paid for me to go there for seven days i stood up and i said she

wanted me to sing careless whisper i did it acapella and i sat down again and that was it and it was really eggy really really eggy love mine was even weirder than that how are you gonna top japan weddingding and Creepy Dad with jewellery? I'm terrified. Mine was a Willie wine bottle stop. Oh. A Willie wine bottle stop. So it was a little plastic man about two and a half inches tall,

and his phallus was the same shape and size as a cork. Lovely. So you wedged that if you only drank half your bottle of wine you wedged that in and put it back in the fridge who gave you that like a teenager someone sent it to me oh we got some disgusting things

oh I had g-springs through the post things like that that looked like they'd been used and I picked them out with forceps and just waving them at my mum going oh god what am i gonna do with that oh no yeah well hopefully these ladies have calmed down a little bit now and you're not gonna i don't think they are you might be getting dirty big giant granny pants now they can swing by for a glass of wine okay talking about families um what did your families all think about you being in a band back then and what do they think about you restarting it all now i think we

all had quite positive responses from our families i mean my my dad was really encouraging when they came around which i always tried to say dad you can't do that um i know the other guys had that sort of experience my mum was more like oh my god there's like 100 girls standing outside the kitchen window and we'd have to keep the blind down and then they they found them in the garden and but in general they sort of they just loved it they loved that I was doing something that I'd always wanted to do as a kid and they were like you've actually done it and you want it to be on top of the box and there you are you're doing it so yeah they're always really encouraging my brother was great as well he's two years older me, and I think he liked the attention.

He had his own little fan club with the fans and stuff, and there's pictures of him. I'm like, why are you sending me pictures of my brother? I don't want to see a picture of my brother. Can you get him to sign it? I was like, oh, my God, it's getting out of hand. Yeah, it was all pretty positive for my family. Yeah, same as mine.

All positive, really, behind it. They love music. They love the fact that we can actually achieve something and get in voting commons famous or get on the tv and make records yeah they still support you now oh that's nice so i think they're still with us yeah yeah that's lovely okay so a couple from my sister right they're not rude don't worry so she wants to know did all of the bands get on or were you competitive with each other i think the competitiveness was in the press more than anything like smash hits or something we say oh so and so was seen with so and so and they've gone and i don't know that it was never from the bad boys inc side where we were always

pitched against take that so when ian levine put us together he put us together because he'd done an album for take that and they didn't want it so he just told nigel martin smith i'm gonna put my own band together so as soon as we entered the press that was always the story and it was like that's got nothing to do with us that's between nigel martin smith and ian Levine so um we did get a little bit of hate mail and a little bit of sort of bullying from sort of take that fans but then they just realized well hang on a minute that we quite like this song and we like what they're doing and the nice blokes and stuff like that so I think the press wanted to make stuff out of it but it

wasn't really there and there's no one we really disliked in the industry anyway. And even when we met other bands, whether they were rock bands, the Sex Pistols, Tom Jones, Queen, whoever it was, every artist had the utmost respect for each other, whether it was Let Loose who'd just been on the scene six months, or whether you saw the Tom Jones,

everyone knew how hard you had to work to be successful. Yeah. And there wasn't competition, you know. If there was enough fans to go around, even whether they're bad boys, take that, E17, let loose or what have you. There was no competition.

You know, we was all working as hard as each other at the time and had respect for each other. Yeah. That's nice. I like that. So do you think some of these rivalries that are in the press now, do you think they're a bit fake?

Do you think it's all hammed up a little bit? I think it's right, yeah. Even the Blur and Oasis thing, all that stuff that went on, that just got out of control. It just got ridiculous. Like, every day there'd be a story about Noel and it'd be like, oh God, it'd be great. They're not going to put Noel and Oasis

get on really well. That's not going to be a headline, is it? No, true. They thrive on negative. The thing is, I remember with Oasis, they thrive on negative the thing is we i remember with oasis they went on radio one and someone said to me that they heard them being interviewed and i think the dj was saying you know what other bands do you like and who don't you like and i think at the time they had a they had a single out we had a single out we were both in i think it was make it with you was that single or maybe invest in me i can't remember

but the um noel said uh or liam said they don't deserve their success meaning us they you know we're just not very good and they're really nasty about us and i just thought well it's just them being them you know that's their kind of shit isn't it and then and then richie and i met them in a pub in central london i can't remember what we were doing and And Noel came out and he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. And Liam as well, he's like, thumbs up, how you doing? You all right, boys? And we're like, this is just odd.

So it's just all pretend, isn't it? Yeah, it's a bit of a bother, isn't it? Just to get a bit of press and stuff. Yeah, they just were nice, you know, really pleasant. And I thought this is just a bit strange. Maybe you should restart your, you go on. You start it now. You say, well, I don't really like Oasis.

And you get all the papers. I don't think they'll care. Guys, if you take anything from this podcast, let loose, don't like Oasis. Put it on social media, quick. We're in trouble. We're in trouble. Okay.

So my sister wants to know also, did you discuss fans amongst each other, all the bands? And did you have like a group nickname for the fans? We didn't really see each other to chat that much. It was literally passing ships in the night. So I remember there's a video footage of us with Let Loose in somewhere like Sweden or Denmark. We come down some stairs, a video footage of us with Let Loose in somewhere like Sweden or Denmark

we come down some stairs a film crew behind us we go hi guys you're right and then they go on they go off in a preview we go on and then it's like you literally didn't see each other for a couple of minutes but there were like definitely groups of fans that were the same Let Loose and Bad Bugs Inc fans so we had nicknames between us for our fans, but they sort of gave themselves nicknames as well. Oh, right. Yeah, it wasn't like we went, oh, here come the smelly ginger lot or something like that.

It's like, we had some called the Fraggles and stuff like that, but that's what they'd called themselves. So you just went, oh, look, the Fraggles are here. Yeah, we had a group called the Cravens. called themselves so you just got all of the fraggles of real then how did you know there is a facebook group called crave that has been there is it's been started again yeah so um i think a lot of um old boy band i think there might be like a thousand members on there so yeah i was gonna mention it on next game london i was gonna go hands up if you were a Craven back in 93 and 94. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sheepishly. Yeah, I know I think some people are really proud. I think they'll be like, what? Exactly. Yeah, it seems we didn't really use that word in Birmingham. I don't know what you called them in Birmingham. But, yeah, the Facebook group popped up, I don't know, towards the end of last year and it's got quite a lot of,

I have seen some live footage of you lot on that group. On the Craven site. On the Crave Facebook page, it went up. So yeah, it's still going strong. So what I want to know is, do you wish you were trying to be a young boy band now, or are you glad you had your success, you know, then as a boy band? For me, I'm absolutely loving the nostalgia

of what went on then I loved what happened then um yeah there was politics and dramas and things that we couldn't do and wanted to do but I loved sort of every minute of our success and stuff I flew around the world I was a kid um I made no money but it was like that's it's like when you tell someone to go and do a gap year it was almost like my gap year in life really and it was just absolutely bonkers so i'm glad that i did it back then and as lee said earlier it's like i'm glad that there wasn't social media i wasn't looked under a microscope and all that stuff um and it's nice to come back now as an adult and having lived a bit and just go, do you know what, let's go on stage, play live, which we all love doing, and give the fans some nice sort

of 90s nostalgia. That's what it is for me, really. Yeah. What about you two? Yeah, it's just different. You know, it's just completely different. I mean, it couldn't really, because, again, it's a cottage industry and we're doing everything ourselves. You know, back then it was all driven by, you know, it's a cottage industry. We're doing everything ourselves.

You know, back then it was all driven by, you know, record companies and publishers and so on. Although actually for a, I think for a boy band, we had quite a lot of say in what we were doing in terms of the music. Yeah, speak for yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's a great thing for Matt, you know, because I think he really was underused in his band.

You know, he's a great writer and he was, if you know what I'm saying, Matt, it was more of like a production line thing, isn't it? What you were, and it was like... Completely. Yeah, but now, I suppose in a way, you know, this is real three-way sort of collaboration thing. You know, the music's really important. Matt's so involved in every aspect of what we do.

And it's just fun. You know, back then I did find do and it's just fun you know back then i did i did find aspects of it were really you know were good fun but it was just tiring and and half the time you didn't know where you were you were just knackered all the time and there were some really positive moments you know getting sort of gold discs and things like that that we did on radio one there were some great moments fantastic moments that you've got to enjoy when you're when you're young but it's just so different now it's good it's completely different i can't change history on Radio 1. There were some great moments, fantastic moments that you've got to enjoy when you're young. But it's just so different now.

It's completely different. I can't change history. And I'm just glad that we are where we are today. I'm back with the boys and we're enjoying ourselves. You know, I can't change the past. We had some hit records.

And what's been evident for me since we reunited is the fact that the pop songs, Crazy for You, Best in Me, One Night Stand, Everybody Say Everybody That We Do, Make It With You, et cetera, they've stood the test of time. They have. They definitely have. People were singing 17, and there were 45, 50-year-old guys, and 45, 50-year-old, 60-year-old people singing Crazy for You. And I thought, do you know what?

If you can come back 26 years later and people are singing along to the words. Yeah, that is amazing. He shows you that a three and a half minute pop song can be around for a hell of a long time. It means something. And to have that opportunity to go and do that again. Yeah. You know, inspired me to get back down the gym and try to get healthy and try to get in shape and try to get all my shit together.

You know what I mean? Yeah, it's crazy for you. It's just, as I said on my stories, people are like, oh, I used to love this song. Oh, I don't know, my boyfriend played me this song. It's just like, it's a really, it's one of those songs as well that you just know all the words.

It's just living in your brain. You know, 2024 is 30 years ago this year since Crazy For You came out. Well, that makes me feel old now. That's what makes me feel. You're looking bloody gorgeous on webcam. You really are. I'm just going to have a pension book.

Okay, then, lads. Where can everybody find you on social media? Can you give all your handles out? I'll leave them in the description. Oh my god we're all over the place it's letloosofficial.com

is the website we are letloosofficial on Facebook we are letloosofficial on Instagram TikTok anything else we haven't gone any further

than that because otherwise it gets like oh my god what are these new ones that people tell like Telegram and all this sort of stuff there's a lot of stuff to do and that's all newfangled but it's actually, oh my God, what were these new ones that people tell about, like Telegram and all this sort of stuff.

There's a lot of stuff to do and that's all newfangled, but it's actually quite fun and exciting, all the social medias. But if you go onto our Instagram page, you can see all the links within that on our link tree, which is another thing that we do. And on the 27th and 28th, we're planning London in Holborn at the Pizza Express. There's a private

really nice club below there in Holborn. Screaming middle-'s a private really nice club below there in Holborn screaming middle-aged women middle-aged women screaming middle-aged women please do attend you won't be able to get into the venue

because it's we've told them to put the aircon out we're all having get the HRT on tap as they're coming yeah all having hot clutches

over their garlic dough balls okay well thanks so much for coming on the podcast. And, guys, thanks so much for listening to the Phone Box. No, thank you. Special boy band edition. Be sure to go and check out Let Loose, and I will see you next week for another episode.

See you. Thanks for coming on. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. We'll see you next time.