With a new album out in December, the original boy band Take That are back for good. Howard and Jason speak to Edel Coffey about the band's break-up and how it nearly drove Howard to suicide, and their phenomenal comeback
Independent.ie WebSearch By Edel Coffey Friday November 07 2008
In a swish hotel in London's posh Kensington, Take That are holed up, older, wiser and more stylish. A chintzy suite has been turned into a holding cell for journalists where giant speakers blast out the new album, The Circus, due for release next month.
In another suite down the corridor, and past a bored security guard, one half of Take That, Howard and Jason, sit beside a roaring open fire, a beautiful bed, with rugs and love seats scattered round the room.
It's like something from a Mills & Boon novel, or a Take That fan's fantasy catalogue. Minus the PR crony leaning against the door jamb, that is.
They're both devastatingly handsome, looking all the better for having acquired a few lines around their faces, and healthy suntans too.
They're very polite, just as you would imagine Take That to be, and when they do speak, their Mancunian accents are unblemished.
Before the band reunited in late 2005 after a 10-year break, Mark, Gary and Robbie pursued solo careers with varying degrees of success, while Howard and Jason spent that decade in the wilderness.
The split took an especially heavy emotional toll on Howard, to the extent that he contemplated suicide. He tries joking about it.
"The Thames had gone out. If I'd have jumped in I would have been stuck in the mud." When pushed, he says he thought about it seriously.
"It did cross my mind one night. I was in a bad place and, you know, I might have had an argument with someone. I was just in a bad place and I just didn't want to... go on," he laughs at the clichéd melodrama.
"I thought about life, I suppose, and thought it probably would be crazy to do something like that. But yeah, I was a bit depressed for a bit after the band and I didn't know what to do and where I was going.
"I think when you leave three other guys who are your friends and who you've been working with and having a laugh with over the last six years ... it's all that that you lose."
Jason had a more detached view, taking the opportunity to travel and return to college. "It was an adjustment, I think, you know we all make adjustments with our lives periodically, don't we?
"We go from one job to another and one relationship to another perhaps, and life is about making adjustments. We all knew at the time that Take That wasn't going to be a forever thing.
"We knew it was a project really for four or five years. We weren't the Rolling Stones.
"I know it sounds a bit weird after what Howard's just said where he wanted to kill himself after the band split, but I'm talking about myself here. So when it came it was almost to be expected."
Despite holding the view that Take That was a temporary project, now that they are back together, does he worryit might be the only job he is fit to do?
"I always thought it was going to be a temporary thing and there's thousands of things to do in life -- study, travel, become a doctor, millions of things, get married, have kids - and Take That was just a chapter in a long life hopefully.
"That was my mentality the first time. But coming back to it now, and I'm 38 now, I'm thinking, I went back to college and I got a few qualifications, but I didn't really get skilled in anything. I didn't become a doctor, I didn't go on to university after my college and I'm not a qualified barrister, I'm not an engineer. And now and again I've had the insecure thought of 'Oh God! Maybe I am just a pop star'. Whereas over the years I always thought being a pop star or playing a pop star's role was just one part of my character and I could be other things.
"But I haven't been other things. I've only ever been a pop star. So yeah, I do worry."
Howard chirps up, "It's not such a bad thing, though is it?"
"No it's not a bad thing as long as people keep liking Take That," says Jason. "But if they don't then we're out of work, mate. There's no options."
Unlike other band reunions, Take That have released new material this time round, and The Circus is the first time they have all written together.
"We've all had certain life experiences, we can all contribute," says Jason gently, "even if it's in much smaller ways than say one or two of the other members."
He and Howard contribute lyrically and with backing vocal melodies, while Gary Barlow and Mark Owen are the songwriters in the band. Were there any tensions when it came to writing the album, considering Barlow wrote the lion's share of their records until now?
"I think musically we all know Gary's talent and songwriting capabilities and also Mark's a great songwriter," says Howard. "Sometimes you have to step back to say that is right.
"For instance, if we see a melody going somewhere or a chord going somewhere Gary will be on the piano and saying 'no, this one will work better' and nine times out of 10 he'll be right."
They wanted the album to have a 'mini-concept' that went from childhood to old age. "Then we got pissed one night and we thought 'fuck it'," says Howard.
They're still clearly close as friends, although they joke about why they've been separated for interviews. "The four of us, it's a great friendship, absolutely great, great bond," says Howard. I'm not so sure the album would be as good as it is without that bond and friendship."
They're all in different situations now. Howard has two children, a three-year-old daughter called Lola in Germany and a nine-year-old daughter in the south of England and a girlfriend in Germany too. "I'm not going to mention the one in Japan," he laughs.
Jason remains vague about his love life. "Nah, I don't have any kids, I'm not married or anything.
"There's a vague plan," he says regarding marriage, "we'll see what happens."
Next June, they return to Dublin for a concert in Croke Park, but after that there are no concrete plans.
Might Robbie Williams, the rogue member, ever be part of the equation again?
"I reckon we'd have him back and I reckon he's going to come back eventually," says Jason. He pauses and says, "If we stay together long enough."
Take That play Croke Park on Saturday 13 June with special guests The Script
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