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Exclusive Boyzone Interview - Full Transcript

SKY NEWS – ENDA BRADY INTERVIEWS BOYZONE

ENDA BRADY:

How did you find out Stephen had gone?

RONAN KEATING:

We were all in different places at the time.  I was in Chicago, about to run the Chicago marathon, when I found out and got a call.  As soon as possible I called Andrew, Stephen’s husband, to find out was it true basically because I didn’t want to call anyone else.  Sometimes you get crazy calls, you never know, and to be honest I didn’t want to believe it, I needed some sort of clarity of the whole thing so I found out then it was true.  I then called the lads and I got hold of Shano first, spoke to Shano who was in Dublin and Shane,  I was in panic obviously and Shano, all of us really wanted to be able to, not take it in our stride but we all deal with it best, so he almost talked me down, he helped me out.  So I spoke to Shano first and then I got hold of Keith and Keith was in town, in Dublin also.  He was in a taxi at the time or a car and he said, pull over and he pulled over and he obviously didn’t believe it either so he got hold of Shano and they got together and he also got hold of Mikey and then they got hold of Mick on the phone and called Mick and it is all a bit of a blur how the actual phone calls happened but it all happened so quickly.  The lads all got together in Dublin and they all got to Keith’s house and everyone sort of spent time together.  I was just trying to get a flight back from Chicago, I didn’t get to run the marathon obviously, I just got on the next available flight back and the lads flew to London to Shane’s house and I just spent the night obviously on the flight, go in to Heathrow and drove around to Shane’s house and that’s where the four of us were together for the first time which was what?  about nine, ten in the morning, the following morning and we just spent a few hours together talking and trying to come to terms with what happened and what was going on.  As soon as we could we got on a flight from Biggin Hill and then down to Majorca and from there we went to Stephen and Andrew’s apartment and spent time with Andrew, speaking to Andrew, because we didn’t really know what exactly had gone on, what was happening, anything, you know.  We were just dealing with our loss, with our grief but we had no information so we spent time with Andrew and trying to console him, speak to him and from there then we went back to our hotel and spent time together and just sort of took it all in ourselves and then obviously then the chain of events after that were very much public, people knew that we were up and down, travelling up and down to Majorca, trying to deal with bringing Stephen home to Dublin and dealing with the details here in Dublin with the family and with the funeral home and the funeral itself on the Saturday, so that’s how it all happened, that’s kind of skipping across it.  There was obviously lots of detail and lots going on when we were there but that’s how it happened from the Saturday all the way through to the following Saturday.

ENDA BRADY:

Keith, I’ll just come to you now if that’s all right.  Just talk me through the impact of that phone call when you get Ronan saying Stephen’s dead.

KEITH DUFFY:

Er … I was out myself as it was a Saturday night and I’d just been to a function and I was in a people carrier with my wife and a couple of friends and I’d had a few drinks, like I said, and a meal and we were on our way to a night club and I’d missed a couple of calls off Ro and it wasn’t like Ro to panic, I’d have a missed call and he would wait for me to get back to him, he wouldn’t ring me twice, he’d know I’d be up to something or whatever, so it was strange to see that he’d called me back again, especially at that hour of the night and I kind of thought, oh I’d better ring him back.  So I rang him back and obviously disbelief was the first thing and I just remember shouting at him, I don’t know what I was shouting, I just remember shouting something.

RONAN:

What are you saying?  What are you saying?

KEITH:

Yes, what are you saying?  And obviously the people that were in the car with me knew there was something not right and nobody suspected obviously that it was Steo and at that stage then a kind of shock I suppose kicked in and Stephen, all of us are very individual and Stephen would be the one that would look after and protect you, he liked us to do that, you know, he was very tactile with us and he would always make sure that we looked after him and give him a hug so not that it would be any more or less devastating for anybody, if anything happened to the rest of us, but Steo is  the one that we kind of take care of.  I just wanted to hug him.  The lads, we had some strength when we were together but when we were alone it was much more difficult to deal with but we all found that when we were together we had a bit of strength.  So I got Shane as soon as I could and Michael came over to my house then and I was just trying to get Ro over as quick as possible and obviously we had each other but he was on his own on a flight and I could only imagine how difficult it must have been to have been alone for that amount of time, you know, so once the four of us were together I suppose there was a bit of strength between us but that’s when we started understanding what the hell is going on.

ENDA BRADY:

Mikey, if I come to you next.  How much strength did you draw as a unit going to Majorca and doing something so proactive for the Gately family?

MIKEY GRAHAM:

Well I think after the initial shock on the Saturday evening/Sunday morning when the four of us heard the devastating news, it occupied us for the whole week being so busy doing the funeral arrangements and details and we left, after we initially went down to Majorca we left our manager, Mark Plunkett there to take care of things at that end while we came back to Dublin so while we were together for the week and being so busy, it kind of almost kept our mind off or at least occupied that we could get through the week and together, you know.  Because it was so surreal, and still is, when we’re together it kind of feels like Stephen is still with us, he’s just about to walk in the room.  Most of the time he was the last one to arrive when we were doing any kind of gathering and he’d come in, tiptoe through the room in his usual way, with his usual manner about him and to us, that’s how we felt, he was just going to come in to the room.  I think after we had done all that organisation and even when we had brought Stephen back with us, I think it was Ronan or Keith maybe on the plane commented that there was for those two and a half hours flying back, there was something about the five of us being together on that plane. It didn’t seem so bad, do you know what I mean, because we were together and there was a safety, I can’t explain it eloquently enough but there was a psychological safety for us when we came back together, it didn’t feel so bad until we landed but when we landed and we looked out the window of the plane, the plane came off a way to a private area away from the main buildings and waiting for us were the police and our security personnel and manager and gentlemen from the Jennings funeral home, the undertakers and so on and when we came off the plane we decided that we would stay and watch as they brought Stephen off the plane and I think that moment, it was devastating for all of us to stand there and among many moment during that week, but I think that particular moment when we probably more than ever in our career in Boyzone understood just how much of a fantastic bond we have and the strength that we were able to give each other at that moment in particular and there were many moments like that after but that was just the first one and I think that’s kind of when it really hit us an awful lot, isn’t it, that this was real. 

ENDA BRADY:

Shane, if I could just ask you, when you landed back in Dublin, you’ve got Stephen’s body coming home, talk me through the emotions, everything that’s built up that week.  How did you feel being back in your city with Stephen doing what you were doing for his family?

SHANE LYNCH:

I think the clear fact, as Mikey was saying, of the bond we’d built up there as the four of us bringing him home, we didn’t want to land, it’s something I can’t explain here, but as we touched down was here and up there we were more together, keeping each other strong, strong with humour in many ways, with a laugh, with a joke, Steo was with us constantly there in our conversation, the way he just is and the way he made us laugh, we constantly reminded ourselves of that, in joy literally up there in the air, away from reality and we had a good time up there and actually landing was just that switch to this is now what we have to face, seeing the guards and seeing everyone there, it was just so real and as Mick said, watching them take the coffin out, I think that’s the first time … we didn’t see the coffin go on board, we knew he was there but seeing him come out, that was that realisation out there.  As Mick said, I think that’s when we really understood how strong we were with each other, how we looked out for each other and how to make this right for Steo as the events were about to unfold in public as it were.

ENDA BRADY:

You move towards

RONAN:

Unbelievable.  I mean we didn’t really know what to expect from … we visited the church, I think it was on the Wednesday, on the Thursday, yes, we visited the church on the Thursday, the Wednesday and the Thursday and we went to Jennings funeral home and even at that time there was already people gathering around the church and around the funeral home and already laying flowers out, out of respect.  It was very emotional, very moving for us even then, to turn up on the Friday night at the funeral home was the hardest thing I think I’ve ever had to do in my life and I think all the lads feel the same, I know they do.  It was really when it hit home for me to see him there, I mean … like Mick said, the details, the organising, all the things that we got involved in organising that the family asked us to do kept us occupied and we thought, on behalf of Stephen I guess, we were doing the right thing and doing things he wanted us to do so that gave us some sort of solace, some sort of, you know, peace I guess in doing it and kept our mind off it but when I walked into the funeral home I just crumbled, as we all did.  I fell to pieces, it was there that I realised he was gone, really gone and that was very hard, for all of us, for our families, our wives were with us thank God, Louis was there and Mark was there and then when Andrew came in it was very difficult, it was very hard, so that for me was when it really became real, I struggled from then on.

ENDA BRADY:

Along

MIKEY:

Stephen grew up at a time in Dublin when the Irish society hadn’t matured and their opinions on homosexuality weren’t as they are today so Stephen had a very difficult time in that sense growing up as we all know, as a lot of gentlemen like Steve did.  I think that evening was a great sign of how much Ireland has come on in its opinions towards that so he did have a difficult childhood in that sense growing up but they certainly paid huge tribute to one of their own and I think that the local people, the nation, the world has shown magnificent support to Stephen but with regard to that night in particular, I’ll just quickly backtrack to one little point prior to that which is I had said to the guys that I actually didn’t want to see Stephen’s remains, I had decided a good while ago that it wasn’t something that I felt would be good for me to do but in the heat of the moment and as others were going in and all the guys were going in, it was like Stephen dragged me in and said ‘You’re not getting away with this!’ but when I went in and I seen him and he looked great, it brought me to an understanding of some kind that I can’t put in to words but I left there with a particular feeling that was different from the feeling that I’d had going in there and not that I wouldn’t have been anyway but I’ve never been so proud to be able to honour a friend in the way that we did and I have never been so proud to be Irish, to be a part of that community that was showing so much respect and on the grander scale, to be human and I think an awful lot of people were very, very human, they showed true goodness that human people can do, I think they showed throughout the whole of this event, you know, so proud, proud to be walking down the street.

RONAN:

Can I also just say on this point, I also, walking in people were applauding when we got out of the cars and I found, we all found that a little bit uncomfortable, I know why they were doing it and it was lovely that they did it but we didn’t know how to react when we got out of the car and people were clapping, I didn’t know what to do. 

MIKEY:

I think it took us a moment to realise that the claps were actually support.

RONAN:

In support and it was an incredible thing, an amazing thing.  I didn’t know what to do, I got out of the car and I didn’t know what to do, I just put my head down and walked in, I was so overwhelmed by it, it was incredible.

ENDA BRADY:

People have remarked on how beautiful the service was.  Just talk us through the preparation that went into it, speaking to the Gately family and you guys did everything right down to even choosing Stephen’s coffin. 

KEITH:

I think that was probably the hardest thing that any of us have had to do in our life was to go into a room like that, I suppose it is just like a showroom and do that and this was something that was going to be the last thing that your friend is going to lie in or whatever, it was a difficult thing to do but how it all came to be was that when we arrived back in Dublin we went to see Stephen’s family obviously, that was the one of the first things that we needed to do and obviously we went to see Sean and Margaret, Stephen’s folks and we sat down again for a while and chatted about old times and Margaret, she’s a fantastic character, you can see where Stephen gets his personality and his humour from, and I think for a while we felt very comfortable sitting there because we felt, you know, there was so much of Stephen alive in that room at that time and she was great, obviously she had her moments and all of those waves that pass through when reality would kick in and she would get a bit emotional and upset for a time but in general she was keeping very high spirits and she was trying her best to keep herself strong and we spoke to obviously about what needed to be spoken about and the service for Stephen and Stephen’s sending off and she asked us, would we mind sort of taking control and doing it the way she knew Stephen would have wanted and she knew we knew Stephen and the way he would have wanted it to be and we just took it upon ourselves then to go out and try our best to give him the best sending off that we possibly could but the most dignified and respectful sending off that we possibly could and we were very, very aware of the media interest and obviously the public interest and we hoped that, I suppose that we hoped and we prayed that people would just allow this to be a dignified affair and have respect for Stephen and respect for Sean and for Margaret.  You should see

ENDA BRADY:

How difficult was the eulogy when you had to stand up at the altar as four men when previously you’ve always been five?

SHANE:

The lads were brave on that one.  I couldn’t speak.  I think one of my strengths in many cases is in being there for the fellas and I knew that if I attempted to open my mouth about Steo in front of all this loved ones, it would have been impossible for me to do so.  The boys, it was true of the whole week really, we were putting our energy together and we wanted it to be sincere obviously but more to the point, as Steo was a very, very joyful character and we wanted to bring out his personality into it and I know there’s a lot more we could have put in there but people will understand because of our, let’s call it the little life we live on our own...

MIKEY: We had our own sense of humour.

SHANE:

It was very in-house, many of the things that Steo said when only the rest of us knew what he was talking about, his humour was quite incredible that way so we tried to just get it together where people understood his personality and obviously his mother and father, how they would have known him and his brothers and sisters, the Steo they can remember and it went down incredibly well, I can’t believe how strong the lads were, they were all singing, the whole thing about it was you could feel the energy as you stood up there looking out at his friends, his family, his loved ones and you could just feel that they were all there helping him.  I don't know how to explain it, just helping the fellas to deliver what they had to deliver and it was received amazingly.  In the church, again you could hear a pin drop, people with their respect for what the lads were saying about Steo was really incredible, it really was.

ENDA BRADY:

What was it like the night before the funeral?  Did you manage to have a smile and tell some stories inside the church?

RONAN:

Yes, we had a, I guess, as Duffo was saying, we were with Margaret on the Wednesday and what she said was she didn’t want him alone in the church and without hesitating the four of us said, don’t worry about it, he’s not going to be, we’re going to be with him.  So the four of us decided to stay with him on the Friday night in the church and it was, you know, all of us are so happy that we did it, it was our last night together as a five piece, our last real night together as a five piece and it felt like that, it felt like we were quiet.  We lay on the floor to the left of the coffin in our sleeping bags and we cried and we laughed and we could hear him telling us jokes and we could hear him answering back, what he would say back if we said something and we didn’t get much sleep, a little bit but that’s not what it was about, it was just about spending time with Steo and we knew Steo well, he didn’t like the dark, he didn’t like being on his own.

MIKEY:

And he loved a party.  We didn’t have a party but we had a nice time together.

RONAN:

Yes, we had a nice time, the five of us.   We toasted and we had a drink and it was our way of saying goodbye, it was our way of dealing with it.  The next day people said ‘What was it like?  Were you scared?’ but it was a beautiful amazing experience to be there with Steo that night and also outside, we went out at around 6 a.m. and the fans had spent the night outside also and it was unbelievable, we didn’t expect to see these people that were fans who wanted to show their respect in their way as well.  People from all over, people from Asia, from South Africa, from South America, from North America, from Europe obviously, incredible.  I felt very proud, I felt very proud that he was our mate and he classed us as his brother and to have known him like that and that these people wanted to do that for him, I felt very proud, it was amazing.

KEITH:

I was very apprehensive about sleeping in the church, not for any other reason other than that it might be eerie or scary or something but I couldn’t believe how I felt, we all felt so just chilled and, I don't know, it was an amazing feeling.  Father Declan is a great, great priest who worked alongside us all the way and gave a fantastic service, he came out to us at one stage because Stephen was lying in front of the altar and we were in sleeping bags at the side on a tiled floor, you know, and to start off with it was very cold and we had a row with the priest to put the heaters on, you know, so he put a couple of the heaters on, these big gas heaters but we within no time at all we were sweating and we had five layers of clothes on in our sleeping bags and then we decided we’d have to take these off.   He came out at one stage and said ‘Will you not lie up on the altar lads, it’s carpeted on the altar whereas you’re lying on tiles’ and I think it was the first time we were all terrified to get up on stage.  We were safe where we were, we didn’t want to go up there, you know, but it was, it was an amazing night.  I can’t ever explain that, we slept a lot travelling around together over sixteen years ago and we have so many fantastic memories of areas that we got ourselves into or stories that we could tell you but that would be another story that I could tell because I really believe that the five of us were together that night.  Thank God we did it because it gave us great strength the next day.

RONAN:

Great strength.

KEITH:

The next day was to be the most difficult day of all and the strength that we had that day was amazing because we really felt that Steo was at peace and that we had kind of said goodbye a little bit that night, you know.

RONAN:

The singing I found was a little easier than I thought was going to be.  The eulogy I found very hard but the music I found some sort of solace in because I could hear Stephen, especially Within this Life Stephen would sing all the time together in the dressing room, in the car there were songs I would start singing and he would do the most amazing harmonies, the man’s talent to grab harmonies and do what he did with them was incredible and he’d always do them and I could hear him sing through the song with me and that gave me comfort in singing but with the eulogy I just … the reality to say those words was very hard.  It was almost the singing wasn’t reality, it was us all together singing. 

ENDA BRADY:

How hurtful was some of the newspaper speculation in the first few days?

MIKEY:

To be honest with you, it’s not something that we want to comment on too much.  We do understand because of the industry we’re in, we understand how the media works and how when there is any void in a story it can be filled with speculation.  Obviously we’re only human and some of the things that we were beginning to hear were extremely harmful and hurtful to ourselves and Stephen’s husband and his family and so on but then we would just remind ourselves that this is the nature of the industry that we’re in.  We didn’t pay too much attention to those things because we know that none of those things are true so we just moved on past that, there were more important things to be dealt with, you know.   We had the job of our lives on our hands and we weren’t going to be side-tracked by any kind of misconduct by the media and that was it, that was it, so we moved past it.

ENDA BRADY:

So many happy memories and so many very funny stories that five Irish lads who have rocketed.  One in particular I want to ask involves Shane, funnily enough.  Stephen being a gentle easy-going guy, where did he fit into a group that goes along to the MTV Europe awards and results in the newspaper headline ‘Rough Paddy Hits Puff Daddy’?  What did Stephen make of that?  Do you know the story I’m on about? 

SHANE:

He told me to do it!  [Laughter]  Go up and give him a box!  No, I think Steo … we were young then, God Ro was 16, me and Steo were 17, Steo was older than Mikey believe it or not, he was 18 or 19, and we all started very innocently within the realms of Dublin, with the industry what it was.  What was the pop industry there?  Nothing.  So we were the pioneers of pop in Dublin so it’s not like we had any forceful characters within that group, we were just all little puppies at the beginning of a band called Boyzone and we had no idea how big or how strong this was going to be and everybody, we were there trying to learn each other’s characters let alone battle the world and have records out.  It’s not as if we were in the industry all our lives,  some of us did in various situations but I think Steo was, he was the glue in many senses, he was the main inner city guy, the others were all from leafy  suburbia let’s call it and his ways, his manners and travelling the world with Steo was incredible entertainment more than anything else and he was what kept us all very positive because I think he knew a lot more of the industry than we did because wholeheartedly he was an entertainer, he was a singer, he was a dancer, he was a performer, he was all of those things that me personally I ever wanted to be but he naturally had so realistically we looked up to Steo, we looked up to him within the group, so I don't know, he was the glue, he really was. 

ENDA BRADY:

Looking ahead, how is it going to feel on stage as four lads together?

RONAN:

This is the first time we have sat down as a four piece ever.  We only ever did three of us or five of us, we never did four because it felt like someone was not there basically.  Now this is all we have left, is the four of us, so we have to decide what we’re going to do.  We have decided that what we do now is we’re going to make the next album for Stephen, we’re going to go forward as Boyzone and we’re going to make this new record and we’d like to do that as soon as possible because we have individual things that we have to go and do but we don’t want to be apart, we want to stick together because we find comfort in being together at the moment and also when we’re together we feel Stephen’s here, so as much as possible we feel the four of us want to be together so we just want to really get out teeth into this album, get moving on it and get it made.  We have a couple of songs with Stephen’s vocal on it so that’s a saving grace, thank God we have that, that’s very important to all of us and we know the fans would really appreciate that too so we think that’s what we’re going to do.  That’s where we are at the moment and we’re taking each day as it comes and we’re just trying to see where the wind takes us really.

ENDA BRADY:

How excited was Stephen about the new album?

MIKEY:

All of us, it was like a whole new band to be honest with you, this second time round.  Everybody contributed their own experiences of the years apart and matured a lot more, we were so much more happier now than we’ve ever been as a band and we were so excited about this new album and Stephen, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so up tempo about it all, he really was incredibly happy about the future. 

SHANE:

We had a number of tracks given to us to sort through on the Tuesday, we had a meeting at Polydor and stuff and me and Steo were saying this could be track three, track four, oh it’s amazing, he was just constantly on the phone, he was so excited with the different songs, I can’t wait to get in the studio and do this song, I can’t wait to do that one.  It was quite incredible, he was just fired up, he was a different man, he really was, a different guy, he loved being an entertainer, he loved this industry, that’s what he was born to do and the fact that Boyzone were coming together for an album was just his world,  it really was  his world. 

RONAN:

I had a text from him on the Friday evening, just before he was going out actually on the Friday night, he just sent me a text, so excited about the album.  I don't know if I can say this on TV but he sent me ‘Love you straw balls, speak soon’.  I can’t tell you what I texted back.  That’s the way we were, we were great pals and he was just so excited about the album, he was loving it, was loving the songs, loving the idea of making this record and looking forward, he was never happier.  In all the years I’ve knew Steo I’ve never seen him as radiant, as happy, as healthy, as strong, as confident, as comfortable in his own skin and that’s what’s really difficult for all of us as well because he was so alive, so alive, a spirit that was so alive.

MIKEY:

Ready for a magnificent future.

KEITH:

That is why we have to be so grateful because we have been back together no more than two years and we were given some fantastic memories over the past two years with Steo.  We toured twice in the last two years and every single night of the tour was, because we’d been there before, because we had a few years, because we probably took it for granted the first time round, we were young and we didn’t know, we were impressionable, we took it for granted.  Getting back together and being given this opportunity for a second time, we held on with both hands and enjoyed every minute.  We told each other how much we loved each other every night.  We had a little ritual that we did before we went on stage every night and it kind of ticked all the boxes.  There is nothing, there’s nowhere for us to ever kind of say I wish I had have done that, it’s a shame we didn’t do that, we have nothing but very positive and brilliant memories over the past two years and I’m delighted that I have that but I’m also delighted that Stephen had that opportunity too because I have never, ever seen him as happy, as vibrant.  You know, Stephen trained three or four times a week, he looked great, he looked the best he’s ever looked in his life and he had a spring in his step.  You would see Stephen coming and your head would go round like that because he had a real spring in his step, he was the happiest I have ever seen him.  He looked super, he looked absolutely fantastic and over the last two years we had many opportunities that we’ve got together, we enjoyed ourselves, we’ve got stories to tell, we’ve got memories of that and I know he cherished every moment, as we did, that the last two years gave us and we have to be grateful for that because if this had have happened and we had never got back together two years ago, then all our memories would have been of years ago and I don't think any of us would have forgave ourselves because we’d always question how close we actually were but getting back together two and a half years ago gave us the opportunity to realise the bond that we have between us, the strength that we have between us, the friendship that we made a long, long time ago and now the strength that we have after this absolute disaster has come our way.  We have to believe as well that Stephen is in a better place now looking down, sitting on our shoulder and looking after us and guiding us in the right direction.  There is no feeling that we ever have that we fear right now, there is nothing that can replace Steo, nothing, but we have those memories.  It’s sad, it’s terrible but we have to look forward with some sort of positive head on our shoulders, you know, to say that we were lucky to have been that close to one of God’s true creations.

MIKEY:

Our world was changed, the world that we used to live in has changed, it’s a different dimension that we live in now and it is going to take a long, a very, very, long, long time for us to get used to it.  He was a great, he really, really was a great guy, a great guy and we are all grateful to have had the years that we had with him and we cherish that.

ENDA BRADY:

How do you deal with the anger of the loss?  That he was so happy, he had so much to look forward to, there’s a new album coming out, how have the past few weeks been dealing with that?

KEITH:

We have all got responsibilities in our lives which is what makes this time round so different.  We have got kids, we have had to deal with real life situations in our own lives over the past ten years.  When you are responsible for children, when you have kids, life changes forever because every decision you make, you have to think about how that decision reflects on your children before yourself so all of a sudden a lot of selfishness disappears in individuals when responsibility comes in to your life.  I think getting through the anger, getting through the frustration of why and questioning everything, that's not right, 33 years of age, the best he was ever, the happiest ever, happy with his life, he’s been robbed of his life, it wasn’t supposed to happen but we have to have friends, we have our own children who are being very, very supportive and very upset and life has to go on because kids have to go to school.  We have to try and be responsible adults, responsible parents, in a very, very difficult situation.  We have lost a very true friend and brother and our families can see how much we’re hurting but we just have to take one day at a time and try and move forward and be responsible parents, that’s what we have to do. 

MIKEY:

I think there still remains a sense of numbness amongst us all at the moment because it’s still such early days and we are all aware, we have experienced already a real roller coaster of emotions that we are going through from time to time.  Even in the last couple of weeks we’ve all experienced it.  I had a particular experience there about two or three days ago where I went through a couple of hours, I can’t describe it really to you, but a feeling of overwhelming panic and fear about the change in my world now because of all this but the great thing again about it is the fact that I was able to get straight on to the other guys and tell them how I was feeling and they were relaying back to me how they were feeling and going through a similar experience ….

ALL:

The same, the same.

MIKEY:

… So you go, okay, it’s not just me and we can support and comfort each other through this but yes, certainly the future isn’t going to be easy.

RONAN:

We have tried to stick together as much as possible in the last couple of weeks, just to be around each other.  The day after the funeral we all got together and then we all went our own ways then Keith and I went to Los Angeles and then we got back to London and we all got back together again so we just try to be around each other as there is some sort of solace, peace, when we’re together and talking because he is in the conversation, he’s in the room, you know. 

MIKEY:

He listens to everything we say so we have to be real careful. 

SHANE:

We also feel very strong in our faith as well.   We all had a little group hug before we went on stage each night and said our prayers, you know, we have an understanding that God doesn’t make mistakes and what we don’t understand right now through anger, through confusion, through many things, will be revealed to us all in good time, there is a bigger picture out there.  We don’t know what it is yet but we’ll always stay strong.

ENDA BRADY:

Can I just ask you, Shane, how has your faith helped in the past couple of weeks?

SHANE:

I think probably the understanding of, literally what I just said, whether I like it or not, it’s not my decision whether somebody lives or dies …. I love Steo to bits, he was one of my best friends, you know, a brother which I always confided in …

RONAN:

I think Shano has helped all of us with his strength, it was something that we all needed, we always look to Shano for that, for clarity because we were asking the questions, we were confused, we were angry, we were all of those different emotions and there was always Shane we could talk to and say Shane, what is this, what is going on, what’s happening, why?  You know, why, that was the question, why?  Over and over again, this was not supposed to be our story, this is not the way it was supposed to be, Stephen’s not supposed to be gone, why are we here Shano?  He is always the one that can find clarity in these things for us so we are lucky we have Father Shane looking after us, Father Lynch and God looking after us. 

ENDA BRADY:

Can I just ask, when you went to Los Angeles in the past week, you were at the U2 concert. 

RONAN:

Oh wow, I can’t tell you.  Two of us were standing … firstly Larry, before the show, came up and asked us to come in and he was so sincere and honest and I think all of the lads, they couldn’t believe it, they were shocked, they were really cut up and they looked after us so well and we were there, I was there with Yvonne and Keith was there with Lisa, the four of us were there together and we were stood watching the show and in the middle of Unforgettable Fire, Bono just blew us away with this amazing … the line was ‘you’ve gone home’ and then he said ‘Stephen Gately, beautiful spirit, bright and shining star’ … We were gone, the two of us, we were gone, oh it was just overwhelming for them to take that time out there in their performance to give that respect to Stephen.

KEITH:

Stephen would have loved that.  That was amazing, they were heroes to people all over the world but he grew up in Dublin, from the same place that they grew up and from time to time over the last sixteen years they took us under their wing and pointed us in the right direction.  We have great respect for them, he looked up to them and we do look up to them, they are great ambassadors to this country and to be in Los Angeles, away from home, the furthest part of America from Ireland, let’s say, for him to in his own way show that little bit of respect for Stephen, it was just tremendous.

RONAN:

And the people that were there were so nice, around us.  That’s the one thing that’s kept us going, the support that we felt, that the Gately family have felt, that Andrew has felt, has been overwhelming from the public, from the media.  The coverage that Sky gave and the respect that they brought to the whole thing, the whole week, the dignity was incredible and we felt very proud.

MIKEY:

And we thank you.

RONAN:

Yes, honestly, and all of the family and Andrew want to thank Sky.

KEITH:

To be honest that’s why we are here today, we are here today because of the respect that you guys showed Stephen, the tribute that you paid was amazing.

RONAN:

And we wouldn’t have gotten through it without the support, there’s no way, it wouldn’t have been possible.  We were in a bad state, us four, our families, our wives, incredible work they did in keeping us together and all of our families, our children and Father Declan is incredible, but the people, people and the Garda [inaudible] , I’ll never forget, we walked into their security meeting on the Thursday and the Chief Superintendant sat all of us down at the table and everyone was there, all the team and he started off saying, well lads, he is one of ours, we’re going to look after him like one of ours.  It was so overwhelming, it was so brilliant.  They were amazing, everyone was amazing, it was stunning.

MIKEY:

We were so humbled, we hadn’t thought into it but we were just so overwhelmed at such a dark time for us, how unexpectedly how all of the authorities, how all of the … most of the  media, all of our friends and a lot of the people who just knew Boyzone, the normal people on the street, they lined the streets almost consistently from Sheriff Street all the way up to the cemetery which at a guess is ten miles or something like that, roughly, people were at every corner, you know, everybody was out showing their support and like I say, we were very, very humbled by that and really we want to take this opportunity to thank everyone.

KEITH:

Everybody, yes.  That's really why we’re here.

MIKEY:

From Sky to the people who were watching at home on Sky, the people out on the streets, thank you very much, thank you.

KEITH:

And Stephen Gately would have loved it, Stephen Gately would have loved it, seeing the streets and

ENDA BRADY:

There has been talk of a tribute concert in London.

RONAN:

Yes, Andrew Cowles, Stephen’s husband, is putting together a memorial service for Steo later on in the month and whether a concert may be down the road, we know that Harry Crosby has already said he would like to put a show on for Stephen in the theatre and for Stephen’s charity and so on and there are all sorts of requests and things people would like to do and people are doing what they are doing, and it’s incredible because they’re doing it for Steo and that’s overwhelming, it’s lovely.

ENDA BRADY:

Just as we move towards the end, lads, what words would you use to remember 16 fantastic years?

RONAN:

Sorry, it’s just too hard ….

MIKEY:

It is too difficult to find words beautiful enough … [inaudible] It is too difficult to find words beautiful enough and fitting enough to describe the experience that we had with Steo but he has left us, just like the lads were explaining there, some fantastic comedy moments that we’ll forever remember, a true friend, a great experience, a great guy and I hope he is in a magnificent place playing the lead role on stage somewhere else now.

SHANE:

Basically it’s our Steo, we know him as our Steo.

ENDA BRADY:

Can I just ask one final question?  Of all the songs, all the hits, all the music, did the lyrics of ‘No Matter What’ really sum up his life?

RONAN:

Yes, there are so many different songs that Steo loved to sing and other people’s songs he loved to sing but he was most alive when he was performing, when the boys were stood together on stage he just lit up, he lit up the room, he lit up the stage and his face lit up, that’s who he was, a true performer.  There were songs like Every Day I love You, No Matter What,  Love the Way You Love Me and even when he sang Sing Ladies on his own on the last tour, the guy gave an amazing performance, he was a true performer, he loved the singing.  I hope that we can try and keep that going for him, keep his memory alive when the four of us perform, if we can do that.  We don’t know that we can but we’ll try.

ENDA BRADY:

Boyzone, thank you very much. 

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