Take That break even Michael Jackson´s ticket sales records in England. The Brit tells us in an interview why he is a summiteer/reaching fo the stars in other areas as well.
Focus: Mr Barlow, Take That´s new single is called "The Garden". How does your own garden look like?GB: I´m ashamed to admit that I´m a typical city slicker. And my wife is even worse. She only has to look at a plant and it dies. If we didn´t have a cleaner there wouldn´t be any real plants in our house. To be honest: I think that gardening is a waste of time. I´d rather spend time in my studio or in the kitchen.
Focus: Are you more of a beach type then? Where do you like to relax the most?GB: Oh no, I´d be very restless if I was left on a beach. I spend my holidays going skiing. We are leaving again next week. My children like it, too. I persuaded then to go skiing when they were very little, these are really fun holidays. And the best thing is that nobody recognizes you in a skiing outfit, it´s anonymous.
Focus: It´s quite a way to go from a ski slope to the Kilimanjaro! Two weeks ago you managed to reach the peak. Where did the idea come from to climb the highest mountain in Africa?GB: I met Richard Curtis last year for lunch. He is the founder of the biggest, British charity organisation "Comic Relief". It´s unique as every pound they get will be spend on charities in Africa and Great Britain without any deductions. He was very worried that it could prove to be difficult to convince people to donate money because of the credit crunch. And I thought: It´s not enough to ask. You have to do something that people will give you money. I then had this crazy idea to climb to the top of the Kilimanjaro. A friend of mine has done that and he wasn´t as fit as I was. I managed to convince 8 other celebs of various backgrounds to join me. Normal people, no athletes, Radio DJs, TV hosts....
Focus: ...former boyband stars - and I´m not talking about you, Mr. Barlow.GB: (laughs) Yes, Ronan Keating from Boyzone was one of the group! I have known him for years. We are good friends.
Focus: For how long have you prepared that climb?GB: We have spent more than 6 months doing cardio training, which means a lot of walking and running. We got our boots in November. It is very important to walk/run in them a lot before climing the mountain. The boots must fit perfectly, because you spend seven days a week in them, 9 to 10 hours a day.
Focus: What hurt the most while walking for such a long time?GB: Unfortunately I had pinched a nerv during training. I had to go to a physiotherapist and it was only getting better very slowly. Apart from that I didn´t really feel any pain. I thought it was more of a mental challenge. To wald for such a long time without having anything interesting to see, that was tough. As soon as you leave the rain forest behind you, there are only stones. It is very meagre and foggy. And the higher you get the less oxygen is in the air and the slower you walk. The slower you walk the longer it takes to reach the daily destination. And you fear the evenings, because you spend them in a tent at minus 15 degrees Celsius. Therefore you wear every single piece of clothing you can find in your backpack while being in your sleeping bag. It was just horrible.
Focus: Especially for someone who is not too keen on camping anyway....GB: I had never been camping before. But one thing is for sure: I don´t ever want to see a tent again in my life!
Focus: What was so horrible about it?GB: It smelled horrible, it was dusty, I hated it. I did not wash myself for a week up there. Our toilette was a hole in the ground. It just was tough.
Focus: And do you find your inner self while walking constantly?
GB: (thinks about it? I have found out a couple of things about myself up there. I have always defined myself by my job in the music industry. I have always thought that that was me. And it just isn´t so. I am a very confident person when it comes to my job and I think that I am good at what I am doing. I have lots of ideas and have a good feeling. I am a very positive person. But: Take it all away. Take away the career. And then put yourself on that mountain, walking and sleeing in those horrible circumstances. I was just unhappy – unhappy fort he whole time. I couldn´t find anything positive about the trip. And I was really scared. I was scared every day about what weh ad to endure, how high we would climb. And I didn´t have any courage. That really shocked me!
Focus: That means Mr. Barlow is a wimp....
GB: Yes, I am. During the last night in which we were walking I was scared to death fort he whole time. There were five girls in our group. All the girls were tougher than me.
Focus: Demons coming alive?
GB: I don´t really know. But I think that we are not challenged that much in life. Definitely not me. I didn´t even have a real job before Take That. I had never encountered a real challenge in my life. Something which challenged me to the core. And that was what it did to me. I had to use every little bit of energy and will-power to get to the top.
Focus: And now that you have succeeded, are you any braver?
GB: I don´t know. I only know that it was like giving birth to a child every day. And when we were at the peak every single one of us felt brilliant. We made it!
Focus: There is a video of you on YouTube: arm in arm with Ronan Keating at the top of the mountain. Ronan wished you had never convinced him to come along. And you didn´t look that happy either....
GB: The magical moment was right before that: I was standing at the very top, took a deep breath and said in the direction of the sky „ I thank the Lord that everyone of us made it. And that we collect lots of money.“ That´s all I wanted to achieve. To collect as much money as possible to charitable causes.
Focus: Why did you have the need to conquer such a challenge at all?
GB: I wanted to do something that did not have anything to do with music, that is far away from the band and that would do some good deed for some people. It might be different here, but I am a big star in England. People listen to me when I say something. I think that the four of us are examples. I thought that it would be great to get a very positive message across. I am very, very proud of myself that I achieved this. Because it is far away from my comfort zone.
Focus: To be honest, I didn´t think that you are such a sportive pserson...
GB: Well, I´m definitely not!
Focus: Why didn´t you take your TT boys with you?
GB: I had asked all of them. They thought that it wasn´t something fort hem.
Focus: Well, then your band colleagues are the wimps!
GB: (laughs) Exactly!
Focus: And what is next? Mount Everest? The Camino de Santiago?
GB No, never again. That was enough of a challenge for a lifetime.
Focus: But you are going on a big „Circus-Tour“ in England in June, for which Take That has already sold 1,1 million tickets. That is even more than Michael Jackson has sold for his comeback concerts in London. How much does this success has to do with the history of the band? One associates friendship, arguements, forgiveness and taking of a second chance with Take That....
GB: Oh yes, that plays a big part. THe fans experience our success and our failures. It is the history of the band that makes these experiences important to me. Without them I wouldn´t bet hat passionate about it. Today the band means so much more to me than back then. We are very close to each other and take care of each other. It has never been revealed to the outside world how close we are now. We often talk about having a camera team following us for a year. That would be fun. But at the same time I´m saying this I know that it will be much more fun for us when there are no cameras around.
Focus: How do you try to control your ego when you play with the thought of trying a solo career again? Or are you healed from that idea?
GB: I can promise you here and now that I will never again release a solo album! The band is brilliant and I love to be creative with the band. I never have the feeling that I could do better without them. I love to be on stage with them. That ist he key to everything. It is brilliant to have the support of the other three guys. And to be hones: If I were to do something outside of the band, I´d be more interested in finding and helping new artists. I´d rather do that than release my own album.
Focus: It is astonishing how you took your second chance to straighten out your image. Due to former statements by Robbie Williams one saw Gary Barlow as the dictator with the big ego. Today you are more popular than ever. Without the second chance with Take That your life had probably been a little bit sad?
GB: Maybe. But you know, it has to take a lot to break me. It was an important part of my growing up. When I talk about my ego I think about the end of the band. My mind and my ego were out of control. But then I had to see how it is to be dumped by the label. Even if my private life at that time was wonderful, I had married and we had a baby,my career was more than over. It was very educating to see how it is when people don´t want to be associated with you any longer. It´s like that when it´s very hot and then very old. It´s like a virus or a disease. It is very shocking to realize. But I think it teaches you something. You have to fight to get back to life when nobody wants to phone you anymore. It´s a lesson. And therfore I never go on stage or to an interview in a bad mood. I enjoy every moment.
Focus: You have become very humble.
GB: Yes, very.
Focus: And are delighted to be seen as a very nice guy today!
GB: Not to be recognized as what you really are hurt the most. Everybody asked me: „How come people don´t know how you are?“. But that was part of the boyband concept, nobody new who we were, because we were kept apart from everything. It is nice to be oneself this time.
Focus: After the Brits this year you have given a concert with Chris Martin from Coldplay, Bono from U2 and Brandon Frasor from the Killers. Do you feel accepted by these artists?
GB: (sings the refrain of „Human“ by The Killers) Actually it´s all Chris Martin´s fault. Coldplay cover BfG all the time. I phoned me up and asked me whether I´d come to the Brits. And I told him that I´d come to their dressing room to show them how the song is really done. Chris loved that idea. And that´s what happened. The gentlemen were very talented and have been happy like small children. And when they asked me to repeat that at their concert later that evening, I said yes. But to be honest I only wanted to meet Gwyneth Paltrow. I didn´t care about the singing.
Focus: But she is married to Chris Martin and you are married, too, Mr. Barlow!
GB: That doesn´t matter. She is so beautiful!
Focus: Your album is called „Circus“. What do you associate with that word? Do you think of your childhoood?
GB: We always had a little circus in our village. I often went there with my parents. I still can smell the strange odeur of the camels thinking about it. I don´t have nice memories about it. I think that the modern circus is so much better.
Focus: Are you talking about the shows by Cirque du Soleil?
GB: Exactly! I have watched the beatles „Love“ show four times in Las Vegas. I have watched „O“ 11 times. And the third Cirwue du Soleil show I love is called „Ka“ in the MGM Grand hotel. It´s amahing. Just imagine there would be a Cirque du Soleil show with Take That songs – that would be fantastic.
Focus: What about your plans about a TT musical. There already is a „Never Foget“ show by one company.
GB: I have never seen that one. But our manager watched it and like it. I think that we ´d love to do something like that. But at the moment there are more film companies asking whether we would write songs for their films. We found that very inspiring. Not only me, all four of us. These things are really good for TT. You feel like a hamster in a wheel when you only do promotion and touring as it was back then. To do a small project or a smal concert on the side gives us the possibility to make it more intersting. WE are all very creative at the moment. Everyone of us has great ideas.
Focus: What are you going to do at Eastern, Mr. Barlow?
GB: I will just eat chocolate. That´s the plan. All day long.
Focus: But then you are going to gain weight again! Do you still struggle with it?
GB: Oh yes, to eat chocolate is vile. I have to pay attention. When I have chocolate days, I have to do training. That´s what I have learned, it´s important to be active. I have never done any training back then, that´s new for me and has helped me a lot in the last four years. I have three children and have to stay healthy. I want to see them grow. It´s worth it. And it is an additional challenge that the other three are so skinny.
