5SOS guitarist pokes Michael Clifford pokes fun at on-stage fire accident on debut song

All four 5 Seconds of Summer members have now launched solo careers but Michael Clifford said it’s “weird” anyone thinks it’s the end of the band.

5 Seconds of Summer star Michael Clifford has turned a “humiliating” - and life-threatening - on-stage drama into a self-deprecatory joke on his debut solo single “cool”.

Clifford’s hair caught fire when he stepped near pyrotechnics as the band played the breakthrough hit “She Looks So Perfect” at a solo-out show in London in 2015.

On “cool”, the pop-punk producer sings about his doubt about being cool enough “when you’re the guy who caught fire with the coloured hair / From the band with the song about underwear.”

Clifford said he wrestled with keeping the “hyperspecific” lyric on the single.

“It was a little bit humiliating (back then), but like, I am good,” he said, laughing.

5SOS band member Michael Clifford releases solo single Cool. Picture: supplied.

After being treated for the burns, the musician rejoined the band for the show the next night.

Looking back on the accident 10 years later, the Australian musician said for an hour after he was torched by the pyro blast, he feared he had lost his sight.

“I couldn’t see for like an hour or two and I don’t know if it was shock or if it was the actual fire hitting my eyeball or whatever, but that was really the scariest part,” he said.

“I remember thinking if there was a scar, whatever; I felt half my hair catch on fire because I had so much hairspray on so I knew that was gone. I just kept thinking ‘at least let me keep my sight from this.’”

Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford and Calum Hood all have solo side hustles. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Clifford is the third member of the Australian pop punk quartet to launch a solo side hustle.

Frontman Drummer Ashton Irwin was the first to branch out with his Superbloom album in 2020, followed by frontman Luke Hemmings in 2021 with his When Facing the Things We Turn Away From record.

Clifford, who co-founded 5SOS in Sydney in 2011, wrote “cool” with his 5SOS bandmate Calum Hood and dropped it last Friday. Coincidentally, Hood released his debut single “Don’t Forget You Love Me” this week so all four members are now solo artists.

5SOS fans should fear not. Four solo careers does not spell the end of the band, as it hasn’t for Pearl Jam or Foo Fighters or all the K-pop groups whose members are doing their own thing.

The Aussie punk pop group, whose members are based in Los Angeles have generated more than 11 billion streams, 10 million albums and two million concert tickets over the past 11 years. Their last album, titled 5SOS, was released in 2022.

“I love that we’re kind of breaking that stigma, that you don’t have to do one or the other, especially when you’re a band like us where there’s four strong individual artists and singers within it,” Clifford said.

“Luke and Ash’s projects were both on my Spotify top listens. I’m a big fan of everyone individually just as much as I am of the group, so I don’t want anyone to be weird about it.

“When we go back together for 5SOS, after all our solo projects we’ll have unlocked all this other stuff that we can do so it should be exciting for everyone.”

The single is the first taste of his upcoming solo record SIDEQUEST. The 29-year-old scrapped, reworked and wrote new tracks after he and wife Crystal welcomed their baby girl Lua last year.

Clifford and wife Crystal now go on mani/pedi dates. Picture: supplied.

While he’s not writing lullabies for the album, he said new parenthood had fuelled a desire to “get all Marie Kondo and bring joy” rather than indulge heavier, existential themes in his songs.

“There aren’t many references about me being a parent on my album, it’s more that I was hearing music in a different way,” he said.

“I always felt like I had to explore the heavy concepts, bring this gravity to everything I did but with this, I kept asking how I could bring levity and a sense of wonder to it.”

Wildly painted fingernails are part of his joyful new aesthetic, and he now goes on mani/pedi dates with his wife.

“At first I felt uncomfortable walking into a nail salon like I do not belong here. We go there for dates now, this is my place now,” he said.

“I love when I go into a nail salon and I see another dude in there. We always, every time, like lock eyes across the room and be like... ‘Hey, I see you.’”