Reformed Bros, heading to Australia this year, on their financial lows and mystery missing member
THEY were written off as washed up at just 23, and left penniless despite selling 20 million records. Now Bros are back, and it’s time to catch up with all the Goss.
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#BROSTRALIA are you ready?
Relentless social media hassling of local promoters by Australian Bros fans has resulted in Matt and Luke Goss playing a one-off show in Sydney on November 4.
It’ll be exactly 29 years since they played in Sydney at the height of Brosmania, on the back of hits When Will I Be Famous, Drop the Boy, I Quit and I Owe You Nothing.
However the highs came with major lows. Their childhood friend Craig Logan left the band after one album — he now works behind the scenes and used to co-manage Pink.
Naive deals with management and a taste for cars and jewellery saw the brothers over a million dollars in debt when Bros spluttered to an end in 1992. This despite 20 million album sales and sold out shows at Wembley.
Matt Goss continued with a solo career, relocating to Vegas where he has had a residency since 2009.
Luke moved into acting including roles in Blade II, Frankenstein, Tekken and The Dead Undead.
They announced their reformation last year, which will start with British shows in August.
How long before you noticed your Australian fans lobbied local promoters to bring this Bros reunion tour down under and created the hashtag #brostralia?
Matt: We saw they’d set up social media pages and made it very evident they wanted us to come down to Australia if we were getting back together. The Australian movement is one of the reasons we decided to take this tour to other countries. They came up with the hashtag #brostralia which we loved. They were relentless in the best way possible.
Presumably every interview both of you have done since Bros split has involved asking when you were going to reform. Are you happy with the reaction now you’ve decided to do it?
Luke: People recognise me and Matt could have crumbled and dissolved into the abyss of the entertainment world but we stuck with it. I think people recognise we’re doing this because we want to do it, not because we need to do it. It’s taken a while but we live in a place of gratitude, we don’t take anything for granted. We know we’re playing some big venues but me and Matt still play video games at night, we have still that connection outside the band, we’re brothers who can’t wait to get back on stage.
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Your mother passed away a few years ago, did that sew the seeds for this reunion?
Matt: In a way. It ripped us apart and it brought us back together again. We were both very shocked by that experience, it was the definition of a moment where you roll up in a ball and go through some immense pain. On the other side you realise the most important thing is family. Luke’s obviously my twin but he’s more than that, he’s my best friend. We can have an argument but at the end of the day he’s my best mate in the world. I adore my friends but I don’t trust anyone the way I trust my bro.
Matt’s continued to tour but Luke you left music for films. Are you match fit for the drum kit yet?
Luke: I’m in the process of physically getting to the point where I can play the drums every damn day. I feel more ready to do it now than I did back in the day. Unlike Matt I haven’t been in the music business for a long time.
Matt: I have been on stage for 30 years and watching Luke pick up the sticks again, well he was phenomenal back in the day and he’s in another league now. Watching him play gives me goosebumps.
Nostalgia sells. How true to the original versions the hits will these live shows be?
Matt: I still do those songs when I play live, but I can’t wait to play them on stage with Luke again. They were born from pop roots. Me and my brother have soul and rock influences, but we will stay true to where the songs were born. We have conversations every day about the creative process.
Luke: Those songs are wonderfully nostalgic. You reach a point where you realise the contribution you made to other people’s memories. I Owe You Nothing, Drop the Boy, When Will I Be Famous, Cat Among the Pigeons are part of people growing up, before they had bills and responsibilities. It’s such a nice feeling. I get that when I listen to Prince’s When Doves Cry, nothing else can make me feel like that song does. It’s a privilege to have a song that does that. We want to do a show that stands up today, it’s state of the art, but it’s true to the origins of the song. They’ll get a Bros concert that’s been constructed in 2017. We would never short change the fans by not giving them those beautiful memories.
Craig Logan isn’t involved in this reunion and has given you his blessing. But do you understand some fans wishing he was?
Matt: There’s no bad blood at all. But we’ve got so much to talk about other than whether Craig’s going to be on stage. The reality is we made that album (Push) as teenagers, Luke and I toured the whole world after that album by ourselves, we played to 77,000 people at Wembley by ourselves, we made two more Bros albums by ourselves. We made a decision that Bros is me and my brother. Luke started the band when we were kids, I was lucky enough to be asked to be the singer. It was basically always me and my brother. At the time if I’m honest we just wanted a mate with us. But you grow up and you realise there’s no better mate than your brother. It’s very tumultuous. You have to have what it takes to stay in the music business. It’s extremely tiring but it’s also extremely rewarding. You have to have your wits about you 24/7. Luke and I haven’t been on stage together in many years but we have a lot of life under our belts and more of a deep rooted friendship because of what we’ve been through. We’re going to be the best version of Bros ever.
Luke: It would be contradictory to the energy we’re trying to create — which is fun and joyful and celebratory — to have someone on stage who could give a f--- about being there. That’s the truth of it. I don’t think Craig wanted to do it. People assume Matt and I didn’t want him there. The reality is he’s a grown man and a very successful guy and I don’t think he has any desire to do it. The fans need to know that getting back with Bros is not something Craig has expressed any desire to do in 30 years. I absolutely understand fans would love the original line up, like The Police did, we all love that, but it has to be funded by the individual’s desire to be there otherwise it would diminish the vibration we’re trying to create which is one of beauty. He doesn’t want to partake. Matt and I never said ‘No you can’t join’. He made a very strong decision to not be a part of it anymore, that’s his prerogative. It’s not a case of Matt and I excluding Craig. He doesn’t want to do it.
Luke in your autobiography, I Owe You Nothing, you wrote “the most hellish equation of all is to be famous and have no money. Money soothes away the problems that come with fame.”
Luke: It’s somewhat harrowing to reveal certain things. More than just music or money, I hoped it might help people going through their own personal struggles knowing they’re not alone. If you’re going to do any good other than the self-serving element of writing an autobiography, which if you’re not careful can have a narcissistic undertone, I wanted to write a book that said ‘Hey, life is tough’. My business is entertainment, you might sell cars, but when we all hit tough times and we’re not supported it can be a lonely journey but there’s a guy out there called Luke Goss going through it too. Am I going to do something beyond just an autobiography, will I make one less person feel less alone? The feedback I’ve got during the years from that book is that people were comforted by my pain. They didn’t mean it in a bad way, but to this day I’m extremely proud of that book. I was a boy, I was 23 years old, when I wrote it. And at 23 I was at the end of my music experience. I was a very young man trying desperately to work it out.
Did being ripped off financially early on make you aware of signing good deals?
Matt: The reality of life is that people who have a good work ethic, especially being an entertainer, you find yourself in an environment where you have no choice but to trust somebody. When you’re on stage or Luke’s making a movie there are no texts or emails, you have to trust someone around you is taking care of business. The reality is that if someone you trust wants to rip you off they will rip you off, no matter how much you’ve been through. You’re swimming with sharks. The music and entertainment industry ... it’s eat or be eaten. Me and my brother have a pretty solid bite now, but we still believe in goodness and having people around us who care about us. We’ve become very private people. We’re not jaded, but in a healthy way we’re cautious.
Luke, your wife Shirley Lewis sang with George Michael and you were both friends with him. His death must have hit you both particularly hard ...
Luke: It was tough, Shirley is an extremely classy lady and very modest about the people she’s worked with. George was like a brother to her. Thank God my brother and I are on this earth together, but I watched Shirley drop to her knees when we heard the news. We sometimes forget about the personal element. I remember I was at one of George’s shows and he asked me to come and see him. He had a little secondary stage under the main stage, I sat with him and it was just the two of us. I’ll never forget just how kind and generous and compassionate he was, as well as how bloody talented he was. And so many things he did for people, he was an unbelievably generous man. Don’t love an artist when they’ve left, love them while they’re here. Not just musical artists and icons, but your family and friends. Someone like George illuminates the profound pain of loss and reminds you it’s too late to tell people when they’ve gone.
Is this tour a one-off? Could you see more shows or new music in the future?
Luke: I’d love to play gigs all the time. Playing live was always my favourite part.
Matt: Let’s get these shows done and see who it goes and how it feels. I’m extremely optimistic. This band has to come back to life officially and that will happen when we come back on stage. We are filming it, we’re documenting everything on this tour.
Luke: I want to say on record I’d love to keep playing live and doing more work with Bros would be a beautiful thing. As long as the fans want to hear it. Optimistically if the shows do well we’d love to do more. We have to have some humility, but if the fans want more we won’t argue!
"The fans have spoken" #Bros is coming to Australia and the #aussiebrosettes made it happen! We love u @mattgoss @LukeGoss â¤ï¸ #brostralia https://t.co/CXpbZzqeTL
— shangee73 🇦🇺👬⤠(@AussieBrosettes) April 27, 2017
Are you expecting to see Grolsch tops on shoes and leather jackets in the audience on this tour?
Matt: We’re privileged as a band to have a uniform. Some of the greatest bands in the world have that. If ripped jeans, bomber jackets, white T-shirts, bandannas and Doc Martens are part of the Bros experience I welcome that. Obviously the music is paramount, but I love the word Brosmania and I’m extremely proud of the mix of music and fashion and the uplifting escapism of what Bros represents.
Bros, Qudos Bank Arena, November 4. Tickets on sale Friday May 5, Ticketek.
Originally published as Reformed Bros, heading to Australia this year, on their financial lows and mystery missing member
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