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Ronan talks to Steve Wright and his team on the Steve Wright in the Afternoon Show
BBC Radio 2 Wednesday May 17th 2006
Please do not use this transcript anywhere else without asking for permission. Thank you.
Steve Wright: Ronan Keating’s here, I was just telling Ronan to get a little bit closer to the microphone coz I figured he might know how to work a microphone and I was explaining that his microphone is gated. So this is a gated community, we’re into
Ronan: Are all these mics gated?
Steve: (Laughs) Yes they’re gated
R: We’re all in the gated community
S: I don’t know what that means!
R: A very exclusive community
S: What are you doing with your clothes on by the way?
(Lots of laughter)
R: I know! It’s very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable with all me clothes on
S: I did see that picture a couple of days ago; it’s a picture of you with no clothes on. It surprised me that you’ve got a tattoo on your left arm Ronan and your right arm by the looks of it. And there’s a pint of Guinness in front of the er… cutriments
R: Yes
S: So what’s it all about?
R: I did it for Everyman cancer foundation; it’s prostrate and testicular awareness. Cosmopolitan magazine do it every year and they asked me to do it this year and I said yeah, I thought why not?
S: That’s a good enough answer
Team: Yeah it’s a great cause and it’s a great idea, but you are showing off, coz half a pint of Guinness would’ve done it wouldn’t it? (Roars of laughter from everyone)
R: Ah thanks very much yeah, that’s actually a really really large glass, that’s a massive massive glass! (Still laughing)
Team: It’s an inflatable pint of Guinness!
R: Absolutely massive pint!
S: Ya just seeing it from the wrong angle
R: That’s all it is, that’s a massive massive pint!
Team: I wouldn’t have done that, that’s very brave
S: I think it is very brave, because you seriously don’t have anything on under that er beer
R: Not even a sock
S: I must say and I did say this before we opened the mic, you do look great, you look pretty good why is that?
R: I’ve had a year and a half to make this record, being at home, and that can be dangerous coz halfway through the year I did put on a few pounds. Ya know when you’re home; cooking and you’re just at home in the studio and you’re eating and drinking and you work til 2.00/3.00 in the morning and then you’ll go out for a Chinese, I mean you just put on the pounds. So it came up to summer time last year and I thought I’ve really got to get me head together so I started running, training hard and eating properly and feeling good now
S: And you play some golf and you’ve got 3 kids now right?
R: I do, I’ve 3 kids, 3 brilliant kids and I play a lot of golf yeah
S: That’s obviously doing it?
R: Yeah
S: What do you put down your longevity to? Apart from your enate talent, we’ll take that as red Ronan
R: (laughs) cheers thanks
S: What do you put it down to, is it hard work?
R: I honestly think bottom line for any artist, anyone out there, it’s the songs. If you’ve got good songs you can go away for as long as you like and you can come back. If the songs are brilliant you will always survive. And I mean I’ve tripped up, my last album wasn’t that good…well the last studio album. The greatest hits was a great success, thanks to Yusuf Islam – Father & Son, but the album before that Turn it on, I got it wrong ya know? I released the wrong single first. I thought I was bullet proof, I thought I could release whatever I thought, but I was wrong. And I think it’s ok to do that as long as you learn from it, which I did and I’ve made an album now which is for the fans ya know? Its very ballad driven, it’s very Ronan Keating
Team: Was that quite a shock though, with the last album, did that give you a jolt almost?
R: Yeah a massive wake-up call, big time. I mean it really scared me, I had what; 7 albums and all of them No.1 and I thought hang on a second this doesn’t feel right, there’s something wrong here. I thought I could be a rock star, I think it’s ok to try that but err; it didn’t work for me and I’m back to doing what I do best I think
S: Err we listened to the album, we just played the single, we’re just trying to fit you into a genre and it’s quite difficult, it’s a little bit country, it’s a little bit folk, it’s a little bit pop……
R: Yeah it’s got all of that, I think generally country-pop is really what it is, over the years and through my childhood I’ve been influenced by country music and that definitely comes out in my music
S: How Celtic are you? I mean how Celtic are you to your Celtic roots, a little bit, not at all?
R: I try and bring a little bit of Celtic instruments and sound into my music, a little bit. Working with Kate Rusby on this record has been great, because she’s a folk singer but I feel she’s got Celtic roots as well ya know? And I feel it in her sounds and her music and her voice, her tone. I mean I still live in Dublin, I love Dublin, I wouldn’t live anywhere else and I love going to the West coast of Ireland ya know? It’s a beautiful part of the world and I think when you get there you really do feel like you’re part of that kind of Celtic feeling.
S: And what about the boys from the band, I mean do you hang with them ever?
R: We’re going out for dinner, Stephen and Shane I think are coming out so I mean ya know, we see each other a bit, we stay in touch when we can. We text each other, we call, we’re not like as close as we used to be in the band…….
S: But any animosity is gone?
R: Yeah it’s gone, I mean we did have issues when the band broke up but err, ya know it’s gone
S: Here you are writing songs and performing songs, as you always have and you’ve been involved of course in management. Now when you look at something like X Factor as somebody who is already the real deal and has done everything that, that show tries to do, what do you think, what goes through your mind?
R: For me, I think the shows are grand as long as they’re looking for real talent and not for something else. I think if you get someone like Will Young, I think it’s great and he looks like he means it and he works hard and he still has a smile on his face and you can see he’s thinking about it
S: Is it inevitable that a band when somebody leaves that actually they have a short life after that and is it inevitable that somebody say like yourself would eventually leave a band and forge a solo career. Does that always happen in bands?
R: In bands like Boyzone, Westlife, Take That, I don’t think they can last forever and I think that’s known, they need to move on and I think it’s inevitable that there’s always somebody who shines a little brighter than others and maybe 2; maybe 3 we saw that with Robbie, we saw that with Bryan McFadden and ya know, not saying that I was the one who shone but I mean we all wanted to do different things. Whether its time for the band to finish then no, I think you see what Westlife and Take That, that there is life in a band even if a member leaves. I mean they were lucky enough they had Gary Barlow, Take That still had the singer, the lead singer there, as Westlife did with Shane.
Team: Were you surprised by not them getting back together, but by the welcome that they received?
R: My wife and I went to the show on Friday night in Dublin and I have to say it was one of the most entertaining shows I’ve been to in years. From the start to the finish; they spent an absolute fortune on the stage. The one thing about a show like this you’re kind of thinking in your head, they’re getting back together for the money, so you’re thinking they’re gonna throw a stage together and they’re gonna, ya know, just get on with it. These guys have spent the money, it’s a gamble for them again and they really want it and I just think it’s fantastic it’s great, if you really want to be entertained go to the Take That show
S: You’ve got some gigs I know lined up for yourself, Hampton Court, I’ve got, Liverpool, Bristol and Newmarket Race Course
R: Back to Newmarket again
S: Yeah and you can put on a bet at the same time
R: I can indeed, I put on quite a few last year I tell ya (laughs)
S: Now also this Saturday May 20th Ronan plays live at the Princes Trust 30th birthday party at the Tower of London. Also who else have we got there? Annie Lennox, Bee Gees, Ozzy….
R: Sugababes, Ozzy Osbourne, I mean I’ve done a couple of gigs along the way for the Princes Trust and this is a really big deal, it’s televised also but it’s 30 years anniversary and I think the locations very cool as well
S: Oh absolutely
R: Ya know, so hopefully the weather will be good for everyone, that’ll really make it
S: Will you be turning up on your motorbike?
R: Probably not, I’ve a mad week, I’m in Austria, I come back Friday for another rehearsal, then I fly back out Friday evening to do the Late Late Show in Dublin then I fly back over Saturday morning and I’ll probably be asleep in a car from the airport to the gig!
Team: I’m sure the handicap’s gonna suffer with that kind of schedule…….
R: I’ll tell ya
S: I’m amazed you 2 haven’t spoken golf….
Team: Well I kept schtum coz you’d only shut me up anyway (laughing)
R: I was playing last Wednesday
Team: Did you where did you play?
R: I played with Jimenez at the Belfry for the …..
Team: I was gonna say I played Waterhill last summer but I can’t top that, played with Jimenez!
S: What shall we play….thank you both of you….
R: Sorry about that, sorry to bore yers all (laughing)
S: Ronan’s new single All Over Again featuring Kate Rusby is released on May 29th, you’ve heard it already and the album Bring you home is out June 5th and they’ve err snuck us out a little err advanced copy. What shall we play that you would say would be representative of the new album that we can play on our way out?
R: The opening track on the album is a song called Friends in Time, and it just has a great up feeling ya know? You wanna get up out of your seat; you wanna dance around the room. It’s just got an atmosphere and a vibe. It starts the album off well and I think it leads people into the album well, so….
S: OK, great to see you again and good luck with it all and here it comes. Ronan Keating everybody (a round of applause in the studio) |