U-N-I Ch. 10

The day we were to start recording, we posted a selfie on Instagram that received a huge amount of comments, saying "First day of recording! So excited to start, better get ready!" because it was obvious that we were still in bed together. It didn't reveal much but it was sweet and very private.

In September 2014, we put the final touches to the album and in November, it was out. We had to start the promotion. There was no more avoiding journalists and hiding from the media. We were going to do our first TV interview since coming out a year before. We were not planning on revealing much, but we honestly didn't know how it would play out. We just knew that we liked and trusted the host, and that it wouldn't be a shallow interview just about the fact that we were gay, which we had always refused to do, even when the British gay magazine 'Attitude' had asked. However, we were about to agree to it because every couple of months they were asking if we would consider it. We would always answer that we wanted the album to be out first, to actually have something other than our relationship to talk about. Moreover, we were expecting a pretty hot photoshoot with them so we figured we'd better give people some time to get used to the news before agreeing to pose half naked or kissing each other in a gay magazine.

This first interview was going to air on TV and it was in front of an audience, mainly composed of fans. It was definitely going to be about our career, our music, our new album... and maybe our relationship. We wanted it to be casual, interesting and fun for people to watch, and as we loved joking around during interviews, we couldn't wait to do one again. We had kind of missed it.

The host introduced us before we began,

"One minute, you're ordinary blokes bashing out songs with a few of your mates, the next you're global superstars, blinded by the glare of celebrity, paparazzi snapping pictures of you, the whole world following your every move. That's gotta be weird, but that's daily life for our first guests, members of a band that brought you many hits, including these..." and a few of our videos were broadcast on the screen behind us.

"You have been waiting for it, they're finally here. From U-N-I, I am going to interview Robbie Myers and Mark Emery, who are now two of the most recognizable faces in the music world. They have sold over 35 million records worldwide and won many awards.Their third album "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" came out two weeks ago and has been number one in over twenty countries since then. Please welcome two very funny and lovable members of one the biggest rock band in the world. Sit back, buckle yourself in and enjoy this ride while we chat with them."

We watched the mix of videos of our hit songs and said,

"It's weird, like, we rarely listen to our music." Rob said.

"You don't like listening to your own music? You've just had enough?" the host asked us jokingly.

"No, we don't listen to our old songs that much," he explained.

"Oh ok. But when you're recording the album, I mean the last one was like, about a twelve months experience, when you're recording it, you have to listen to it."

"Yeah, of course." I said. "We love recording, and we always can't wait to do it again, but when we're finished, I think we kind of need to never see it again, you know." I joked.

Rob laughed, " Except we have to play it every night for another year!"

"Yeah, there is that little problem," I joked, "No, but we still like playing it of course, we love playing it, it's not the same as listening to the album when you're on your couch at home, or singing it in your car, you know."

"He's just being humble, you're probably gonna notice that throughout this interview." Rob joked.

"Well, I think it's sane not to listen to our own music. The thing is you don't learn anything when you listen to your own music, so I always try to listen to other people's things and read other things, 'cause I'm always looking for the next thing to do."

"Yes," Rob added, "we do really listen intently to anything else that comes out, and you know, there's no point in being on this planet, unless you aim super high!" He said, raising his hand.

"Super high yeah." the host repeated, "cause you've got a great opportunity now, and I'm sure you're aware of it! Because U-N-I has been so successful in the past five years! Now you're back with an amazing third album, everybody's already in love with it, it's already one of the fastest-selling records in UK history and yet, this is your first interview to promote it. Because you've really disappeared from the media for the past year. You've only been active for your fans on social media really! But nobody's forgotten about you, and I think now, you might have the time and the ressources to actually create something fantastic!"

"I know, I know," Rob said.

"Which is the scariest thing in the world, the blank page!" the interviewer added.

"Well it's not though," I answered, "because it's almost like, we've been given a job. I feel like we're at a point where, and this might sound very arrogant, but I feel we're at the point where we've been given the job of being this famous band, and now it's what we do! It's like winning the presidency or something, in my view, so it's not what we've done, it's what we're gonna do with it. You know, we can either get really into... coke and hookers or..."

I looked at Rob, not sure what to say next, so he just agreed with a grin,

"Yeah, we can just do that!" and everybody laughed out loud.

"Aren't you supposed to be gay?" the host asked jokingly.

"Oh right, forgot you knew about that!" Rob joked. "But you see, there are five members in this band and we're not all gay! So god knows what the other three are gonna do during the upcoming tour!"

"Well, since you came out, judging by what you shared on social media, you seem to be in a good place, and you look happy, and I assume you are happier than ever before, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah," I said, "we're just happy to be here, you know, and to be in this position. And I think now, instead of getting into drugs and hookers, we can be totally inspired, and try and do... well, we know what we're gonna do, but we can't really say it, because..." I smiled.

"Yes you can," the host insisted jokingly. "no-one will tell anyone, it's ok!"

The audience laughed again.

"You know," I added, "like Robbie said, we feel like we kind of cheated our way into this position, and so, now we have to do something that's really good! That's how I feel. Obviously we've done some stuff that's good, but we can always be better, and I think our new album is, you know, one notch above."

"Yeah," Rob continued. "you know, we were walking down the street a while ago, and we walked past this group of guys playing basketball, and one of them was like, 'oh my god guys, I love your music', and then another one was like, 'you guys suck'!!'"

"And then..." he continued, laughing a little with the host and the audience, "when we were far enough away to not be a threat anymore, it was like 'your music is terrible!!' "

I added jokingly,

"So we are well aware that we need to improve you know!"

Everybody was laughing out loud at this story so Rob added jokingly,

"Yeah, but before that moment, we weren't so sure! So I'd like to thank that nine year old guy, whose balls haven't dropped, for ruining my life," he said shaking his head.

"Did you say that to him? The host laughed, "You know, your balls haven't dropped?"

"Yeah, he did!" I confirmed. "It's funny, you know because when somebody insults you to your face about your music, the first thing you wanna do is pick on something about their appearance. It's a terrible thing but you know, what can you do? But it annoys me when you sort of become a real..."

"Asshole?" Rob said finishing my sentence.

"Yeah! Best as all that stuff go over your head, sometimes though we're just not strong enough to do that."

The host continued,

"Yeah. It's normal. You're only human. You don't have to be super nice to everyone just because you're in the biggest band in the world!"

Rob frowned and shook his head,

"We're not from 'One Direction'! " he joked, which was a very successful British boy band worldwide that the media referred to as the biggest band in the world at that moment. Again there was a lot of laughter in the audience.

"Ohhh, I thought you..., you're not?"

"No! Yeah, everyone does this! Like they confuse us! They say we're the biggest band in the world, how is Harry? How is everyone? NO! That's not us!" he insisted jokingly and the audience laughed louder.

"Yeah, you are actually a big supporter of 'One Direction', aren't you?" the host asked.

"Yeah, last time we saw them, I suggested to Harry that we open a barber shop together, called Hairy Styles, but he wouldn't..." he said, shaking his head.

"He won't do it?"

Rob shook his head no again, faking disappointed,

"No, he won't do it! He doesn't call me back," he said sadly.

"Aw, he's missing out!"

"Yeah. We like those guys, but...we're from a different band!" he confirmed jokingly.

"Are any of them gay?"

"Hey, we don't know anything about that!" Rob responded with a slight grin.

"You haven't been flirting with them?"

" Well, they're cute, but I mean, we're like a bit older than them, aren't we?" he asked, looking at me inquisitively.

"I don't know, I'm not sure, how old are they?"

The host answered,

"I think only a couple of years younger than you are. But I see why you would think that, they do still look like boys when you look like men. So, are you gonna collaborate with them?" he asked.

"Hey, who knows, we can write cheesy love songs too!" Rob joked.

"Well, you have worked with Bono and Rihanna on this new album, so you're in a different league, what was that like?"

Rob answered,

"It was awesome, especially Bono, but Rihanna too! It was just very different. But we can't reveal too much about that yet but yeah, it was amazing."

"How did you approach Rihanna to record "Princess of China", did you just call her up and say, hey we'd like to work with you?"

We looked at each other and Rob whispered,

That's not really a story we can tell, is it?" and I just laughed as I shook my head no.

"Sorry. Yeah, basically, you know for that song, at the top of our list was ... Rihanna, and at the bottom of our list was...nobody else. Il was just a song for her! So we plucked up the courage to call her, and so she's on it! Which is great! And it's actually my favourite bit of the album! It's the only bit I can really enjoy listening to, because I'm not on it!" he laughed.

"And how did you approach Bono?"

"Bono is actually the one who called us up... because he had already offered to work with us, and he had this idea for a song, which is 'Up and Up' on the album. We still can't get over this, working with him was really a dream come true."

"We've learnt a lot from him," I added. "He's been amazing to us. All of them really, The Edge too, all of them."

"What have they been able to teach you?"

"Just by giving us advice. I always view it as if they're in a class above, like the older boys at school that you admire you know. It's very heartwarming to have their support. And I think if they weren't so friendly to us, we'd be in a lot more trouble and we'd be a lot more depressed about people's opinions about ... what is essentially just entertainment that you're trying to produce."

"Yes, how do you react to people criticizing you?"

"Well, you know, it's like the guys playing basketball, what you think is what you think." I answered, "But critics fascinate me though, because, I mean really, if you don't like it, you don't have to listen to it!"

"Yes, but yet, you're talking about, you wanna go for something great, and really wanna try for something special! Is there a passion in you that they're missing?" he asked.

"No, but we try and take..." I hesitated and stopped talking for a few seconds before saying,"Listen, behind closed doors,

it's very hard, when you've slaved over something and you love it and you mean it with every inch of your... balls!" everybody laughed and I chuckled, "When somebody says, aw they don't mean that, or it's soulless or it's hollow. But you know that's life, what can you do? You know, it can just fire you up even more."

" Yeah," Rob continued. " We know we're not the Beatles yet, and no one else has to tell us that. But as long as there's some kind of balance. We try not to read anything anymore, we just assume that it's 50/50."

"Yeah, fifty percent of people who hate us, and the other fifty who really hate us!" I joked, which made people laugh again.

"No but," I continued with a laugh, "as long as there's some kind of balance, and as long as you're selling records and people are still coming to your concerts and having fun, you can't really worry about what some fat guy who doesn't know what he's talking about thinks. So you just have to keep going!"

"You're getting righteous again!" he told me.

"Yeah I know, it's coming out of us!" I joked.

"You know, you seem very, almost defensive about your success!"

"Told you he was humble." Rob told him and I looked at him with a shrug.

"Are you also proud of what you've done?" he asked me.

"Of course!" I answered. "And if you come to our concerts, you'll see it! You know. It's very hard to believe it when you're talking about it. But when you're playing it, or singing it," I said looking at Rob, "it's a different matter. When we're playing music, I don't want to be anywhere else in the world, and I love it and I'm proud of it to the nth degree, because that's who I am, that's who we are. We wouldn't have this awesome life without it! So it means everything to us!"

"Yeah, you do have an awesome life! What is the secret to you guys? I mean, you attract all kind of people really, your audience is very diverse. You release an album and it goes straight to number one worldwide, all the dates to your upcoming tour were sold out in a matter of minutes, what is your secret?"

"We don't know!" Rob laughed. "I think it's because we love what we do! And people can see that, and it's very satisfying to do it. We feel very grateful for what we have, our fans, and we try not to take our success for granted. We know we are very lucky and there are amazing people who work with us and who help us out..."

"It's gotta be down to the music also. There's such a buzz around you and your music because the songs that you're creating obviously touch so many people, I mean, I think you are the biggest band in the world at the moment."

"I don't know about that," Rob said.

"Well if you're not, you can become the biggest band in the world... not that it matters!"

"Yeah no, size doesn't matter!" he joked.

Everybody laughed.

"But yeah, we're just lucky and if I can just get a little deeper...When any of us is going through a hard time, it's the band that picks each other up. We have that brotherhood, and that really is an amazing thing to have in your life. So it doesn't matter if we become the biggest band in the world or not, as long as we're still a band, you know, as long as we have each other, that's all that matters to us really."

"That's great! And you're gonna start a stadium tour soon? Are you anxious about that?"

"Yeah, we are, of course," Rob answered, sounding very eager. "but I like having a huge crowd of people in front of me, so I'm not too worried. The bigger the better!"

"Why is that?"

"Because it's less intimidating! I just see a sea of people and I'm excited and it's exhilarating. I find it a lot more comfortable in that situation. Much more than if you're playing in a very small venue, when you can see people's faces staring at you!"

" How did you find ideas for new songs this time? Because you must run out of ideas after a while!"

I answered,

"No, you just need to live a little, experience life and, you know there's always things to feel miserable or happy about in your life if you need to write songs."

The host laughed,

"Has coming out inspired you?"

"A little I guess, yeah. The title of the album and the song "'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall' is about that in a way, and maybe also, the whole sound of this album is influenced by that change in our lives. I mean on this album, we sort of took another direction, and changed our sound a little. It's more up-tempo. A lot of songs are quite similar to our sound in the first two albums, but there are also many songs that sound a lot more joyful, there's more optimism and hope..."

"Has song writing come easily to you on this last album then?"

"Yeah. It has come easily but it hasn't always necessarily come good though" I said with a laugh.

"So how do you measure the difference between ... okay and good?"

"Well, we know a song is a success or not depending on how people react to it during gigs. So we'll have to see! And also, maybe by, whether someone says something to you that really means something, like it did something for them, our songs. Like, there's a song on the album, "The Scientist" which is about breaking up with a girl, we've had..."

"Is that about you breaking up with a girl?" he interrupted me, as he knew I was the band's song writer.

"Well, yeah."

"Oh you had a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, but, that was a long time ago."

"Yeah! He used to be straight. I turned him gay!" Rob said with a serious tone of voice.

I shook my head with a laugh as I looked at him,

"Would you stop saying that, I swear!" I complained jokingly, because it was not the first time he'd said it.

"Oh come on, let me have a little fun with this!" he begged.

I rolled my eyes and added matter-of-factly,

"And I'm not gay, I just like you a lot!"

"Good one!" he laughed and the whole audience did as well.

"Never mind! So you know," I continued, brushing this playful argument aside, "this song seems to have really touched people. We often get like, sad boyfriend stories. Which is, sad, but, you know, someone's got to write songs that are good for that situation."

"So, about coming out, the two of you are in a ... committed relationship," he said, pointing at the rings on our finger. "and we all know, it must've been hard to come out, and it must be a bit difficult still, because there's so much scrutiny. And you've been together for over five years, right? And you've managed to stay in the closet all this time..."

"Yeah," Rob sighed.

"So, was that difficult to do?"

"Not really." Rob answered. "Because we were friends first, so you know, it wasn't hard to just act as friends when we were out in public. Although, our fans suspected there might be more between us, 'cause, maybe, we were a bit too close to be just friends."

The audience clapped and whistled.

"I think it's the way you look at each other!" the interviewer told us and the audience seemed to agree as they got louder.

"Yeah, probably." Rob agreed with a nod.

"Yeah, and you've known each other your whole life, right? So... how did your relationship begin? How did you fall in love?"

"I don't know." I told him. "How do people fall in love really? I don't know, we can't really talk about that."

"You can't?"

"No, we can't." I repeated.

"Because..." he insisted.

"Because it's private, and it's uncomfortable, and we don't like talking about it."

"You know," Rob added. "we've always loved each other in one way or another since we were kids really, so, at some point, being together just made perfect sense. And it still does, and it'll probably continue to do so. But it's as much as I'm gonna say on the subject."

Of course, this made the audience react cheerfully again.

"Which is already too much!" I added jokingly.