this is crazy this is my second time I've shot an interview in a football stadium I went to Bradford FC can you guess who it was with okay okay Bradford yeah it was One Direction yeah same yeah okay yeah can you imagine being in a boy well yes you can yeah yeah I'm gonna man that's not very good to see you yeah of course he was in a boy band I mean how do they get that wrong I wasn't really thinking I was
just trying to exist and be in the moment because that's where Robbie Williams is seemingly very content and ready to reflect upon his journey today which is why I brought us home to stoke and we kicked a ball around at portvale FC for a chilly but beautiful blue sky day in the company of one of the world's most enigmatic pop stars ever Robbie Williams here we are in Stoke but we're not at Stoke City report Vale yeah
um and I it struck me on the way here because I was like this will be reflective and then I thought that's rare for you like I can't really think to be reflective it kind of in the public eye for sure you don't look back no I don't I don't in fact that's a really misunderstood part of your career is that you've been Forward Thinking pretty much the entire time um I am two albums ahead of myself right now and
about five business ideas and um two TV shows and a film we're gonna get into all of that yes I just have to know why we're standing here and why you were looking back even just for now like 25 the album going out with the tour this is a you you're connecting your past with your prison in order to move forward is how I see it well um my management said you've got a 25 year anniversary coming up and we better
celebrate it and like you've just alluded to I'm not a look back kind of person but um I relented and said okay let's do it and I'm glad I have because I've looked back and taken stock of what's happened where I've been how close I was to actually achieving musically what I wanted to achieve having thought that I was nowhere near it and it's given me a sense of um pride and well-being so I'm glad I've
done it success is kind of wasted on the youth isn't it you just never feel it's enough I said it's not it's not that it was enough for me it was just completely overwhelming and my head exploded like too many fingers touching the keyboard of a computer and it just melting yeah so it wasn't that it wasn't enough it was just that it was overwhelmingly too much well you know I always think about like who handles success at a certain age
better than others and why and I don't think anyone is prepared for that level of attention pressure the constructs of value record sales ticket sales everyone wanting a piece of you but I would say this having got to know you a little bit and and having watched you grow as an artist and a person that you were particularly ill prepared and away for that right yeah yeah well like I play this game is that who has
got through yeah that come through the other side and gone I enjoyed every bit about it and I'm totally mentally really well and I'm happy to continue let's do more of it shall I guess the number do you know here's the thing like the first person that jumps to my head is Tom Hanks but we don't know the real Tom Hanks so we don't know what went on with his life the other one who I think I also think
there's something just quickly and hold that thought about actors what's fundamentally different between a musician and an actor as an actor is oh you can lean into the role you can find something there's a continuity with you personally and the role put some of yourself into it but you're ultimately reading someone else's words mainly you're being directed by somebody else you can inhabit the role and leave it
behind so if someone comes up and goes Lighthouse Wilson you go you can play along with it because you know Wilson's not real it's volleyball yeah whereas people come up to you they're telling you how much they love you for telling them every secret you have yeah here's my diary and I'm going to write my diary for yeah and you're either a hero or Brazilian future yeah so that's just gonna trip away and Chip Away
Noel Gallagher seems to have handled extreme Fame really really well yeah but it's been broke up like catastrophically yeah but they still achieve what they achieved and he's still no Gallagher yeah a rare fish like that to go back I was 16 years old yeah but if you run through every boy banded girl band that's ever existed with take that Gary Barlow leaves the band his career is supposed to do that
and it didn't and he became you know he had suffered with bulimia didn't leave his house went to sleep underneath his piano because he'd forgotten how to write songs incredibly depressed changed his name on his credit card because he didn't want people to see Barlow yeah that's the lowest Howard Donald wanted to commit suicide after he left take that Mark Owen's been to rehab and Jason orange just can't do it so that's what
that's what the and then there's me you know that uh the mental health the rehabs the addiction does all of that so that's what being in a boy band really does and I'm sure that you know in five or ten years time if you sit down with one direction to a man they're all going to have their their isms that have been caused by yeah this machine I want to do a documentary about it maybe maybe we
should do it together maybe about boy bands and girl bands and what really happens or why Fame what I think to you it has to be a real EQ in that story you know that's been emotional intelligence applied to that story and um you're a very emotionally intelligent man thank you very much that's what you say that same no but you're just very intelligent I don't know about emotionally intelligence but you're just incredibly
intelligent still working on the emotions with you the main thing about about boy bands and girl bands though that we should tie this into the tail is it through all of it right through the success the implosion the self-destruction in many cases hopefully the rehabilitation there's this loyalty that's baked into the fan base which is almost you know military it's almost like you know the worship that goes into these
into these groups of people to the point where you can reunite at any given moment and people from all ages will fly into the stadiums and it's more than single and solo artists careers not a cases there's a Falling In and Out of Love there people never fall out of love would take that ever what do you think that is that trade well I think it is when a boy band or a girl band gets to a certain
stand a certain place or a certain stature because there's lots that fall by the wayside and you can't come back and you know God bless them for having that sort of being at the top of the mountain at such an early age and then they have to go away and figure out how to live but what I think it is with like the Spice Girls One Direction take that in sync uh New Kids on the Block all of
those people that reach that place it's there the fans football team yeah so it's Liverpool or it's Manchester United do you know what I mean and he's like you never stop supporting live experiences get etched into your DNA or it gets edged in so it's like a young girl's primarily yeah football team yeah because it's Tribal yeah right you're in that room with your people yeah and you know and you have to take a lot of shots
like when you're at school at that age and you're gonna take that fan there's a lot of people who are like you and your take that records right so you almost become bulletproof with it you're like I stand by this well I saw the New Kids on the Block on a Saturday morning TV show probably in 19 85 or 1980 88. yeah around 878 and then I I went into school the next day and I was like did anybody see like I had the
New Kids on the Block they were amazing and and like they were like off that's for girls and I was like yeah yeah I ate them I hate them yeah but there is still a um a special spot in my heart for the New Kids on the Block Donnie Wahlberg I wanted to be him yeah yeah well he was the only one in the band I think that either fellas could truly exactly the girls had the other four and we all yeah you talk about um it's funny you talk
about like boy bands and gold bands having that kind of um comparison to football teams very clear completely correct and here we are here and I I think about your career I think about it from a competitive point of view because I feel like you have kind of like moved through your career with a really acute sense of competitiveness that it plays A Part somewhere along the line I think that's the secrets of a lot
of musicians a lot of musical acts you know I think that's the unspoken thing you know you go do Glastonbury or Coachella I I you know I'm picking this I'm picking this percentage out of my ass but I guess 85 percent of the acts that are on want to win it yeah they want to win Coachella and they want to win Glastonbury yeah and um you know the with the amazing lack of self-esteem that I've really got and the
amazing lack of confidence that I really have I still want to win the world I still want to win at everything that I do today still have that hunger and you know what's great is because you're like you feel kind of odd being in a musical world that is not supposed to be competitive yeah you feel as though am I the only one but then you realize deep down Ed Sheeran's doing the same thing I mean you picked an absolutely open
competitive monster here yes guys he's a beast and Justin Timberlake Beast absolute Beast so you know there is there is there appears there is my peers feel the same way and I feel glad about that that I don't feel like an awful human being to be in this sort of ethereal kind of uh empathic uh yeah here's my diary okay but Mr emotionally intelligent where does that come from originally as a young kid
being at Port Vale here watching your football team that hunger that ambition that comes from partly from a competitive nature that gets you to a place where we can rent this out you have a box it's all it's Robbie Stadium in a way what drives you as a kid like have you are you any closer to figuring out what the hole is yeah yeah well it's not it's the um the being like okay this town yeah the town
just over there's a town called burslem and it's got the most closed shops in the whole of Great Britain closed closed like every window is closed and um my lineage is poverty my lineage is uh cannon fodder World War One World War II um it is down the pits it is in mines it's building canals it's digging holes proper working class proper working class but you know so I think poverty and you know it's the Power of Now
that's the book that's the autobiography The Power of Now see what you've done there yes quite genius thank you very much but it but it is you know that mixed with my mum who's a absolute Trojan that picked us up out of that place of um you know poverty and elevated us due to the fact that she took a loan out and opened a shop and then the shot became successful in the area that you know uh
and open the doors for opportunity it opens the doors for opportunity I learned that from her and the power of nouts has given me this Burning ambition and drive to go and get so here's something right your mum obviously wants to instill in you a sense of purpose in order to make something of your life and that's what great parents do when that purpose turns into something that can turn on you and ultimately feed into the
insecurities and the vulnerabilities and the traumas and it becomes self-destructive how does your mum relate to that equation because it's almost too much of a good thing well um it's all what goes into the computer program when you were a kid you know what Mom did what Dad did what um your peers did what your tribe did what don't do formative moments and informative moments and um you know you wouldn't send a pre-teen or
post toddler to go and do weight training you know so what happened was I wasn't fully formed when I took the journey into being a pop star yeah and out there so I was 16. I wasn't ready for all of this and that mixed with what happened as you're growing up with this extreme Fame sort of uh causes a huge Collision looking back on that now do you feel that ultimately even at that underdeveloped State of your life that
you were driving that narrative for yourself was it you that was ultimately saying to your mom I want this and she just didn't know how to stop you or was she oh no no no no not as well oh no this was look I see it with my oldest Teddy she's 10. yeah and she's completely jazz hands this is my next question right and it's happening even faster than it was when you were a kid potentially there's no
there's no stopping what she wants to do and who she is as a person and what she's passionate about and she's just like me she's she's a show-off and she spends all day writing songs and dancing and acting and it's like it's impossible to stop that if I'd have been good at maths or if I'd have been good at physics or geography that's where my mum would have pushed me as it happens my talent that I had Mega talent that I
had was that of a show-off yeah you know and um she facilitated uh me being able to show off in the best possible way that I could so the question so the question is so Teddy comes to you and it's hypothetical obviously but explains that maybe a little bit younger than you were you know 14 15 which seems to be when the ambition Gene and the idea of being able to take some control of your identities happening a little earlier than it was
certainly from when I was young and says you know hey I have this outlet and I want to go like I want to go and reach out I'm reaching a lot of people I'm doing stuff that's working it's reaching a lot of people and I want to turn it into a business I want to go for it on the one hand you have the wisdom of experience you know the pitfalls and you know how to build it up and you and you'll learn from your
own mistakes but on the other hand you have this experience of trauma turned to success are you preparing yourself for that potentially or do you have any idea how you react in the moment it's very it's every day is a learning day with kids and um I just don't know what to do about it because you know where is the Same by the way same yeah yeah where mine was a one in a trillion shots yeah at
achieving this and being this person she's already getting things offered to her that are incredible that I would have snapped people's hands off for at the same time and I just don't know what to do about it yeah you know the the I don't know the grown-up the the the the person that should be driving the car should be going no no no no no no no no you you wait until you're at least 25 before you do anything but then
there's another bit of me that go in here's a here's an opportunity that might pass her by that she could benefit from nature and nurture right it's nature and nurture I do have three other children too it's not just Ted but like there's like Ted who's that and then there's Charlie that looks like he's going to be my manager at some point and the other two you know three and two so I don't know
yeah yeah it's crazy isn't it like because I feel the same way with our kids you know and and of their age and just trying to figure out helping them and guiding them to figure out a apart there's opportunities man when they come it's like I don't know when I when my kids were born I had to take some real time to figure out how I could be of real value like I had some to figure out and I'll openly admit like I thought I was built
to be a parent but I had to kind of almost learn how to be a parent and and do do away with some old learning how is it for you when you became a parent were you prepared did it come naturally no because I couldn't look after myself I was absolutely terrified and I knew that what I needed and what I wanted and what I was resentful uh to my parents about when I was growing up that I was all of a sudden gonna be have to
be the grown-up that was gonna facilitate all of those things for these precious beautiful brand new souls and um so the first two years of Teddy being on the planet the first two to three years of Teddy been on the planet were just I was absolutely terrified that I was already messing this person off and um a few things the realization that oh my parents were children of children who
were children of children and um I still have that sort of guilt on a day-to-day basis that I'm not this kind of parent and I should be this kind of parent and then I tell myself well I'm this kind of parent and that should be enough and you know yeah every day is a learning day as I said I I I'm confused by it still yeah I love it's the best thing ever because I've seen you with
your kids man and it's just awesome yeah yeah you bound towards each other it's like I'm not I'm not a Lego dad you know it's like that's I'm not a I'm not a down on the floor let's let's figure out this stuff I'm sort of like I go from director of football just overseeing everything you know like good games yeah yeah like and then then there's five minutes five minutes of being the manager yeah yeah yeah a little bit of
the coach but not really ever playing on the field but not ever really playing on the field I'm I'm there a lot but I'm not there what an amazing journey man I mean self-discovery doesn't get much bigger than that yeah and thank God for strong Partners man yeah you know you'll love Supreme right I mean the the person but but I like you know I've I FaceTime Teddy today and she was just like Daddy
I miss you so much and I love you so much it's like something's something I'm doing is something that is right and yes Ida came into my life changed everything and um yeah I'm oh yeah I'm just going through another one of those moments that we go through where it's just like I'm so glad I'm married to that person yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that that's yeah that's that's if you're deserving of that kind of love I think is is a big
thing right and I mean I I see this a lot in artists it's it's a search for some kind of value in the love Department it's it's not really knowing what true love for self feels like and so it's like where do I get it from you know I saw Maddie yesterday yeah we were talking and we were I know you're friends with her my friends with him and we had this great conversation he said something really
interesting he goes on there was a moment when he's like I'm a love addict I need all the love I need the love of the one-on-one love I need the FaceTime love I need the 60 000 people in the crowd love but I needed all I needed it all at the same time which made it hard to distinguish what love was really important in that moment it was just one big Love Fest and it kind of them up and I wonder if that resonates with you uh
well I when it comes to a relationship and how I went into it with Ida was I'm not gonna go into it and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get married and I'm not gonna have children no no no I understand that boundaries boundaries boundaries boundaries boundaries you know I I didn't think I could be monogamous right um I didn't think that um anything would last longer than we couldn't get to Christmas what are your
plans for Christmas well they're not with you yeah yeah you know so um I don't know about that bit that Matt is saying about the crowd and the face time I understand that that feels right but in this particular instance with the wife yeah it was a slide indoors moment that might not have happened in the in the blink of an eye and um so you feel like it was a bit divine intervention in that regard like you're
17 years later yeah man 17 years later and you know digging her more than day one uh feels really good yeah yeah it feels really good yeah yeah um congratulations on everything that's happened recently dude I mean when I saw you last year we were still in quarantine and you were sort of not to portray trust but you were picking some of these plans around and I could see you figuring out the next step I wasn't sure it was going to
be a reorchestrated reimagined version of your most well-loved songs or well-known songs at least on the 25 album I certainly didn't know you're going to break Elvis's record it's pretty cool yeah yeah it's a glitch in The Matrix no no no no no look you know and that will always be in the foundation of how I feel about myself disability so no it's not I don't think it's humility I think that that's the
same sort of thing that Harry Styles will probably suffer with you come from a boy band and I think ultimately you feel like you're stealing someone's place right do you know what I mean because these things are reserved for Alvis yeah these things are reserved this place is reserved for Prince Alvis George Michael you know all of these uh Freddie Mercury and then there's just like some not bad from
Stoke that's funny and about that stole the place due to being in a manufactured pop group and that's how it feels you know instinctively and intrinsically in my soul and I've done incredible I've done I've stretched elastic band from Port Vale to Mars but I I don't know if I'll ever be able to wear it to be able to truly wear that's what's happened and I deserve it just a creeping imposter syndrome at all times yeah yeah I and
healthy I'm unhealthy at the same time that that there is that um but I do have to be aware to let some of the magnitude in that I've been responsible for it I do have to let some of that in or else there can be a jiu jitsu grip yeah yeah how do you get on stage and even do it if you don't ultimately acknowledge your role in it somewhere along the line I mean that is just that I'm getting that that's identity theft
of a high level I mean you're literally pretending to be someone identity theft you know that's what I've done I've stolen someone's identity yeah in a way yeah you build it up and then you've gotta you gotta you gotta like wrestle with it and decide how much of it's realized the next album title sorted out not good yeah well you've got great album titles I mean some of the best and
worst album titles of all time yeah yeah standard yeah standard yeah [Music] we talked a little bit about the Imposter syndrome before and about that sense of sort of what how you relate to success based on where you came from versus where you stand and and yet I feel like in 1997 was a major step for you in terms of getting at least somewhat past that because life through a lens as far as albums go whilst it was
a bit slow to get off the ground once they're dead it went stratospheric it's a big moment that album looking back on it now 25 years later what are the Prevailing memories you have of making that record what was motivating you what you were feeling at the time um well the moment I met guy Chambers we took off like a rocket and we wrote the first album in 12 days and um I was overwhelmingly excited about the fact
that I could write so did you say 12 Days 12 days yeah yeah my brain took a little while to just translate that that that that statistic yeah 12 days that's crazy yeah we came in I think second day we wrote Angels Let Me Entertain You um when within 12 days it was written and it felt intoxicating and liberating and um especially walking away with a tape of angels that we'd just done yeah and like
I was on cloud nine and he was in N17 and I decided that I would walk back to Maid of Ale in the snow but like I I it was a decision made sort of like wandering with this tape thinking something incredibly special they needed that moment yeah and then halfway I was I got in a black cab and was just like mate put this on have a listen to this and the taxi driver played Angel the hospital up near the heath my feet have
got yes gone numb yeah um you're holding on to angels as The Story Goes The Legend at least like I said the album you've got a couple of things underway there was some interest certainly not on the level you'd hadn't take that and then Angels was the moment what was the timing of that for you did you know were you sitting on it like I just need this to have its own moment because you could live with that no kind of
not blissfully unaware because nothing felt like Bliss at the time I was I was deep in um self-medicating as a way to survive and self-medicating with you know cocaine and alcohol and and all in Sundry um there was it's a heady mix that sort of having no self-worth no self-esteem that I've talked on in the past but feeling as though you're incredibly special at the same time mixed with cocaine yeah
and that is so absolute ego and absolute insecurity yes pumping Full Steam at the same time mix that with cocaine and and you know you've got something incredibly powerful for five minutes before it disintegrates into hellish Journey at a time it's not forget a 1996 1997 when the album came out where tabloid culture was on a steroids I mean that was like Lord of the Rings for Tabloid times I mean it was just nuts wasn't it it's
Indescribable actually the lack of humanity that uh existed for the people the the sociopaths that were making money from trauma you know it's like you know trauma has a and then they sort of delve into the of trauma and pick it Apart Salvage it to make money yeah you know and uh from people who by the way are willing to wallow in that because you're high on drugs and you're trying to figure it out and it's like this
attention is great now and so it's just just bizarre that's what JK was saying it's weird same conversation I've had about the mid 90s teleboy culture I spoke to JK yeah and he he was the same as you he was like mate if you weren't in it you'll never truly understand what it was like at that time no no it was barbaric it was barbaric and that being said I'm glad we're in a different point
in the world right now in a different point in my life and um I can handle an awful lot more than I used to be able to handle um it was what it was and and now it isn't and I'm very grateful that it is that was very charmingly and and I would say empathetically dismissive of the time there was um well you're gonna kick the ball I I I you know I've got arthritis in my back yeah I got a bad back right now age sucks right yeah I
can't put my foot through a ball completely but you know what's interesting is oh my God I'm playing football with one of the great semi-professional entertainment footballers on the planet do you like that description thank you very much let me tell you what this this ball is Rock off yes it's not fun but you know what's interesting about you and football is um you can really play and you've
turned it into something that's for good yeah soccer Aid how rewarding has that been following a different passion that didn't become your primary passion but turning it into a philanthropic passion oh mate it's just you know we've raised like 90 million quids so far or maybe even more with soccer Aid and you get to fulfill a fantasy of pretending to be a professional footballer for one day for one day who's really good historically
oh there you go who would you who's your immediate go-to on your side or someone else's side because it's going to entertain the bleachers what do you mean in a football capacity who sings and dances but is also really good um well Mark Wright is a really good footballer um yep I wouldn't say that there's a celebrity that would entertain the masses on the field in a way is it surge
pretty tasty surge is really good uh but for blood and gods and being in the trenches with someone which is what you really want yeah oddly enough it's Ben Shepherd oh yeah that makes sense he's a brick house yeah he's a stocky cat there we go there we go I got one more for you go on on the head is never it's never oh no ah thankfully in that huh I'm not heading I'll have concussion there it is he never called me did you
well you you've been successful yeah you'd be on the uh the rest of the world 11. yeah and also I wasn't wasn't really hitting out here back then well still now we've been begging for you now okay we've been begging for you you know I was thinking about the thing is about that is like everybody thinks I'm in charge of it and I'm not and I get like just it is not the point otherwise it doesn't sell if you're not
the manager no but but everybody like I get disgruntled the emails from people that I've been invited to play this is just untangle that for a second Robbie I'm really off you didn't invite me to your charity event yeah yeah yeah that's Bonkers yeah it's like lead singers and you know presenters sort of missed the point of it didn't they yeah yeah but they get they get really artsy with me thinking it's like
and it's not me it's like ITV are doing all of that yeah I'm just the face I'm the mascot that turns up so please anybody that's like offended that I've never invited them to soccer it it's because I don't invite anybody it's not on me 97 was nuts man 97 it was a big you Tony Blair Princess Diana rest her soul it was a year of transformative thrash called Britannia yeah man and you came out with
this album that just brought the country together in such a massive massive way seeing that guy having that song that ultimately introduced that album and you to the world on your terms can you can you try to look back and describe how that was in that moment when when life through a lens really connected and and it became What It ultimately is I had it in the moment that I I heard the news that because I was about to be dropped
from the record company a poster had gone around saying I think it's I think we've been done it's done yeah kind of wild like like weeks before it's wild and uh a lot of my professional life and professional look has inhabited those sort of Realms where this nearly happened but it didn't and um Angels comes out and it does what it does and which meant that I get to write another album which I was super excited
about and off I went to Jamaica with guy Chambers and we rented a Hut on a beach and we wrote the second album yeah and let's go and then I'd have a phone call the hotel had come out with this white plastic phone and it'd be like you've got a your manager wants to speak to you and I'd be like hey and it'd be 10 minutes ago congratulations Robert the album's just gone platinum and then like
seven days later congratulations Robert has gone double platinum and you know there was something there was something of a champagne moment in that moment yeah but I'll be really honest with you I can't remember I can't remember a lot of you know how that made me feel what it was that happened because the flip side was you were ultimately numbing yourself well it was ultimately numbing myself but you know it's uh
it's 15 albums ago it's 15 ounces that's fair that's fair you know and um I'd already I'd done four albums would take that we've done five all together so I'm 20 albums deep now yeah um and what I remember was knowing that it felt good that I was going to be able to do another album continue yeah [Music] so I did some DJ gigs in Ibiza I had I was doing this I'm doing this EDM thing called loft house yeah and what I
thought was going to happen was I thought I was going to be an audience member but on stage yeah I thought it was going to be like a busman's holiday and I wouldn't have to entertain people yeah put the tunes on and then all about this and then everybody Vibes and then you know they look at you every now and again and they go like that and you go I know I'm amazing for picking this tune
yeah but what actually happened was 2 000 people just stood motionless and stared at me with their mobile phones it was like the most awkward thing I know that's because my friend was involved in one of the shows and he was like Robbie had to Pivot real quick because everybody just came and stared at Robbie dude and then I had my I had my uh Mac on the stage because it had some of the lyrics on and then after a while of just
like 2 000 people staring at me I just needed a break and then I was like quick pull something out the bag so I Googled what do garage MCS say and it was like top ten and you put your set together inside wait for the drop there's one's for the ladies you see the thing is right there's times when you can pretend to be Robbie Williams but you can never pretend to be a DJ no no uh well yeah no actually
I did I did for a little bit I I went to the channel that wasn't on yeah so I'm just gonna need a break from 2 000 people um what'd you do when you went to the channel I can't I can't remember I can tell you would have been it's one of three or four it would be something more like this yeah that's it it wasn't exactly screw face yeah why did you adjust the EQ oh I I I played with lots of buttons but like that channel was not open [Laughter]
that's amazing you were doing solos and someone was backstage playing a Flying V yeah um well I'm glad that you're right there dabbling in new things and not just you know going back and and reflecting on what you've achieved although we have a little more great ground to cover here um in terms of that before we get to the to today it's all in my head um you know I think when you were really like at that point around 2001
2002 before escapology and it seemed like it was just this unstoppable train like every album every tour bigger and bigger net worth three net worth the whole thing and then you signed that record deal and I have a theory about these record deals and I've always wanted to ask someone who signed one because there's only about eight of you yeah that signed deals back then that were between 60 and
100 million dollars at the time yours was the biggest it may still be the biggest uh Dallas is but you know adjusting for inflation mine's still the big there you go there you go but I have this theory about those record deals that to some degree they Mark A a point of real challenge for the artist who signs them that it's I don't know if it makes it harder to get out of bed I don't know if it just
ultimately tips you off your balance because you feel like you've achieved something Beyond Your Wildest Dreams there's something in there whether it's Janet Jackson or rem or any of these big bands where it shifts the energy yeah um exactly that so what Apple was it was 80 million or 90 million equate your million quid um it was also the Apex of giant in my mind and the Apex of depression and anxiety and agrophobia and
um that's a heady mix when you get this pile of Dosh and you go there's no need for me to leave the house now because I've got this stuff I think it's like The Boxer that was saying you know it's very difficult to get yourself motivated to leave your 18 000 square foot house and you know your Versace robe to take that off and go into the gym and go at it again and it was similar with that unfortunately for my record company I'd
I'd kind of made the unconscious unconscious decision that I was going to sabotage and dismantle the whole Robbie Williams thing because it was too much for me and um so I got the 80 million quid and then I went right I'm not leaving the house and did you did you and I did I did I didn't leave the house for three years did you justify that decision and in the moment subconsciously and consciously as
sort of almost a services rendered scenario like this is a figure of money that I feel I've I'm owed because I've made a lot of people a lot of money no no no no well that that all didn't make sense for charlatan either to receive that amount of money and to be going I doesn't notice it's just been given 80 million quid performed yeah I'm just like I keep saying I'm just me it wasn't it wasn't
um services rendered it was uh self-preservation right oh so I thought yeah because what does money really buy you right at that moment in time when it's all internal what does external really really get you well I I then went and did rude box yeah that was that was my answer to being given the money it was like check this out scared um but that was that was a big case of that was a big case of self-sabotage it
was like the dismantling and the undoing I I just been in the Guinness book of records for selling the most tickets in a day and um I was doing stadiums and multiple stadiums everywhere in the world apart from North America yeah and it completely caved my mind as I didn't deserve this if you only knew who you're coming to see yeah and all of that business and wow and the stage felt massive and I felt so small and it's got
to be the definition of Hell in the moment in the in the moment you know how is you know Hal is your own mind when you you know you you you take that Journey or that descent into um self-hatred and self-laceration yeah and uh yeah the record company gave me that money and then I went uh about dismantling everything sorry Emi but now Emi being bought by Universal and Universal I've got my first five albums
so we'll quits right okay you said something before when we were setting up and I I wanted I I thought it'd be interesting for people to hear it which was you know the take that reunion which never was until it was and then it really was something and I think was celebrated by everybody to a degree that we we I was living in London at the time never really saw what was going on behind the scenes we were all
just having our own moment right we were just like yeah the boys are back together this is going to be amazing we don't really care what's going on over there we're all going to be here dancing and having a great time and singing along but it was different for you it was different motivations for you and it was something else well it was the perfect moment for me to rejoin the band because after dismantling the whole Robbie Williams
thing and not leaving the house for three years I realized that I need purpose because my brain was turn into swiss cheese are you with Ida at this point um with Ida and we cement our love and you know I've got I've got my lady and I'm not leaving the house why would I I've been out I've seen out I don't want to see out again but then I understood that you know when you uh retire you decompose and you pass away
and I move it'll lose it right move it or lose it and I got that but then I needed to leave the house and I was terrified and I didn't know how to uh move back into my professional life without paralyzing fear and it just so happened at the same time that me and take that got together and put together put put aside our resentments and our bitterness and there was just love in the room and I needed to hide in public
and he was open with the guys at that moment did you say look there's reasons to do this but I have a specific reason no no no no I mean like I realized what it was now right in the moment would just being the gang that I'd always wanted us to be but weren't yeah and that was the motivating factor but while I'm on stage I also realize ah I'm hiding I'm reintroducing myself into the world but with the safety of my show
business brothers and looking back on those shows in that moment in time now how important was it for the long-term relationships with everybody and kind of getting you know being in the band there's a load of there's a load of rocks in a rucksack you know and like I nurture grudges like I'm raising triplets wow and um you know there is a gift that you can give yourself if you relinquish
um the bitterness and resemblance that you've got in your head yeah and from that moment forward it's not there and my life is much better for having let go of all of that I mean there's so many other stones and rocks in the rucksack about other people's places and it's interesting hearing them come out even just in the last year or so recent times if you have come out you know the the Robbie Oasis thing is of absolute Fascination to me
because you're constantly sort of elbowing each other and giving each other a hard time and yet there was almost like a merger of sound at moments in time oh yeah yeah like strong Come Undone oh wow she's the one look you know here's what I think about it that's not to say that they weren't also striving for to make songs as big as Angels well well you know maybe they were or maybe they weren't but like I
ultimately I'm a huge fan of Oasis and was and I was there and I was part of it and it was unbelievable and you know incredible Hedonism and Reckless abandon and uh rock and roll and let's turn it to 11 12 and let's see where this goes and um yeah I I as part of that competitive nature of me too and and also you know is like they were gigantic bullies too to like the whole industry yeah everybody in it yeah
and um I didn't like that yeah and and a lot of that Still Remains inside me that they they're probably different people now but there's a lot of me that's like they're bullies them yeah I don't like bullies yeah um but but Liam looks as though he's he's changed doing fine isn't he he's doing fine and he's rocking it back at nibworth look you know the great thing about being a fan of Oasis is when Liam
comes out with a great album I can be a fan yeah you know there's also the great thing about being resentful towards them is that when they don't I'm happy Liam's last album that he put out is like five or six tracks on yeah they're just like yeah I'm so glad he exists and I'm so glad that he is a personality out there that's um vital uh because there's not many of them about and especially in this day
and age where pop stars can't say and do and be personalities it's fantastic that there's a Liam Gallagher in the world so I was great hearing you know and watching and to put my personal Politics on the line um for a second watching Harry come out in in Texas the other day whether it's beta or Rock sticker and and you know sticking up for women's rights and the ability to to choose what to do with it with with with with a woman's body and
and making that point and having the camera around and then flashing it on beta O'Rourke and the whole thing felt very it was a beautiful ballet move of of righteousness and it was cool to see someone use probably the platform the biggest platform today the Robbie Williams platform that's what Harry's got now yeah to do do that I wonder how the discussion went about that with Management in him
you you really have to do a some serious thinking before anything like that gets done he's a thoughtful dude he's a thoughtful dude but also that could go one of several ways yeah you know he's he's braver than I um also I'm still trying to figure out what's the right side of history there is no Hill that I kind of want to die on right now there's things that I believe I'm passionate about did I change my opinion
on the next day um you know we we are in such a state of flux and everything's changing on a day-to-day basis that um I'm not talking about that particular I think yeah that particular issue I know where I stand on that but like on absolutely everything else I'm still figuring it out you know and you are kind of not allowed to get things wrong right now and you're not allowed to question and ask and you you know and that's terrifying
yeah because you know you want to be an ally of everybody and you want to be loving and empathic of everybody yeah but also you want to go got a question yeah I've got quite can we or can we not yeah and um you know until the day that I'm sure of most things that are happening on this planet I'll just keep my mouth shut it brings me back to being a parent you know there's a great lyric on the news
75 album I like the thread here that at the opening line is you know one of the outlines is sort of I'm sorry if you're born and you're 17 because it's like even at this point in La is looking back on what we were experiencing versus the kind of pressure kids are under now to try to understand and put it all together it's a complicated puzzle yes on the other hand it's super exciting to be alive right now and
there's never been such an abundance of possibilities and we are at the equivalent of the start of the Industrial Revolution with the internet and uh everything that is happening with it and because of it and these are heady days that will only be able to really understand when we look back at it you know I I think that you know the American dream is alive and well for every everybody in every country
you know you can have the American dream in Stoke on Trent because of the internet whatever that means you know you can do it yourself now especially with things like YouTube you know I love the punk ethic about YouTube is like anybody can be a TV presenter or anybody can have their own television channel you're being that guy would you have been absolutely yeah yeah absolutely that's what I would have that's what I would
have done yeah um moving forward and into a place of songwriting and ideas in the future I know you've got some some stones to turn before I feel like the path is fully clear for you there I know you've got music I do want to touch on that in a minute but there was a documentary coming out there's a TV show coming out you know this is a this is an era of context right just this time right now
putting everything into context what does that mean who I was and how the story yeah who I was and how the story will be told what I actually think is from that charlatans perspective is that how are they going to polish this turd for four hours on Netflix that's what I do think is like Netflix the new Emi yeah yeah yes yeah they're going to polish and and like you know Netflix we're going to make an
incredible documentary because you put some very very creative people in charge of what's about it I only get daylight robbery once yeah daylight robbery happened once yeah but um it's I I know that I want to break form with what documentaries have been in the past I don't want it to be um you know just a Biography Channel archive footage and Talking Heads I want it to be completely different from that Recreations
Recreations imagination fantasy would be great so it's not going to be a like a clinical retelling of your life I we we've discussed it and it's not gonna be let's see what happens yeah you know how much of it's going to be a surprise to you how how like how much you're holding on to the reins here well you know we had a meeting the other day and we were so like we're going to break we're going to
break the fourth wall and we're going to break with tradition of what normal documentaries have been and we've got to do this and we're going to do that and I was like great great great great great and then I left the meeting I was like nobody told me how they were going to do that yeah they just said words yeah yeah you got pictures I got pitched and I'm like I'm in I bought it um I uh I'm looking forward to
getting it done and I'm looking for I just really want it to be entertaining and I really want to not waste people's time when they watch it I want them to come away feeling happy that they spent that hour or those four hours in my company I want I want it to be valuable to them you know if you get to a point now where you want to go on tour and you want to play stadiums in arenas and you
want to bring these songs to life again and and re and tell your story in an in a valuable and imaginative way suggests that a lot of those bridges that you've struggled to cross for yourself from yourself to yourself that you can look in the mirror now right like who do you see now when you look in the mirror somebody that is capable of enjoying the third Act of their life that wasn't capable of enjoying uh act one and act two
um and those things like the biopic that's coming out next year like the Netflix thing that's coming out these are all vital things for me to put some wind behind my sails for act three you know and um I relish the thought of what's to come I love my job I've got the best job in the world and um my my kids arriving on the planet have given me that gift that perspective that oh okay Daddy goes to work and now
because I call it work and because I say Daddy goes to work it's my purpose and I get to enjoy it and I get to love it and I get to be excited about the possibilities of what I'm creating and where I go next and who I can be and what I can do have you been able to better understand that I guess nurture that kid who wrote strong which I actually think is one of the most telling lyrics of act one and two
which was to me one of the most overt cries for help dressed up as a stadium Anthem all the all the all the songs of Christ for help yeah yeah they're it's all about mental illness it's like there's two there's two speeds that I do and it's like I'm the king of the world no massive bravado yeah I'm the best thing that you've ever yeah you know or why aren't you coming to my a yes or would somebody help me before you know I
do something ridiculous yeah you know um but your question was have I been able to nurture that person uh I don't think it's a question of nurture I just think that the kids have done something to me that has changed my perspective on how I view the world yeah plus I'm getting more comfortable in my skin not totally some days you know I'm I'm full of anxiety don't feel comfortable around people don't want to leave the house I
want to isolate and want to stay in bed but there has been a shift and a crack in the sky where the light is shining through love it and there is possibilities there is possibilities to inhabit a different way of being in a different way of feeling about my time on the planet I actually really enjoy being at this sort of point in my life into maturity yeah me too you know I mean I don't look
back on my youth at any point and sort of go oh if I could redo that I just I just actually like getting to a place where I suppose experience kind of matters you know a little bit yeah well I I feel as though I am being allowed to be the best version of me more so than nice right being given some space yeah but it's like you've just said about that tall poppy syndrome and being a threat to people I think that once you
um age and so do they it takes the edge off it yeah for people hey what's your Do you have a So I listened to everything pretty much before this I like I like reacquainted myself with things and heard things for the first time because you made a lot of music do you have one that that really makes you feel something more than the others you can almost Admire from a distance no I do yeah okay what is it
dude I think no regrets as a masterpiece oh it is yeah you know it is even though I say I say so because I can point to everything else and go no no no no no no no that's a masterpiece the way you and Neil tenant bounce off each other yeah is it Elton in the back no no no it's who's doing a really really Neil Hannan from The Divine Comedy well and there's a female voice in there I don't know about you I think that might be me and
then there's yeah no it's if I could you're too short to carry away that's gonna be humor if I could um if I could point to oh there it was yeah the thing that I wanted to do when I left take that yeah I think it's that song so good in that song what's with the nudity by the way well with me and nudity yeah I don't really know I haven't delved into why I do that can I give you like the the psychiatrist take
on it yeah I think you're just trying to reveal everything before anybody can take something off you I think maybe I think maybe that's what it is but also I I've got a huge problem with my body image I've got like a body dysmorphia and I pile on weight and then I can lose weight and I always think quick get a picture of me while I'm at this weight so there is there is a a a record of it having existed right I get
it strip while you're winning strip while you're winning yeah quite like that as an album type what was the other album title from upstairs well there was uh I'm expecting you and then there was no no the worst one no no the one you came up with oh identity theft that's good it's gonna be better than reality kill the video stuff you know no that was quite good I was too knowing really okay let me ask you this is
listen without prejudice a Bad album I think it's genius that's great yeah but like I was coming back from three years South you were trying to I know but it was the whole like Video Killed the Radio reality stuff Trevor Horn from from the boggles produced the okay all right what's the worst cover take the crown uh yeah no no no no reality killed the video star that's a cover it's just me on a bike what the does that say