A Chat with Jimmy Constable (21.08.26)
This interview was contributed by Jay Lowe (guest contributor)
Jimmy Constable was living his dream, enjoying number ones and Top 10 singles as part of popular boyband 911. But what happens once the music stops? A frank conversation with his bandmates on ITV’s The Big Reunion helped lay some of those demons to rest. The band have been together ever since and are touring in the autumn.
This year marks 30 years since the band’s debut single. How do you feel that you’re still able to do this, and with all the original members?
Constable: It’s a weird one for us really. I know it’s really cliché, but we don’t feel 30 years has passed. It does feel like 5 minutes ago moving from Glasgow to London. Going into Virgin Records and meeting artists like The Spice Girls, Billie and Kavana. We were mixing with everybody, and none of us had yet taken off. We’d been given a four-album deal, so we knew the next four years would be crazy graft. And that’s exactly what we wanted, so we loved it. During those four years we went to Asia, and it just went ballistic for us. At the end, we thought, do we get another deal? But the boys were exhausted and had enough.
You hit the big time during an era that there were lots of boybands like Boyzone and East 17. How closely were you looking at what those guys were doing?
Constable: The band first got together in 1995. Obviously, being so close to it, we tried to replicate what Take That did. Even our manager based himself on Nigel Martin Smith, because at the time he was seen as the best around. When I did The Hit Man And Her, I remember New Kids On The Block and a song of theirs called ‘Tonight ‘, and that was one of those that made me want to be in a boyband. There were lots of boybands back in the 90’s. We were doing Smash Hits tours and Radio 1 Roadshows, boybands everywhere! We were already thinking of putting the band together by the time Take That split. It wasn’t like we saw the split and thought let’s do it, it was just good timing for us. A big boyband had ended, but little beknown to us at the time, there would be twenty others.
The band enjoyed decent chart success before landing your first number one with ‘A Little Bit More’. Do you remember where you were when you found out it hit the top spot? Was there a big party?
Constable: I’d like to say there was a mega party, but there wasn’t, which was more because we were just knackered! We’d just done a stint in Asia, and we were actually in Ireland doing one of their big TV shows. Just before we were due to go on, the record company rang up to say, “You’ve got your slot, number one”. Obviously we went ballistic, and it was like Let’s do the TV show and get back to the hotel for a few beers. Our tour manager at the time flew our parents over. The number one was a long time coming. We’d missed out; we’d had number two’s and three’s so many times. It was nice to get that number one finally. Someone told me recently that we’re one of only four or five people to have ten consecutive Top 10 hits.
The decision was made to break up in early 2000, live on The Chris Moyles Show. You’ve said how much this took you by surprise. Do you think it was a hasty or even foolish decision in hindsight?
Constable: I mean, who am I to say right or wrong? We were in Asia and had been out there four or five months. Obviously we were absolutely exhausted from the shows we were doing out there. Lee and Spike pulled me aside one day and said, “we don’t want to carry on anymore’“. This was at the end of our four-album deal. I didn’t really take it seriously until we got back to the UK and they said we’re going to announce it on The Chris Moyles Show. For me, I’d have gone and got a deal somewhere else and carried on. But I can’t put myself in the mental stability and space that the other guys were in. Maybe they had enough of the whole bubble and wanted to break away.
After 911 disbanded, you turned to drink and drugs. Did you have many people to turn to back then, or were you just left alone?
Constable: I kind of took myself off. I’ve always had a close family, but I never really invited them into the circle of me being in that depression and alcohol and drugs. I’ve spoken about how I was on four or five bottles of wine a day with the partner I was with at the time. I suppose I was disheartened because you realise the phone calls you used to make, or the people who used to ring you, weren’t there anymore. So that kind of gave me more of a spiral. I got to this stage when I was drinking that I couldn’t numb the feeling anymore. That’s when I turned to the harder stuff. It was a spiral I had to get myself out of, really.
You were one of many bands to benefit from ITV’s The Big Reunion. How hesitant were you before agreeing to this? Had you not seen Lee and Spike for a while?
Constable: Yeah, we were very hesitant. It was the first time we’d done any TV for a very long time. The concept of the show was very warts and all, which we weren’t afraid of. We had a couple of meetings with the producers and directors in London, who sold us the concept. We were a bit concerned about how it would be edited together. We decided that we’d do it, but we agreed the only way was to tell it like it is. What you don’t want to be doing in that situation is looking over your shoulder and waiting for them to pull you up on something. Like you said this, but we found this. Rightly or wrongly, some people were like, “Oh, okay, we didn’t know that about you”. I went through the drugs and alcohol and was quite open about it. We knew we had nothing to worry about, as what we said on TV actually happened.
There was an uncomfortable moment on The Big Reunion when Spike confronts you about the choices you made after the band. How difficult was that to hear from him?
Constable: I suppose it was at the time, but bearing in mind we’ve always been very honest with each other as well. I wasn’t being honest and saying what I said in order for a certain reaction; I just said it. So I already knew the reaction could go either way, which I was quite prepared for. Not everybody’s going to agree with what I went through or the decisions I made. So I didn’t take offence; it’s just one of those. We’ve all seen the horror stories with different people, and I’m sure it’ll continue in years to come. But especially the ’90s, because there are a lot of people and bands, so you hear more and more of the stories.
Was there any level of care given to you by the record label? The band fell apart when you were in your late 20s, and you had no idea what to do next?
Constable: No. It’s become quite a big thing now because of all the things that have happened in recent years with Liam Payne and a lot of other people. It was never ever seen in the old days in the record companies. At the end of the day, you were there, and once you were gone, you were gone; that was it. Nobody picked up the phone anymore. And I’m not saying they were wrong, but it just wasn’t, at the time, one of those things that you thought about. You went into the music business knowing you may come out of this good or bad, but you dealt with it yourself. You can’t blame the record company for not having somebody there at your side when it all goes wrong because it just wasn’t the done thing then. In hindsight, looking back, it would’ve been a great move because you would’ve had a lot less people going through the kind of stuff I went through.
Out of everything from the 911 songbook: tracks you’ve written or tracks you’ve covered, which are you most proud of?
Constable: As singles, we’re lucky to be able to choose a few. For me, ‘The Day We Find Love’, although it came in at number four, should’ve been a bigger song. But then again, that comes to who you’re releasing with as well. If you’re releasing at the same time as the likes of Robbie, you’ve got a fight on your hands. Other ones are ‘All I Want Is You’ and ‘Bodyshakin’, which is an obvious one and fan favourite. We do have a lot of fans who say ‘Party People…Friday Night’ is their favourite. You don’t know everybody’s likes or what they want. We’re lucky that we’ve got a few to choose from.
What is your best memory of your time in the band?
Constable: That’s a good question! We were round the coffee table in our manager’s little flat. And we had dreams of what we wanted to do, this was before we got signed or even had a single. And one of the things we said was we would love to perform at Wembley Arena. A year and a half later, when we had signed to Virgin and we were doing our first-ever arena tour, all three of us stood on the Wembley Arena stage before they let anybody in and went, “Do you remember that conversation we had round the coffee table?” It was the best feeling in the world. It goes to show that you can fight for your dreams, and if you work hard enough, you can get it. Little did we know the madness that was gonna hit us!
Learn more about Jimmy Constable on the 911 Instagram, Facebook, Spotify and TikTok.
