Five insisted there was no need to change their name after two members left.
The remaining members of the ‘Everybody Get Up’ hitmakers – which comprises Scott Robinson, Ritchie Neville and Sean Conlon following the departures of Abz Love and Jason ‘J’ Brown – insisted having a different moniker would make them a completely new band and other acts have endured line-up changes without similar comments.
Scott said “If you change the name, you’re essentially a different band.
“Obviously some people might come to a Five show and think we might not be as good as three…”
Richie interrupted: “Then we stick it to them!”
Scott added: “We do find it funny. But the thing is, you’ve got Westlife – Brian [McFadden] left and no one batted an eyelid. Take That became three, no one batted an eyelid. It’s just because we called ourselves Five.
“At the end of the day, it’s something to talk about.”
Richie added: “We embrace it now. Five is the soul. You know what you’re getting when you hear the name Five.”
The trio insisted fans wouldn’t want them to have kept going as a quintet if not everyone wanted to be involved but they won’t try to erase their former bandmates from their history.
Sean added: “It’s our story. We’ll never forget Jay and Abz. They don’t want to be here, but we’re not trying to erase them.”
Scott said: “But we’re the three members of the band that want to be here and we’re flying the flag for Five.
“The fans don’t want someone who doesn’t want to be there.”
Although the group had “amazing times” during their 90s heyday, there were also moments when things got “extremely dark”.
Scott said in a recent interview: “There were some really amazing times – winning awards, selling loads of albums, travelling the world.
“But behind the curtain, you didn’t really see any of the countries, you were suffering from sleep deprivation and no one knew.
“There were some amazingly bright times and some extremely dark times.”