Keith Duffy thinks Boyzone made their comeback "way too soon" after Stephen Gately died.
The 43-year-old singer – who was in the ‘Love Me For A Reason’ group alongside the late Stephen, Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch – has admitted he didn’t "enjoy" going on tour and performing in 2011, two years after the late band member passed away in 2009, and to cope with the loss, as well as the fast pace of the music industry, he started "drinking too much".
Speaking to the Express Online, the star said: "We did two huge [comeback] tours in 2008 and 2009, and we did four nights in each venue.
"We then came back with the Greatest Hits album in 2009, and in the October we were in the middle of recording the Brother album when we lost Stephen.
"He died in 2009 and we were back on the road in 2011, two years later – which was way too soon. Way too soon.
"Emotionally and psychologically… I’ll be very honest, myself and Shane were drinking too much, trying to numb the pain, onstage and offstage.
"It just didn’t work, and it wasn’t enjoyable. We didn’t want to be together. That’s when we took a sabbatical."
And the Irish hunk – who has Jay, 21, and 17-year-old daughter Mia with his wife Lisa Smith – has revealed the ‘No Matter What’ hitmakers return four years ago wasn’t the "success" they hoped for, which was why they cancelled a string of their concerts.
He continued: "Then in 2013 and 2014 we decided to try and tour again but by that stage the success wasn’t as good, though we probably pretended it was. We actually did one night in each venue, as opposed to four in 2009."
Boyzone are set to group again next year to celebrate their 25th anniversary, but Keith is apprehensive about how it will turn out.
He said: "Coming back now, who knows how successful it’s going to be?"
Meanwhile, Keith has teamed up with Westlife singer Brian McFadden to become a double act named Boyzlife, and the pair are shocked by how popular they have become as a duo, especially as the pre-sale tickets for their tour sold out immediately.
Brian said: "When the tickets were going on sale, it’s not like the old days where you sell out tours and every single goes to number one.
"So we were like, ‘let’s put the tickets on sale and go do some TV shows, do some promo and hopefully closer to the time we’ll sell out.’
"And we got the call that the presale – just the presale tickets! – had sold out the whole tour within four hours."
Keith Duffy struggled in Boyzone after the death of Stephen Gately
