ROBIN
GIBB'S INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT- (January 2003)
Steve Wright: Robin Gibb is here and we set this interview up maybe three, four weeks before the tragic death of Maurice. We’ll talk about that and other matters. So Robin Gibb is here and there is new music to talk about and I think it’s important that you continue working. How do you feel about it Robin?
Robin Gibb: I’ve been on a hard dilemma at first. It seemed to me either I’d sit down and go crazy, step at the wall and keep thinking about it all the time, or throw myself back into work, and I think there's only thing I could do, and that is work.
S.W: I know now it’s difficult for you now and we understand. I was so sorry about Maurice...
Robin: Thanks Steve.
S.W.: And upset, like you wouldn’t believe. I kinda avoided mentioning it on the air because I know you guys've been upset, but what has it been like? And how’s Barry?
Robin: We are both the same, we are both in total shock and disbelief. This is not a guy that was ever ill, but it was something out of the blue, and that’s the worst kind, because still a young man, with so much left to do, full of ideas and creative energy, and there was just no sign of anything like this happening. Even now it’s just hard to believe, it’s just total shock and disbelief.
SW: When was the first you heard of this terrible news?
Robin: The terrible news was on the morning of the night that I heard Maurice had been rushed to the operation.
SW: Cos you were here, weren’t you?
Robin: I was in England, yes. He was already in hospital but he had gone to cardiac arrest and the following day I heard that he’d worsened and even he didn’t come out of the anaesthesia and so I rushed over to the States, to Miami and I was there, and on Saturday night he died.
SW: What about your grieving process and Barry’s grieving process? Have you taken any advice?
Robin: I can’t say goodbye and I won’t accept it and I think as a part of my defensive mechanism in my brain , I never will accept it, because it’s just to me and by not accepting it, it never happened and I can always feel by being a little bit angry and defensive in that way, maybe it’s for me to come into terms with it is not a good thing.
SW: And you were twins, of course.
Robin: And we were twins. But in essence I think that the three of us are almost like triplets, because we have this common bond all of us together that we grew up with. It’s hard to say that me and Maurice were separated from Barry. He’s going through just what I’m going through right now.
SW: Obviously you have not been able to spend too much time together, but the time that you have spent together talking about Maurice?
Robin: Yeah, but I think it’s even hard at the moment to do that, to sit down and talk about it all the time, because it’s too painful to talk about, because this happened so quickly and out of the blue it’s hard to get our forces together and start looking...
SW: Well, you are in shock.
Robin: Yeah, absolutely, still in shock, me and Barry, although we will record together and write for other artists, we will never use the name Bee Gees again.
SW: Yes, I read that and I thought that’s not what you said the day after in that interview.
Robin: Yes, cos me and Barry got together since then and decided that we wouldn’t be the Bee Gees as just the two brothers.
SW: Out of respect or...?
Robin: Out of respect and as a tribute to Maurice really. The Bee Gees are the three brothers.
SW: I know that you have been working on your solo album. There are some tracks on there that have become poignant...
Robin: Well, obviously "Wish you were here" which is a re-recording of a previous Bee Gees song. It was actually originally recorded as a tribute to Andy about 12, 13 years ago, and of course it takes a whole new meaning now.
SW: What can I ask you about your memories without upsetting everybody?
Robin: My memories are obviously more personal than professional. I think when somebody sees you in the music world losing someone, they think on the professional level, but my memories obviously are extremely personal as well, which are very painful, all I could remember this is a guy who was with me all my life.
SW: The times that I’ve been with him, he was always jolly.
Robin: Yeah, and he was a very generous man, he was always a champion of the underdog and he always went out of his way to make people feel good, and there were things that he did behind the scenes that nobody ever new about. He was just a really good guy...
SW: What I would like to do is play a couple of tracks that were Maurice’s favourites, so if you want to pick something in his memory, from your catalogue, that would be great.
Robin: Well , I know that he loved "How deep is your love", and he liked "Nights on Broadway" as well, or perhaps "Too much heaven", that was another one.
SW: We’ll do a couple of those... What we’ll do we’ll take a break. We say thanks very much, Robin. Very nice to see you. We are so very, very sorry for your loss.
Robin: Thanks a lot.
SW: I hope we can see you in better time, sometime in the future.
Robin: Me too. Thanks Steve.
