Luke Goss of boyband Bros says ‘I tell my brother I love him on every call’

We are about the same age but the only time I would have gladly swapped places with Luke Goss – apart from now – was in September 1988.

Then, police had to close Oxford Street as an unruly mob of young women besieged HMV to get their hands on him.

The evening when we talk, rain is running down the window in soon-to-be Brexit Britain and my plague mask is in the wash.

“I’m having a very blessed day,” Luke says from his LA home. “The sun is shining and the mountains look beautiful, I’ve got my hippie music playing and I’ve just stopped painting to speak to you. I know how spoilt I am.”

Formerly one third to one half of boyband Bros and now a Hollywood actor who has appeared in over 70 films, with his latest, feelgood thriller Paydirt, out this week, Luke has carved out a very nice life for himself in California.

When Bros split in 1992 “there was no silver spoon to fall back on”, he explains. “I’m a working class boy and there are times in your career when you have to make choices – you simply have to go and make ends meet.

“Sometimes, unfortunately from a creative standpoint, you have to make decisions knowing it is not filling your heart and it might actually break it a tiny bit. But you know the ones you love are going to be safe.”

That is as honest a self-appraisal of an early body of work as you are likely to read this side of a Hollywood publicist.

With eight top 10 hits, including When Will I Be Famous? Bros were one of the biggest bands in the 1980s. They sold 16 million records globally and had an army of fervent fans – the Brosettes.

Drummer Luke, singer Matt and bassist Craig Logan formed the band in 1986. With mean-spirited schadenfreude, there were those in Britain who delighted in their fall.

He admits “there was a drive” to prove people wrong. “The only difference was that I’ve never been an ‘I told you so’ kind of guy. Like it says in the Bible, love and forgive thy neighbour – so forgive.

“My management, contractually, I am not saying rightly or wrongly, relieved me of some of the financial prowess I would have had, and sent me on a path of recovery.

“And that recovery sent me on a path to finding me, so it is all supposed to be… I always say to people, ‘If there is no lens around then why the f*** is there drama?’”

That last line could have come straight from Bros: After the Screaming Stops – an out-of-nowhere, instantly quotable smash documentary that debuted on BBC4 before Christmas 2018.

It started trending immediately as a nation suddenly came together to ask: “OMG! Are you watching?”

Recorded in the run-up to a 30-year anniversary gig, there was plenty of drama and lenses to capture it.

The reunion of Luke and twin Matt (who had been plying his trade in Las Vegas) was, by common consent, dynamite.

“It changed my relationship with my country,” reflects Luke, who has been married to singer Shirley Lewis since 1994. “There is lots of love and hugs now.

“There was only one debate going on at the time – Brexit. And then the doc came along…

“I think there was some compassion applied to Matt and I and I think that was a beautiful credit to the country. They saw we were just a couple of lads... trying to work through life like everybody else and there was this big dump of candour.

“From what I’ve been told, people were just hungry for some truth.

“There was tension because we were learning to play together again as a band and I had to use all my meditation and prayer practices to relax.

“It allowed us to get things off our chests but I hope it also corrected some of the misconceptions about us that were radically inaccurate.”

Partly, perhaps, but he is also right to point out that the country suddenly warmed to the two men and their way of articulating life’s struggles.

“Once the bridge has been rebuilt,” says Luke, right on cue, “Only then can the water flow under it again.” It prompted more gigs, and talk of future music projects and even a movie.

“My brother and I shoot the sh*t about life and the band and business opportunities a minimum of once a day, at most four times a day.

“And we tell each other we love each other on every call, once at the beginning and once at the end and once in the middle.”

But he admits he’s “not a big fan of the biopic idea” yet. He adds: “I don’t feel there’s enough there, there’s nothing that nobody knows.

“The biopic for me will be 10 years from now, about us creating the first true Bros album, without people being in-between or middle-men.”

As well Paydirt, Luke was in Blade II and Hellboy II as well as less famous movies including One Night With the King.

He says “not trying to get an Oscar” but doing his best to be a good actor. He has another film, The Loss Adjuster, in the can and scheduled for release at Christmas.

But, for now, he paints – 11 4x5ft pictures so far – and has representation and a New York publisher.

“Painting is now part of my permanent career. I won’t leave it,” he says.

“The main thing is, look, you lot, I am the same as you, God gave me this creative juice. It’s something you enjoy, we have this relationship because of it, and I am not going away because I’ve seen enough happy faces that means I am going to keep trying.”

Paydirt is available on DVD and digital on August 24.

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