Boyzone singer Keith Duffy has hit out at the Irish media for not supporting him and Brian McFadden’s band, BoyzLife – saying he doesn’t even socialise in Dublin anymore.
The Dubliner said he and the former Westlife singer no longer do interviews with Irish media anymore because they’re always writing negative things about the duo.
Speaking at the opening of celebrity fitness trainer Paul Byrne’s new gym in Dublin’s Powerscourt centre, Duffy ranted: “We don’t do anything (interviews) here. That’s our choice.
“We just wanted a peaceful life, we love what we do. We’re very successful in the UK. They champion us over there and they bring out the best of us.
“You come over here and whether it be radio DJ’s or certain journalists, they write derogatory terms. They’re just negative.
“Boyzone was the same and when we came back together in 2008, I never worked here again. It was always the UK, Australia, Middle East, Europe.
“Brian and I are just back from Cape Town, we’re on our way to Indonesia now to Bali and then we’re off to Vietnam and Cambodia. Then we’re off to Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi but we do nothing in Dublin.
“It really is just begrudging. People don’t listen and they insult…
“People assume it is going to be sh*te because they don’t like us from the days of the 90s.”
A fed-up Keith said his own children, son Jay and daughter Mia, don’t want to read bad press about their famous dad anymore – saying he rarely socialises in the city.
“I rarely socialise in Dublin because when I go out, you don’t know if someone is going to buy you a pint or give you a dig.
“My kids are all grown up now, my daughter is 22, Jay is 26 – they don’t want to be reading shit about their old man in the paper. They don’t want to hear DJs slagging me off so it’s just easier for us.”
But he said his home will always be Dublin – and praised the loyal fanbase of supporters who travel to the UK to see BoyzLife perform.
He said their new album, Old School, has been a huge success in Ireland without doing any promo tour, reaching a spot in the top of the iTunes chart.
“It actually went down well here. The first couple of days it was in the top ten in the iTunes chart, which was bizarre because we done no promo here.
“We’ve a loyal fan base in Ireland, who we care about.”
But he insisted they will never put on a show in Ireland anytime soon.
“My home will always be Ireland; Dublin I love it. I’m very passionate about Irish people and Ireland and I think we have a fantastic hospitality about us but we’re horrible to our own, we’re horrible to ourselves.
“Back in 1993, Gay Byrne slagged us off to bits and the whole nine yards. Then we (Boyzone) got our first number one in the UK and then we were welcomed back ‘Our boys come home’.
“I don’t need the headache or the heart ache.
“We did 82 shows sold out in the UK, we did two shows in Dublin, and they only sold 50 per cent and they were on sale for six months. We sold out in four hours in the UK. Why would you come back to that?
“Then you get a radio DJ of a Dublin city radio station who didn’t like Boyzone, thought our music was sh*te, hasn’t listened to anything that we’ve done but yet comments on it.”
But he praised Mario Rosenstock as being one of the only person he admires in the industry.
“It’s not Mario Rosenstock. I love what Mario does. What Mario does is clever. It’s intelligent and it’s funny. The other guys it is just low cheap comedy with a knife in the back."
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