Gavin Friday: ‘I wouldn't wish Bono's success on anybody'

Gavin Friday first demanded attention with the Virgin Prunes, the Dublin art rock band whose sensibility was more Jacques Brel than the blues. They shook audiences in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including one infamous appearance on The Late Late Show. 'They are unique and different,' said a clearly nervous Gay Byrne by way of introduction. He wasn't wrong. Friday often wore dresses and make-up before such things were popular or profitable.
Despite the Virgin Prunes' cult success, Friday left the band in 1986, turning first to painting before recording three albums with the multi-instrumentalist Maurice Seezer. One of these, Shag Tobacco, came perilously close to housing a genuine hit when the gorgeous Angel was included on the soundtrack to the Baz Luhrmann-directed film Romeo and Juliet.
Born Fionán Hanvey in 1959, Friday's dance card has also included a spot of acting, popping up beside Cillian Murphy in both Disco Pigs and Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto, and he and Seezer have composed several high-profile film scores including their Ivor Novello-nominated work on Jim Sheridan's In America.
He released a solo record, Catholic, back in 2011, which stood alone until last October's follow-up, Ecce Homo. Friday also hadn't played a headlining gig in over a decade, but remedied that with some recent European dates and two Irish shows, including a night at Dublin's Vicar Street venue last month. The gig reviews glowed.
Today we are talking over coffee and cigarettes in Friday's beautiful Rathmines townhouse, where he moved a few years back after an extended sojourn in Killiney. At his feet sits his constant companion, the 15-year-old dachshund Stan (the Man). Stan's twin brother Ralfie passed away 18 months ago and both of them are celebrated on the song The Best Boys in Dublin.
'Life got in the way,' Friday says of his recording hiatus. 'And whatever came around the corner.' He details many 'great musical adventures … Then my ma's Alzheimer's got really bad and you just have to start looking after her.' Ecce Homo is dedicated to Anne Storey Hanvey, who died in 2017.
Talk turns to Friday's 'part-time job' as U2's creative consultant. He and Bono have been close friends since they were teenagers. Ecce Homo's elegiac When the World Was Young is dedicated to the U2 singer, and the visual artist and fellow former Virgin Prune Guggi. Bono, Guggi and the Edge were all in attendance at Friday's Vicar Street gig and were surely as mesmerised by their mate's performance as the rest of us. Having advised U2 on the right moves for decades ('I'm their biggest bullshit detector'), Friday was also one of the creative minds behind their recent Las Vegas Sphere triumph.
'I wouldn't wish Bono's success on anybody,' he says. 'We all felt a lot of pressure putting the Vegas shows together. We didn't know it would work but that's the greatness about them. U2 are the most supreme gamblers in the world. They break rules to try something different.'
Friday has never feared an artistic flutter either. A previous 'musical adventure' and 'one of the most challenging things I ever did' was Drifting and Tilting: The Songs of Scott Walker at the Barbican in London. Walker, who recorded four peerless baroque solo albums before detouring into the avant-garde, directed Friday singing Jesse. 'It's about Elvis Presley's stillborn twin. Hence the name Elvis, his mother took the word 'lives' and turned it around.'
Friday's Ecce Homo, a phrase meaning 'behold the man' attributed to Pontius Pilate as he presented a bedraggled Jesus to the angry mob, details the makings of Friday from the teenager getting high off shoe polish in the Gary Glitter-quoting Lady Esquire, to discovering the delights of European culture on the road with the Prunes, his version of going to college, to songs for his dear departed mother in both Lamento and Amaranthus.
Stations of the Cross is dedicated to Sinéad O'Connor, whose singing on 1993's beautiful Bono/Friday co-write, You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart, should have won every award going. 'Stations of the Cross is not about Sinéad, although she was going to sing on it,' Friday explains, citing a plan formed before O'Connor's untimely death. 'When her son Shane passed I saw a black hole which sadly she didn't get out of. The media never took anything to do with her health into consideration, they wanted her to be that 'mad person' and then suddenly she's our Joan of Arc? I felt they weren't sympathetic when she was crying out, so I was annoyed at that but very moved by the public reaction on her death. We lost a true soldier.'
• At home with Bono: 'I've always felt like an impersonator'
Friday's current single The Church of Love brings everything full circle, toasting today's more open society, which perhaps the young Fionán dreamt of when he fashioned himself as Gavin Friday. 'Back in the day I wore a dress as a shield, but also as a threat. It was my way of saying, 'I'm a queer? Sure, but I'll kick your head in.' Those days are gone, now you see young 'Gavin Fridays' all over the place and you don't blink. You couldn't have imagined that back in the 1970s. I'm overjoyed, because they look great.'
So much has changed that Friday has recently come out, in casual style. 'Someone asked me, who's this 'Patrick' that you dedicated the title track to?' No one had ever asked be about my sexuality before. I just answered: that's my partner. Yes, it was a quiet way but no one cared. There's the old saying, if it walks like a duck … We were wearing dresses, and the lyrics? I mean, hello?'
The single's B-side is a cover of the 1989 Desireless Euro-hit Voyage, Voyage, sung in French of course, because it's Friday. 'It's Euro trash but I embrace it, I did that for a laugh and a love.'
Laughter and love sums up an artist enjoying his adventures. 'I'm suspicious of anyone that's forever happy but I'm content,' he says. 'I'm fortunate I'm able to do this stuff but I want to concentrate on Gavin Friday, I want to bring out another album soon and tour again. I feel really comfortable on stage and I haven't done it properly on my own in years. Yes, I'm really excited about that.'

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He featured in the youth squads of Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea while experimenting in narcotics during his formative years, but none were prepared to gamble on the rebellious lad. Article continues below Friday was once tipped to be the inspiration for a biopic (Image: Reading Post ) He died at just 38 from a heart attack, though it's suspected drugs played a role (Image: Daily Mirror ) By 15, he had abandoned school and undertaken roles as a plasterer, van driver and window cleaner. Yet Friday slid into a life of crime that led to a 14-month spell in Feltham Borstal for theft, leading father Alf to remark: "He didn't care." ‌ Following his release, Friday embraced fatherhood with his partner Maxine Doughan; they persisted through the turbulence of an interracial relationship and took vows at just 17. Friday's exceptional play in the Isthmian League for Walthamstow Avenue, Hayes and Enfield combined with his day job as an asphalter over a span of three years. Already known for heavy drinking, it was an accident involving a scaffold and impalement through the buttock that brought him closest to death, not substance misuse. It was a harrowing near-fatal incident in '72 that saw him barely escape more severe internal damage. He made a swift return to the pitch within three months, and by 1973, Reading manager Charlie Hurley saw potential in Friday, bringing him on board as an amateur while he continued his day job as an asphalter. His impact was immediate, and within just a few months, he inked a professional contract with the Royals. ‌ Friday possessed a rare combination of pace, power and sublime skill, along with a robust physical presence and sharp footballing brain, quickly becoming the bane of every defender. And the supporters took to him instantly. Yet with his extraordinary abilities came significant challenges. During training, Friday's zeal sometimes veered into dangerous territory; he shunned shin pads and didn't hesitate to dive into tackles. Coaches found it nigh impossible to tame Friday's hedonistic ways (Image: Mirrorpix ) ‌ Reading historian David Downs recalled: "In his very first training session they were playing a six-a-side game and Robin went around trying to kick as many of the established Reading players as he could. He must have put two or three out of the game. Hurley had to call him off." Away from the pitch, Friday's fondness for Colt 45 malt liquor often led to his ejection from local pubs. His antics reached a peak when he was barred from the posh Sindlesham Mill nightclub after performing an indecent 'Elephant' dance, utilising his jean pockets and a crude gesture with his genitals. Syd Simmons once said Friday adhered strictly to manager Hurley's directive of not imbibing alcohol 48 hours before a game. But he opted instead for LSD and immersing himself in heavy metal music. ‌ The club concocted an unusual plan to temper his wild antics by moving him into a flat above their retired groundskeeper. However, this did little to dampen his unrestrained ways, as he seemed to embrace the hedonistic lifestyle even more eagerly. Friday began his stint at Reading on an odd note. He had tattoos removed from his fingers over the summer, then joining a hippy commune in Cornwall without notifying the team. Despite returning late for training, Friday burst into the new season exhibiting superb form. However, he started showing increasingly unpredictable conduct during away matches. ‌ Friday with his first wife, Maxine, and daughter Nicola in 1972 (Image: Daily Mirror ) The centre forward once spent time on the books in Chelsea's academy before hitting the big time (Image: Reading Post ) In one notorious incident after a match, Friday leapt over a cemetery wall during a team bus break. He pilfered stone angels from a grave to place them next to the unsuspecting sleeping club chairman, prompting manager Hurley to reprimand him: "You must never, ever desecrate a graveyard." ‌ In a separate whimsical episode, he was spotted entering a hotel lounge carrying a swan he'd found outside. As the 1974/75 season wound down, Friday marked a last-gasp winning goal against Rochdale with a peck on a policeman stationed behind the net. His explanation for the kiss was simply: "He looked so cold and fed up standing there that I decided to cheer him up a bit." After an impressive haul of 20 goals for the season, Friday was celebrated as the club's Player of the Year. He then amplified his reputation with fans during the next season by completing a lap of honour around the pitch whenever he found the back of the net. On 31 March 1976, in a match against Tranmere Rovers, he netted what was to become his most memorable goal, a sensational bicycle kick that flew into the top corner. ‌ Clive Thomas, the eminent match official, acclaimed Friday's skills as surpassing those of legends like Pele and Johan Cruyff. To this, Friday retorted: "Really? You should come down here more often, I do that every week." Friday's zenith came shortly thereafter when Reading ascended to the Third Division. Yet after reaching this high point, his career started to falter. Complications arose following contractual disputes leading up to Friday's extraordinary wedding to his second wife, Liza Deimel, which turned incredibly chaotic. The groom stood out in his flashy attire, featuring a tiger print shirt, brown velvet suit and snakeskin boots, and he was infamously captured on camera rolling a joint atop the church steps. ‌ Revelries at the reception were hampered by drunken brawls and purloined gifts. Consequently, Friday's penchant for revelry and substance misuse began to erode his form as he started the following season blatantly unfit. The enigma's talent was matched only by his unpredictability (Image: Daily Mirror ) With the squad mulling over offloading Friday, Hurley warned him, saying: "The squad needs you, but I owe it to the club because I can't have you using drugs. If I know you're using drugs, it won't take them [major clubs] long to find out. You have got to get your act together." ‌ One of his final appearances for Reading ended in controversy when he broke into Mansfield's dressing room and defecated in their team bath. He eventually signed for Cardiff for £28,000 and quickly made headlines for all the wrong reasons after being arrested in Cardiff Central train station for fare evasion, and his manager, Jimmy Andrews, had to bail him out. Friday's first match for Cardiff, against Fulham on New Year's Day 1977, was just as eventful. Following a late night of drinking, he still managed to score twice and get the better of England legend Bobby Moore, at one point using his notorious "squeeze" tactic. However, the moment that has stayed with Cardiff fans came in a match against Luton in April when he clashed repeatedly with the opposing goalkeeper, Milija Aleksic. After scoring, he taunted Aleksic with a V-sign, which thrilled the crowd. ‌ His actions that day even inspired the Super Furry Animals' 1996 single, The Man Don't Give A F***, which features an image of Friday's infamous gesture. Former team-mate Paul Went nostalgically recalled: "He wouldn't even bother to have a shower. He'd just get dressed, take his carrier-bag with his dry Martini and he'd go – no explanation." The footballer's time at Cardiff was punctuated by episodes of controversy. This included an explosive reaction where he left his laughing team-mate in need of a neck brace for two weeks after taking offence to being hit in the head by the ball. Friday displayed his volatile nature following Cardiff's relegation to the Fourth Division and the Welsh Cup final loss to Shrewsbury. He wildly threw snooker balls around the team hotel in his underwear, which hardly improved his reputation. ‌ In the subsequent season, his only significant act was a violent confrontation with Lawrenson. By 1978, he returned to living with his parents in Acton and took up work as an asphalter, his athletic prowess behind him. Friday swearing at Luton goalkeeper Milija Aleksic (Image: Western Mail Archive ) Friday was known for his aggression on the field and famously said: "On the pitch I hate all opponents. I don't give a damn about anyone. People think I'm mad, a lunatic. I am a winner." ‌ His life after hanging up his boots involved marrying for a third time and a stint in jail for posing as a police officer to confiscate drugs. Friday was found deceased in his flat at just 38 years old on December 22, 1990. While it was recorded he had a heart attack, Paolo Hewitt and former Oasis band member Paul McGuigan, authors of his 1997 biography 'The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw', suggest the cause of death might have been "a suspected heroin overdose." A decade has passed since the buzz surrounding a film based on his life hit the headlines, with Hunger Games actor Sam Claflin tipped to portray the iconic Friday. Yet, developments on the project have been conspicuously absent. Article continues below To devotees at Reading and Cardiff, Robin Friday remains the epitome of an enigmatic cult figure – an undeniably talented footballer whose exploits largely avoided the limelight. But his magic on the pitch made a lasting impression upon those who were privileged enough to witness it. Reflecting on a momentous conversation with then-Reading manager Maurice Evans, Friday's cheeky retort was: "I'm half your age and I've lived twice your life." And in that, there was undoubtedly no question.