Looking back, the star says he wanted to leave the band on a high – following the break-out success of the drag-inspired single Let’s Have A Kiki, which remains a fixture at gay bars and Pride events.
“Kiki was such a sensation, and it was so unexpected,” he says.
“At that moment, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’ve got anything left to say through this filter’.
“Baby Daddy wanted to do graphic novels, and Del [Marquis, guitarist] was doing interiors. We all had our different fascinations we wanted to explore.”
In the intervening years, Shears released two solo albums and wrote the Broadway musical Tammy Faye with Elton John; while Baby Daddy balanced his literary ambitions with songwriting gigs for Kylie Minogue, Tinashe and Demi Lovato.
The reunion spark was lit during the pandemic, when the band hosted a live-stream of their 2007 concert DVD as a fundraiser for the charity Trans Lifeline.
“We kind of surprised ourselves that the show was good and that there was something there that was unfinished,” says Shears.
“It was incredible to see the support we had back then,” adds Marquis. “We sometimes forget about that because we’d always go back to the US, where we weren’t necessarily [as big].”
“There’s something very particular about the way the UK adopted us,” agrees Baby Daddy. “Less as fans, but almost like family, in a funny way.”