Dire Straits turn down “huge amounts of money” to reform
nme.comDire Straits have turned down “huge amounts of money” to reform the band in recent years, one of their founding members has revealed.
In an interview with The Telegraph, John Illsley, the bassist who was an ever-present in the ‘80s rock giants, confirmed that the band continue to receive major financial offers to get back together, but he also suggested that they remain uninterested.
Speaking about recent meetings he has had with the band’s former manager Paul Crockford, Illsley said: “Every time we have lunch, [he] says to me, ‘I wish people would stop offering me huge amounts of money to put [Dire Straits] back together.’” Dire Straits split briefly in 1988 for two years before permanently calling it a day in 1995, releasing a total of six studio albums.
Illsley has now reflected that he was “pretty happy” when the band’s run came to an end, recalling feeling “mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted” by the time they finally disbanded. “Most of our marriages were falling apart, we weren’t seeing our children very much – it was all wrong.
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