Music
Q&A: Busted tell us everything we need to know about their reunion
Busted announced their comeback with details of a huge 2016 UK tour today, revealing the news to an excited room of press in London today.
Charlie Simpson, James Bourne and Matt Willis dish the details on their big plans for next year…
Matt: “We’re stocked, and we’re going on tour next year. We’re going to be touring the UK and Ireland in May so tickets go on sale Friday at 09:00, come and see us!”
Scroll down for the full Q&A…
Why is Wembley such a significant venue for you?
Matt: “We thought we’d start the tour at Wembley because we last played together on our twelfth Wembley in 2004, so we thought we’d start our new beginning there.
Charlie, how on earth did this happen?
Charlie: “It’s been an incredibly gradual process; about three years ago Matt and James came to my house and that was really the first time we’d spent any time together in eight years, which was a surreal moment because we had sort of drifted apart. We hung out in my garden and they wanted to tell me about the idea of doing Busted again, and they wanted to run that idea past me. I told them at the time that it wasn’t something that I wanted to pursue, but the amazing thing about that afternoon, which honestly was a catalyst for us being here right now, was that we were playing music to each other; I had a Spotify playlist on and I was pretty astounded to find out that James had actually been listening to the same sort of music that I was listening to.
“When I left the band in 2005, we had become worlds away creatively and it was an amazing, poignant moment to think we’d landed 10 years later and there was some creative common ground. That was a big moment for me. But they went away and we continued to build on our relationship for the next three years; I spoke to them on the phone and met up with them a bunch of times, and James came round to me in April of this year and he said to me, “Dude, I just wanted to play you these two songs and I want to see what you think of them.” So he played them to me and I said they were awesome; it was really good. That, again, was another big moment and he said “what do you think of us going to the studio for a few days, us hanging out as the three of us and being creative, and seeing what happens.” He had a friend called Eric who had a studio in Philadelphia, so we got on a plane and we went there, and we spent all week in the studio.”
So James, in a world of social media, how did you keep this a secret?
James: “We didn’t know what it would be like, being in the studio again, and we wanted it to be a no pressure thing for us without people asking ‘how did it go?’ We met in Union Square, got a rental car, drove to Philly, stopped off on the way, it was like a fun road trip. There wasn’t anything to get off our chests, it was just the three of us having fun and catching up on a road trip to Philadelphia. We just went to the studio and I would say to describe it, it was just a really fun time. It felt like we were hanging out as old, good friends. We went there and we wanted to keep Instagram off because it was a no pressure [thing], it was really for us just to see how it would go.”
The question everyone wants to ask; Charlie, in the past you said you’d never do this, so why now?
Charlie: “I think I’ve lost count of the amount of times I said that I’d never do this again and I genuinely meant that. There wasn’t a time that I said I wouldn’t do this again where I didn’t whole-heartedly believe that, but I have changed my mind and that’s due to circumstance. The circumstance changes; we went to Philadelphia, we wrote new music and that changed everything. The ironic thing is there was actually more riding against this working and happening than there was for it. I was very ready to go to Philadelphia and come away thinking it just doesn’t feel right, and the fact that it did feel right is as much of a shock to me as it will be for anyone sitting in this room today.
“You know what? It’s just been a weird journey and a very natural one. It’s nice that we’ve been able to connect as friends again and it all feels right. We’re not doing this for any other reason than we’re just excited about what can happen in the future.”
So Matt, you’re going on tour but what about new music?
Matt: “We’re going to be releasing new music, we’ve started working on it already [and] we’re stocked about it, we’re excited about it, but we’re going to be going on tour first. There might be new music before that, who knows… Hopefully, if we get our act together. We’re really excited about next year; it’s a really, really excited prospect.
What can we expect from the Busted 2016 tour?
Matt: “Busted only had two albums so we’re probably going to play every song that you know, and then start from the beginning and do it all again. So you can expect to hear all the hits and every single Busted song pretty much.”
What is happening to McBusted and Fightstar?
James: “It’s actually just a natural thing, McBusted was always two bands; it was a broken band and a band that was not broken. McFly have always been together and they were still McFly within McBusted. So they’ll probably do whatever they want to do, they have each other as the whole band and they’re very supportive about this. They’ve been texting this morning and wishing us the best, and we feel that it doesn’t have to be over forever, we’ve just had this chance to go back home to where we belong and that’s amazing.”
Charlie: “The same for me and Fightstar; we just released a record last month and I have every intention of making music with them in the future and doing another solo record in the future. I think what’s lovely right now, is that we’re very supportive of each other’s creative outputs; we all love music and this is what we want to concentrate on now but we leave the door open for anything in the future.
Charlie, which single are you most and least excited to play?
Charlie: “Of the singles, I’m looking forward to playing Air Hostess and I’m looking forward to reinventing some of the old songs as well, which is going to be fun.
Matt: “We have your blazer ready, Charlie… it’s in storage… ”
Charlie: [laughs] “And Meet You There, that’s probably my favourite Busted song, I’m looking forward to playing that one a lot.”
What is the new material sounding like so far?
Charlie: “It’s pretty hard to pigeonhole, it just sounds new [and] exciting. It’s not heavy, it’s different to the old stuff, it just sounds good! I find it funny when people ask what music sounds like because it’s just better to hear it.”
It’s been a while since you’ve been on tour together, are there any of each other’s bad habits that you’re already dreading?
Charlie: “It’s been so long, I don’t think I can remember your bad habits?!
Matt: Oh, I can remember my bad habits! Most of them are gone now…
Charlie: “It’s just going to be fun, man.”
Matt: “I remember you dropping everything!
Charlie: “Oh, I still do that…”
James: “When we used to hang out leading up to everything, we were just hanging out and talking about potential stuff like going to Philadelphia, and whenever we’d be Charlie he’d always knock over a drink and every time it’s like ‘he’s still the same guy!’.
Tickets for Busted’s 2016 comeback tour go on sale at 09:00 on Friday 13 November, just head to Ticketmaster.co.uk.
