- Title: UK: Noughties British pop bands combine to form supergroup "McBusted"
- Date: 11th November 2013
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 11, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF "MCBUSTED" AT NEWS CONFERENCE AUDIENCE LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MCBUSTED BAND MEMBERS, HARRY JUDD, TOM FLETCHER, DOUGIE POYNTER, JAMES BOURNE, MATT WILLIS AND DANNY JONES, SAYING: JUDD: "A lot of our fans knew about us through Busted, or they've come on board since Busted and I know they're going to love Busted and there's a lot of Busted fans who've been waiting for this, so the whole is just fun for us and hopefully a lot of fun for our fans." FLECTHER: "Yeah and for us, you know we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Busted and it's almost like when we go on tour next year it's almost bang on ten years ago that we went on their arena tour to support them and if it wasn't for that tour then we wouldn't, you know that was a huge opportunity for us and we wouldn't be here without us going on that tour, so it feels like a really nice kind of way of celebrating that ten years later doing a joint tour and playing the Busted songs which I think the fans have wanted to hear for a long time." VARIOUS OF "MCBUSTED" AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MCBUSTED BAND MEMBERS, HARRY JUDD, TOM FLETCHER, DOUGIE POYNTER, JAMES BOURNE, MATT WILLIS AND DANNY JONES, SAYING: BOURNE: "We never thought that we would do this again because he's gone, but we've got McFly now and they're here and they're going to do it with us and we're going to play the Busted songs again." JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION: "So is he supporting you on tour?" WILLIS: "Well I hadn't thought about that." JUDD: "Charlie just tweeted actually, I just saw, saying he wishes Matt and James all the best luck, so obviously things are cool." POYNTER: "Just not cool with us, obviously." BOURNE: "It's weird, he just said that, he didn't say anything." JUDD: "No, I mean, I feel like McFly make up, just about, for Charlie. Danny disagrees." FLETCHER: "Maybe if we stand on each other's shoulders." BOURNE: "He's in a good place. He's excited about his music and we're excited about our tour." WILLIS: "He's not ready to do this yet, but we are." VARIOUS OF "MCBUSTED" POSING WITH PROP FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MCBUSTED BAND MEMBERS, HARRY JUDD, TOM FLETCHER, DOUGIE POYNTER, JAMES BOURNE, MATT WILLIS AND DANNY JONES, SAYING: WILLIS: "The "McBusted" name. It just kind of happened. Everyone kind of referred to it as that. I thought it was always going to be "Busted and McFly play the hits of Busted and McFly." FLETCHER: "I feel like we've been a bit screwed over though because you have your entire name in the name. We've just got the "Mc" so all you've really done is take "McFly" and "Busted" and removed half of our name." JONES: "Yeah and there's more of us." WILLIS: "That's a good point." FLETCHER: "I think it's very unfair. I'm not happy with it." WILLIS: "That's a really good point. Well McBustedFly doesn't really work either though. They all suck." JONES: "Why not take the first two of yours and make "BuMcFly"?" WILLIS: "BuMcFly?" JONES: "Yeah, "Bu" from Busted. I like that." POYNTER: "BuMcFly? That sounds horrible." WILLIS: "McFlighted. You see they all suck. The only one that doesn't suck terribly is "McBusted"." JUDD: "It still sucks." WILLIS: "It still sucks, yeah." BOURNE: "Bad names are really hard to come up with anyway." WILLIS: "I think any band, if you think of any band name without any kind of level of success sounds terrible. If you'd heard of the "Foo Fighters" you'd just be like "What?" but now you're like "oh the Foo Fighters, cool."." JONES: "Backstreet Boys." WILLIS: "Yeah, the Backstreet Boys. That sounds terrible but, you know then they became huge."
- Embargoed: 26th November 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA6IZH17JZ9QTKQY99B9X8DKH9Q
- Story Text: British pop band McFly and two members of former band Busted announce the formation of a supergroup "McBusted" at a news conference in London, with the six members of the new band set to tour in the spring.
Two of the most popular British boy bands of the 2000's announced they were forming a supergroup at a news conference in London on Monday (November 11).
McFly and Busted both appeared at the Soho Hotel in London, minus former Busted member Charlie Simpson, to introduce their new band "McBusted" to journalists.
The six members, Busted bandmates James Bourne and Matt Willis and McFly quartet Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter, and Harry Judd will all now tour in the spring with 11 dates currently announced.
Speaking after the announcement, McBusted and McFly drummer Judd said fans of both bands should be excited about the collaboration.
"A lot of our fans knew about us through Busted, or they've come on board since Busted and I know they're going to love Busted and there's a lot of Busted fans who've been waiting for this, so the whole is just fun for us and hopefully a lot of fun for our fans," he said, which Fletcher added was also perfectly timed.
"You know we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Busted and it's almost like when we go on tour next year it's almost bang on ten years ago that we went on their arena tour to support them and if it wasn't for that tour then we wouldn't, you know that was a huge opportunity for us and we wouldn't be here without us going on that tour," he said.
"So it feels like a really nice kind of way of celebrating that ten years later doing a joint tour and playing the Busted songs which I think the fans have wanted to hear for a long time," he told Reuters Television.
McBusted first played together in September at a gig celebrating McFly's 10th anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall in London, much to the delight of many of the fans in attendance.
Busted originally formed in 2002, but broke up in 2004 after Simpson decided to pursue his own project with alternative rock group Fightstar and subsequently solo material.
McBusted's announcement was made at the same hotel where Busted announced their split, but Bourne said there was still support from Simpson for what he and Willis were doing with McFly - emotional if not literal.
"We never thought that we would do this again because he's gone, but we've got McFly now and they're here and they're going to do it with us and we're going to play the Busted songs again," Bourne said, before being asked if Simpson might be supporting McBusted on their tour.
"Well I hadn't thought about that," Willis said.
Simpson's relationship with the McFly band members was less clear, though Bourne and Willis added that they were merely moving in different directions.
"He's in a good place. He's excited about his music and we're excited about our tour," he said.
"He's not ready to do this yet, but we are," Willis added.
McFly rose to fame after fellow band Busted helped launch them by inviting them to tour in 2004, going on to have seven No. 1 hits in Britain.
Collectively the two groups have 14 number one singles, three Brit awards, 27 combined top ten singles and have sold 15 million records worldwide between them.
Asked where the name came from however, none seemed entirely convinced.
"The "McBusted" name. It just kind of happened. Everyone kind of referred to it as that. I thought it was always going to be "Busted and McFly play the hits of Busted and McFly," Willis told Reuters Television, though after a quick conversation with his fellow bandmates the concurrence was that there wasn't much else to choose from.
"Bad names are really hard to come up with anyway," Bourne said, to which Willis added that success might change perceptions of "McBusted".
"I think any band, if you think of any band name without any kind of level of success sounds terrible. If you'd heard of the "Foo Fighters" you'd just be like "What?" but now you're like 'oh the Foo Fighters, cool'", Willis said.
McBusted will appear publicly for the first time on Friday (November 16) for the charity event Children in Need.
The McBusted tour will take place between April 16 and May 13 in 2014, with dates only currently set for UK venues. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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