Music > Interviews

Busted

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

21/12/16

 

 

We all remember those young scallywags Busted back in the Year 3000, when they told us what they went to school for and about that time they crashed the wedding. Ooh they were rum un’s. We never thought they’d return after busting up in 2005 but eleven years later they’re back together, back out on tour with two dates at UEA and an 80’s take on pop on their fresh new album Night Driver. I spoke to bass player and vocalist Matt Willis about how he feels about sleeping in tour buses these days, how a vintage synth inspired their new sound and why Busted are busting out all over once again.

 

In retrospect are you glad Busted split up because it gave you all a chance to have some time out, discover other music and gain different experiences?

Yeah man, I think that goes for all of us – it was the best thing we could have done. You don’t really know until you look back at it. Without sounding lame we kind of kept our respect for each other in check. We didn’t hate each other, we just wanted to do different things – Charlie wanted to do Fightstar, and I just thought why shouldn’t you be able to do what you want to do. If someone wanted to stop me from doing what I wanted to do that would be horrible. Also, looking back at it, the end of Busted was bad for Charlie, he really didn’t enjoy it, and you could see that on stage and in interviews – he just wasn’t happy in the band. He’s our mate and you never want someone you love going through shit.

 

In 2015 Busted announced an arena tour of the UK and Ireland and 100,000 tickets were sold in the first hour of being put on sale. How did that response make you feel?

It’s been amazing. There’s part of you that thinks does anyone really care? You know, it was a long time ago after all. We give a shit but we were a part of it and we all felt that there was some unfinished business with Busted, and the amount of times Charlie said he wasn’t going to do it but then he decided to come back! It was really really awesome. We thought if 10% of the fans who used to like us still want to see then it was worth doing. We announced 11 arena shows and I though that was quite a cocky move to be honest. We were thinking of doing an album before touring, initially but we didn’t want to sign a record deal, so we thought we’d tour first to raise the money to make the album ourselves, so that’s what we did. The promoter suggested that the tour might go better than we thought and that we should put arena shows on there, and they sold out in an hour. It was amazing.

 

 

Now you’re coming back out on tour with your new album Night Driver – how will it differ for fans who might’ve seen you a couple years ago?

This tour is a completely new thing. We did that big tour playing all the hits, the Busted are back nostalgia vibes. We got that out of the way and then it was all about the new record. The reason we got back together was because we wanted to make new music together and were excited about that.

 

You started working again together in Philadephia, very privately. You used the classic Roland Juno-60 synth for this album – was that key to coming up with the sound you were looking for? How did you find recording with John Fields?

Yeah totally, cool question! That was the sound of our album, that synth. We went and worked in Philadelphia in the middle of nowhere because we didn’t want any pressure or to be spotted in the studio together because what if it didn’t work? We wanted there to be the ability for it not to work as well. Luckily it did! When we went to the studio in LA we kind of scrapped everything we’d been working on, and for the first time ever we wrote in the studio. Previously we’d always written on acoustic guitars and taken pretty much finished songs to the studio and built up tracks from there. That’s how I’ve always worked really, but this was a totally different thing. This studio was incredible – everything was on all of the time, so you didn’t have to spend a day setting up drums or mic’ing a bass amp or anything like that, everything worked which was great for writing, a game changer. Every day we’d come in, James would go up to the Juno-60 and get these epic sounds out of it which we all felt like we’d grown up listening to, those big 80’s film scores or movies that we loved. The sound really spoke to us and it sparked us off to create the whole album.

 

Your new album Night Driver sounds incredibly modern without trying too hard. Did you discuss which current artists you enjoy and how your new music might fit in in the current music scene or did you try to ignore that aspect?

I think whenever we think about other people it sucks, and it’s hard to think about sounds that might fit in with what you hear on the radio. Of course that’s important but for us, on this album especially, it was more important that we loved what we were doing, because without all three of us loving the album problems might arise. We’ve all had that in the past, so it’s really important, especially for this band, to make sure we’re all creatively happy. So that’s where we started from – if we love it it’s a win for us and if other people like it too it’s win-win.

 

 

There’s a whole mix of elements in the new album –yacht rock, jazz funk, modern pop, electro anthems. Have you thought about experimenting in other ways musically in the future?

We’re already thinking about the new record and are planning some time next year to go away and start recording again, and I think that should be out the following year. We’ll be writing while we’re out on tour this time around – we’ve got a little writing set up for the bus. In terms of our musical direction, it all depends on what we come up with!

 

How are you feeling about going to some places and venues on this tour that you’ve not been to for a long time, if ever?

We’re bringing it back to the old school vibes on this tour, and yes, we’re going to places we haven’t been since Busted first existed. I’ve never been to UEA before! Normally we have a bus that takes us to hotels and we have a luxurious time, but this time around we decided we wanted to spend this tour kind of feeling it together, so we decided to stay on the bus. I’m not gonna lie – when James suggested we stay on the bus I was like WHAT? I’ve lived with him for two periods of my life and it was tough, and now you’re suggesting we live together in a more confined space?? But it’s gonna be fun!

 

I don’t believe Busted have played Norwich before?

No, but I’ve recently DJ’d there in a club and it was wicked.

 

This doesn’t so much a reunion as much as a rebirth of Busted, and that’s not an easy thing to achieve. Will you be treating this tour as a way to introduce fans old and new to the new Busted?

I love that you call it a rebirth because that’s exactly how we feel. We feel that we’re a brand new start, and in a way we’re treating this like it’s a new band. We’re making ‘new band’ decisions - we’ve changed everything, our whole team, our logo, our sound, everything. We wanted it all to reflect who we are as people and as a band right now. Until the album came out a few weeks ago we were selling a tour called the Night Driver tour to a bunch of people who hadn’t heard the record yet! So it was a really weird sell – to be honest we were making stuff really hard for ourselves – our promoter was like “you’re changing a lot!” But we did that nostalgia thing and played the hits in a big spectacle of an arena show. On this tour we want you to feel like you’re going to see your new favourite band. I remember when I’d get really into pop/punk bands from America and when they’d come and play these size venues in the UK it was the most fucking exciting thing, and then watching them become My Chemical Romance or whatever. So that’s what we want to do on this tour.

 

 

Do you think you’ll always have to play Year 3000 for your encores?

I think I’ll be playing those songs til the day I die and I fucking love it! There was a stage in my life when I couldn’t imagine playing that song ever again. There are funny times in everyone’s life when they go through waves of regret or thinking certain things you did weren’t cool. Five years ago I just fell in love with the Busted catalogue all over again and I love playing those songs, seeing the reaction from the crowd, hearing them sing the words..I love everything about it. Also, however things are going we’ve always got an ace up our sleeve with Year 3000, and a few others. I know we’re calling it the Night Driver tour and we’re going to be playing a lot off the new record, but we’re still gonna play a lot of the old bangers!

 

Busted play The LCR on 28th and 29th January – both dates are sold out.