11 minute read
COME MCFLY WITH ME
Take a phenomenally successful pop band of four who have sold more than 10-million records worldwide. A group who were the youngest band ever to have an album debut at number one, a credential stolen from The Beatles. A group who won the Brit Award for Best British Pop Act in 1994, a year after their launch. A group who later joined forces with another acclaimed group to form a supergroup. A group who have had 18 consecutive UK top 20 singles. A group who –much to their fans’ chagrin – then took an extended break and focused on their own solo projects.
This is McFly’s story, but it’s a familiar one; four young men who grew up together in the bright lights of the stage, the adoration of fans and the glare of the media. It’s a pressurised place at a time when you’re getting to know who you are, and it’s not surprising that it doesn’t last forever. Love is Easy, they sang, but keeping it going was not so easy.
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McFly guitarist and singer Tom Fletcher says, “We had always been really good friends, but we spent so much time together that it was hard to get a sense of perspective and the emotions took over. At the end it did almost feel like a troubled marriage. Only there were four of us! It was like a marriage, only more intense – one that was observed by the world and the pressure was hard to handle.”
Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd first got together as McFly – named after Marty McFly in Back to the Future – in 2003 when Tom was just 18 and they reached number one with songs like 5 Colours In Her Hair and Obviously. They rose to fame after fellow band Busted helped launch them by inviting them to tour in 2004. Tom admits that the thrill of achieving such a high profile so early was offset by having to grow up in the public gaze and cope with all the insecurities that beset you: “Like anything in life, there are good times and bad, but when you’re so young and in the public eye, as we were, everything becomes exaggerated, with all the high emotion and anxiety that you get in your teens.”
After their double platinum first album, Room on the 3rd Floor –named after the hotel room where most of the songs were written –McFly went on to release four more albums between 2005 and 2010, and the 2005 Comic Relief single It’s All About You. Leading up to 2016, as well as being McFly they were all collaborating on other projects, including in Tom’s case a series of The Dinosaur that Pooped children’s books with McFly bandmate Dougie Poynter.
The parting of ways in 2017 – never an official breakup – saw each of them following their own path, focusing on family, trying out new things, and finding some private space, too. For Tom, whose first big role came at the age of nine as the lead in Oliver! in the West End and who started writing music for boy band Busted at the age of 16 before then setting up McFly, this was a big change in pace, but a welcome one. “After McBusted [the supergroup McFly formed with Busted] things got difficult and it felt like we were totally out of sync. I suppose there were more of us involved and the bonds we’d had as a group of four seemed to lose their glue. And our personal lives were suffering.”
Tom is married to his childhood sweetheart Giovanna and they have three young children, who dominate proceedings, but it’s clear that Tom loves every moment, although there are snags. “I’ve forgotten what it’s like to sleep,” he says, “but I’ve got used to catching up at odd times, and just managing with less.” Tom’s YouTube channel has 635,000 subscribers, and his eldest son Buzz who is seven has a starring role, and a heart-melting affinity for performance and singing. Tom tells me that Buzz is fascinated by music and wants to be involved at every stage whereas Buddy, his second son is really not interested – he thinks superheroes are better. Watch Buzz’s performance of Shotgun on Tom’s YouTube channel and you’ll see a star in the making.
Tom’s first solo book, The Christmasaurus, published in 2016, was nominated for the Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and follows the life of young boy in a wheelchair as he embarks on adventures across the North Pole. It was performed in the West End at the end of 2017 with Tom starring alongside his sister Carrie Hope Fletcher, his actress wife Giovanna, McFly drummer Harry Judd, and Busted’s Matt Willis – and there is a Hollywood animated feature film in the making, directed by Michael Gracey and starring Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron. Tom says: “The book all began with a song called The Christmasaurus! That song inspired the whole story and as I began writing the book I wrote more songs that helped me tell the story and bring the characters to life.”
After a three-year break, the band performed at London’s O2 in late 2019, releasing a song every week from what was planned as their new album Lost Songs in the build up to the show. “Three years was a long time to be apart,” says Tom, “and it created a huge void. The show at the O2 was amazing, it was so good to be back with my friends. None of us knew how it would go, but it just worked, and people seemed to love it.”The ‘Lost Songs’, a collection of demo recordings, were recorded in 2011 for an album that was put on hold when they formed McBusted, and it was the band’s first new album material in nine years. “We all felt that those songs needed to be heard if we were going to get to the next part in the McFly journey,” says Tom.
The Young Dumb Thrills album, released in November last year, is the band’s sixth studio album –featuring Happiness as its lead single, it debuted at number 2 in the UK. McFly were back. We’ve renewed our vows as a band, and we can’t wait to get touring again,” explains Tom. The band’s appearance at the Bath Festival Finale Weekend on 7 August is just the second venue in their official comeback tour, put off for obvious reasons since 2020.
Now 36, Tom is modest about McFly and its success and touchingly appreciative of the opportunities they have had: “We have been incredibly lucky as musicians. Our music struck a chord and people got behind us, but there are so many talented musicians out there who have not had the chances we had and who have never had a platform to show themselves off.”
Tom doesn’t have the urge to go it alone. It seems that the togetherness of the group in the early years was genuinely based on very close friendships and musical alliances: “In terms of the music, it was always about the band, not about any of us as individuals. It has always felt like a collaboration and that made us feel stronger.”
Tom’s YouTube channel describes him as a “Mediocre guitarist in McFly. Generally lame, occasionally awesome.” Don’t believe it. McFly are McFlying again and awesome is the name of the game. Their UK tour will continue to see them McSoar. n
McFly will perform on the main stage for Bath Festival Finale Weekend on Saturday 7 August; bathfestivals.org.uk
Music maestro
Bath Festival’s Bath Introduces competition this year is giving four bands the chance to perform at the Finale Weekend. Emma Clegg talks to one of the judges, drummer Marc McNabb-Jack
Marc McNabb-Jack is a good role model for ambitious young musicians because he has the experience of being a young unknown and working his way up through the industry. He did it in style by winning a local battle of the bands competition. “I went to Sion Hill to do an art degree when I ws 18 and then I met a guy called Chris Turpin and we started a band called Kill It Kid, and within a few months we played battle of the bands at Moles nightclub and it led to us getting a record deal. From that point we ditched our degrees, recorded three records, toured all over the world, and played with Motorhead and Bob Dylan.”
Marc –who now runs a music studio, Mitzpah Studios, in the centre of Bath as well as touring as a session drummer –was one of the judges in this year’s Bath Festivals’ Bath Introduces competition where the prize for two artists is to play the main stage of the Finale Weekend on 7–8 August on Bath Recreation Ground. The two winners will play the main stage and one will then head to Real World Studios to work with Tim Oliver while the other winning act will work with Marc at Mizpah Studios to produce a single. This year two runners-up are also being given the chance to perform on the city stage during the festival weekend.
The music contest saw nearly 100 acts from all over the UK submit entries –these were honed down to 20 in partnership with music students from Bath Spa University. Marc and his fellow judges –Dave T and Beckie Parsons from Judgeday Productions and Pablo Janczur from Orchard Live –took over from there, and had the job of coming up with the two winners and two runners-up.
Talking just before the winners were announced, Marc said, “There are a couple of acts in there that I’m like ‘yeah, you’re not done yet but there is something really great about what you are doing’. It’s fun to draw that out and see where they could end up, help them find their voice. Music is all about development, about the journey you are on and capturing the moment that you’re in. What I love about some of these guys is that they are at the beginning of their journey and I love to be part of helping them form their sound.”
Marc explains why these chances can be so groundbreaking for unestablished musicians: “These local battle of the band competitions have been so pivotal in the music scene throughout the world and throughout musical history. And galvanising the local talent is really important for grass roots music. Not just for Bath and Bristol but for what it leads on to and what it can achieve long-term.”
“The time that one of the winners will have in my studios will give them the opportunity to work in a space with someone who can take them further in their journey musically. The approach will be to follow the song and how it sounds sonically –it may be a live thing or we could multi-track and record each instrument.”
I ask Marc about his view on televised talent contests like The X Factor. Marc is sceptical. “The X Factor and the larger shows have created manufactured pop and rock artists. But essentially they highlighted what was going on in the background and just made a TV show about it.. Labels haver been putting bands together and manufacturing them for years!
“I’ve worked with James Arthur who won The X Factor and his win was detrimental to him long-term. Although it gave him exposure, he’s been battling the X Factor tag ever since, even though he is now credible and successful in his own right. The problem is that the process doesn’t feel organic or true, but it can be a really good launch pad for careers.”
The other issue with the TV shows, Marc tells me, is that they expect an instant polished performance from musicians who might not have found their voice yet. “You might have a final product at 19, but actually music is a craft you work on your whole life and you are never the finished product.
“At the age of 18 I signed a record deal with Warner Brothers and toured the world playing for big artists and I’ve worked in the industry ever since. You can’t buy that expeience, you have to go and do it.”
Marc has a busy life on tour. As well as working with James Arthur, he has been drumming for Band of Sculls, an international rock band drawing crowds of 10,000 a night. He has also drummed for a Glastonbury band called Reef and indie pop band London Grammar and will soon be on tour with indie rock band Bombay Bicycle Club. As well as juggling these commitments, Marc feels strongly about investing in the music of the future: “I want to be in a position to help serve the guys coming up now and see them achieve. These competitions bring out of the woodwork all these great sounds that we didn’t know existed in our small city.”
The winners of Bath Introduces have now been announced as Ben Hutcheson and GeeJay who will perform on the Main Stage; the decision about who they will work with in the music studio will be made when they perform. And the runners-up are Split the Dealer and Enter Red who will perform on the City Stage. n
bathfestivals.org.uk
