Music
You grew up in Kingston-Upon-Thames. What's the music scene like there?
"Kingston's got a really good music scene. I say really good - that's a lie. It's got a few good venues for bands to play in. You've got the Robert Peel, the Fighting Cocks and places like that, I used to go to Heatham House as well. I used to fucking love going to Heatham House. You'd meet this one person, who'd have his car and in his boot were loads of bottles of cider, and they'd be like seven pounds each. Seven pounds for a bottle of cider! Cost him three pounds, but he'd be like "I'm 18, you're 12, what are you going to do about it?" I'd be like "but it means I have to walk home...okay, I can get the bus..." Then the walk home was [always] very eventful. I remember seeing 100 Reasons in the Peel... there's an amazing band playing at the Robert Peel soon, actually - Johnny Panic? Check them out, they're an amazing punk band playing there in a couple of weeks."
Now you've started your solo career, a lot more tabloid attention is coming your way - and your way alone. Do you read what people write about you? Does it affect you?
"I do read what's written about me, it's hard not to. It doesn't hurt me because on the whole they're really nice about me. There's one person in the media who I don't like. Everything she writes about me is horrible. The people from the Daily Star are great to me, the people from the Sun are great, the people from the Mirror are great to me. I think if you go in there on the defensive and trying to hide things, you go in there and lie to people, they'll see straight through you and think you're a prick. If you go in there and just go 'this is me, yeah, I did do that' then I'm probably going to be a thousand times more [lucky]. I'm me, I do get into trouble, I probably will for a lot longer. It's the way [it goes. If you're just honest with people, people do respect that."
What motivated you to reshoot the video for 'Hey, Kid'?
"I got involved in this movie called John Tucker Must Die. It's kind of a cheerleading movie, and the video that we had didn't really go with the theme of the movie. We wanted it to all tie in - but we tried to make a few cool videos, but I just wanted a fun video, be lighthearted. So, I wore a tracksuit, had silly hair..."
The very first showcase - how did it feel walking out on stage?
"I've never been so nervous in my entire life, to the point where I had a panic attack in my dressing room, and I was literally underneath the table breathing into my hands. I was trying to breathe, and my fingers went all tingly and my lips were tingly cos I was having too much carbon dioxide in my body. I wasn't breathing properly. I was sitting there like 'breathe, breathe'. My tour manager walked in and was like 'what the f**k is going on?' I had to stop myself from passing out.
"It was really nervewracking, but I went on and I felt almost right, do you know what I mean? A lot of people say they walk out on stage for the first time and felt 'I was born to do that', but that's not how I felt. I felt - this is alright, it's okay, but it's going to get a fucking shitload better. I did a gig the other day, and it was just amazing. The John Tucker Must Die premiere - we did a gig at the party, and it was the best gig I've ever done, even with Busted gigs. I'd come off the stage at Wembley and I'd think, you can't top that. But I played in a club to 300 people the other day and had the best time on stage I'd ever had in my life. I just had the best time. I thought I sang the best, I thought my band played the best, I thought everything was fantastic."
How much input do you have into your videos? Would you do a crazy dressing up video like 'Crashed The Wedding' again?
"Probably, in a different way. I'm up for anything! I think what happened with the 'Up All Night' campaign was that everyone began to think I was taking myself too seriously, and I thought that everything was a bit too dark. Even though it did really well, the perception of me was quite different, that I'm this uber-cool artist now. I'm Matt from Busted, for f**k's sake. It's not like overnight I changed into this different person, you know?"
So I hear you're off on holiday to Ibiza, which is your first holiday in forever. What are your plans?
"It's my first ever summer holiday. I always wanted to go on a boy's holiday when I was younger, you know when the boys go away to Magaluf and places like that. They all go away on 18-30 holidays. I could never afford it, cos it was so much money for somebody who didn't have a job - I was trying to be in a band, and the thought of raising that much money was ridiculous. So, I couldn't go, and then suddenly I could afford to do it and I couldn't go! So, now I'm going to Ibiza - in the most un-Vengaboys way! I'm going to the quiet little village side. Everyone thinks you're going to Ibiza and going all crazy and going 'woo, spring break'. It's not like that - it's me and my girlfriend, some couple friends of ours, very coupley. We're going to a quiet little [area]. I've got one partner in crime, Chris Leonard [of Son of Dork] who I'm going to persuade to come into town with me. So we'll get into trouble!"
What made you decide to write with Jason Perry and Daniel Carter of A as opposed to other writers?
"Do you know what? I was such a massive fan of A. I knew of their band name, and of their album with the weird name - Ape vs Monkey Kong. I never really got into them, and then 'Nothing' came out, and it was fucking like the soundtrack to my summer. I remember one summer playing it just non-stop all the time, and then 'Starbucks' and then I got the album, and it was just a f**king great album.
"I really wanted to work with them, but I never thought I would. Actually, that's a lie. I never thought that I'd never work with them, but I wouldn't have minded hanging out with them. I thought they were cool. I went to see them a few times, when Phoenix TX supported them, it was great. So, luckily, they'd approached my record label to write for Busted, but we didn't need them, cos me and James... James Bourne wouldn't let anybody else write for Busted, believe me! As soon as it happened, I found out about that and I was like 'guys, I'd be really happy to do that'. They became my best mates, and Dan's in my band now, he plays bass for me. We've written sh*tloads of songs together, Jason is probably the funniest guy in the world, and also the nicest guy. I love them, they're like brothers to me now. Their best mate Julian Emery is one of the most f**king talented songwriters I've ever met in my life. I'm lucky I got to write songs with him."
Does it annoy you when people talk about you - or Busted - being manufactured, when you put yourself together long before you got a record deal?
"I don't really give a sh*t about things like that. If you dwell on things like that too much, you start to become really protective. I see people all the time get accused of things like this, and if you let it bother you too much, you can just easily get on the defensive and go 'well, I've been doing this and doing that'. I don't feel I have to prove myself. I've known James since I was a kid, we started that band, in a way, if auditioning another member is being manufactured - we auditioned Charlie in - then we were. We still wrote all the music."
What's your lifestyle like now compared to when you were in Busted? What do you prefer?
"It's not quite as hectic now. In Busted's heyday, it was f**king ridiculous. We literally... I'd be in [a] room, and all three of us would be split up, so you'd get one of us, and we'd have little interviews and be moving round and switching places and doing things. The whole second Busted album was recorded and me, Charlie and James were never in the studio at the same time."
Really?
"Not once in the studio at the same time cos we had to promote all this stuff. I'd literally walk in the studio as James was putting the last guitar part down. I'd just be like, I just want to sing with James there. It was so much hard work, cos you'd always go in on your own."
Here's a bit of a silly question for you. McFly's manager (also your manager) got them to strip off when they recently played G-A-Y. Would you ever consider doing the same?
"Would I ever strip off naked at G-A-Y? Probably not. I've only just started this gym regime, there's a lot to come yet! There is a lot to happen before I'd take my top off, believe me. So no, not yet - I'd whip my knob out, but I wouldn't get naked!"
What should we be listening to right now?
"I've got a bit of a diverse thing at the moment. I love Head Automatica. Their last album I think is better than the new one. The new one is great - but don't take the first song on the album as what the rest of the album's going to sound like. Get their album Decadence, it's f**king incredible. There's this German band called Notwist, they're sort of trip-hop, song called 'Consequence' is the most beautiful song ever written. No one really knows about them - loads more people have heard of bands like Postal Service, but no one's really heard of them. Think it's cos they're German! [I'm] championing the underdog.
"But I also love Pendulum, this drum 'n bass group. I never used to be into drum 'n bass - well, I was when I was a kid, then I grew out of it and never thought I'd go back. Now, this album is on all the time. My girlfriend hates it! I put it on in the car, put it on anywhere. I'm allowed one song per two hours, I put the album on repeat. One song per two hours of driving."
Is there anything you and her agree on musically?
"Yeah, we've got quite similar music taste. She loves Duran Duran and I like bits of Duran Duran. I love Van Halen and stuff like that, which she probably thinks is a pile of sh*t."
I remember you saying you wanted to make Van Halen-esque records. Have you got anywhere with that ambition?
"No! I kind of wanted to, cos I loved the energy they've got and the poppiness of it. But you won't catch me in Spandex!"
Thanks for chatting, Matt!
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