38 MusicWeek 20.09.13 PROFILE MCFLY
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You left Island/Universal in 2007 and set up your indie label Super Records - but then went back in with them on a collaborative deal for the release of 2010 album Above The Noise. Why? TF:They were genuinely really excited about the idea of having us back. We weren’t planning on it.
HJ: It came about randomly. When we started making demos for the fifth album, Fletch went in to meet someone at Universal about a completely different project - it was the new MD at Universal. He was like ‘Oh, how are McFly? I love those boys.’ Then Fletch played him what we’d been working on and he was like ‘OMG I love it, let’s get back into business’. It was this refreshing thing. We were really excited and they were like ‘You should work with Dallas Austin’ and so we just boshed it.
ABOVE
Super-powered: Here's McFly circa 2008 – the Radio:ACTIVE era where they dared to go independent and created their own label Super Records
“Because we’re in a position to fund the album-making process now, we don’t have to compromise - giving labels finances from touring, 360s and all that” TOM FLETCHER, MCFLY
You made some comments in your autobiography [Unsaid Things… Our Story] about your first Greatest Hits [2007’s All The Greatest Hits], saying it was a mockery. What happened and what did you learn from that experience? HJ: Sometimes when you are on a major label you have to do things you don’t want to do, like releasing a Greatest Hits after three albums. It’s just frustrating because it would put us in a category of what people might say that we are in. And we’re
like ‘But we’re not like that!’
Dougie Poynter: Contractually you have to do it, so you might as well be on board with it.
HJ: You can’t say to your label you don’t want to do it - we were going on Jonathan Ross or something as well [to promote it], these kind of big opportunities. We were kind of having to justify it and sort of half-heartedly do it. In our minds we don’t really count the Greatest Hits…
Let’s talk about your new album - is it finished? Who are you collaborating with? Danny Jones:We’ve got Jason Perry [producer of previous McFly albums]. It’s funny because we were at Harry’s wedding [last December], Jason was
CAA: ‘WE ALWAYS KNEW THEY WERE SOMETHING SPECIAL - THE NEW ALBUM IS STRONG’
McFly’s live agent, Paul Franklin from CAA, on what has kept the band selling shows for more than a decade…
“I told [managers] Fletch and Richard that I would love to work with McFly immediately after hearing their demos, including Obviously - I knew they were something special. We added the band to the Busted arena tour as special guests, which coincided with their first
No.1 with 5 Colours In Her Hair. We then toured theatres, which sold immediately, and then moved straight into multiple sold-out arenas. From there, we just kept touring: the best way to understand how great the band are is by seeing them live, as they always deliver. “The thing that’s impressed me most over the last 10
years is that the band have incredible strength as a unit and are genuinely the best of friends. They have huge respect for each other as people and musically. This has always served them well and I’m sure it will continue to do over the next 10 years. “The band have never been scared to take risks to
develop their fanbase and were one of the first ‘pop’ bands to play rock festivals. They are now a regular on the circuit and have played main stage performances at festivals including T In The Park, Rock In Rio Madrid and V. The band have also developed their fanbase internationally including tours across Europe, Asia, US and Latin America, where they are very strong. “The momentum and fanbase of the band is building daily and I expect the new album to be their strongest yet. It’s been a real pleasure working with the band for the past 10 years and we wish them huge congratulations upon reaching this milestone.”
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