torsdag 5 maj 2011

McFly in Portrait!

McFly är med i denna månads Portrait.



Här är artikeln som är med i tidningen:

"McFly’s biggest frustration has to be how often critics pigeon hole the group as nothing more than boy-band pop. You see, the band is four guys, who all play their own instruments, write their own songs and for the most part play pop music. Well, if McFly is a boy band so were the Beatles. McFly has never shied away from playing pop music, in fact they’ve pointed out several times how proud they are to be considered pop. (quote) But unless I’m mistaken, most boy bands haven’t played a concert with Brian May (Queen), recorded with Roger Daltrey (The Who) or had 18 number one singles. The band has remained primarily a UK band with occasional concerts in Europe, Japan and South America. But their latest album, “Above the Noise” is bringing McFly to the rest of the world. If you aren’t yet a fan, you will be by the end of this article. And that’s the truth.

For fans, the beginning of McFly is well known. Tom Fletcher, singer and guitarist for Mcfly, had gone to an audition for the band Busted. He didn’t make the band but Tom was asked to write songs for the band (he would go on to write three number 1 songs for Busted). A little bit later, Island Records was holding another round of auditions for a boy band. Danny Jones, (vocals and guitar) had showed up, thinking it was an audition for a band like Busted. Tom and Danny started talking and began writing songs together. Tom commented “"It was really funny. Everyone else was doing stretches and stuff and he was just sitting there with a guitar."Once Danny and Tom had a good collection of songs, auditions were held for a bassist and drummer. Dougie Poynter (bass) and Harry Judd (drums) both met at the same audition and bonded over a love of the band The Starting Line. The rest, as they say, is history.


Tom Fletcher “ I like to think of myself as a modern day John McClane.”

McFly’s first album, Room on the 3rd Floor, was named for the hotel room where Tom and Danny spent two months writing songs. The album was an instant hit, debuting at #1 on the charts. Thanks to Dougie’s age, McFly became the youngest band ever to debut at #1, knocking off the previous record holders, the Beatles. "We jumped from being completely unknown to being screamed at," noted Harry Judd. "It was literally overnight fame." The band went on tour in support of Busted and then followed the next fall with their own headlining tour.


Danny Jones: "We like to strip Dougie, cause he's a sexy little boy"

Wonderland was the band’s second album which featured the song “All About You”, a single that hit number one and the profits were donated to Comic Relief. Following their work with Comic Relief, McFly visited Uganda, Africa, where they shot the music video for the cover of “You’ve Got a Friend”. The band was incredibly touched by the kids they met in Africa. "I just saw a kid getting an injection for malaria and it was just I was holding her hand - it was a little moment that upset me,” said Danny. When the boys visited a local school, Tom noted that “Hearing a whole school of kids here singing a song that you’ve written is amazing. Very emotional.” Later, at the Live 8 summit in Japan, McFly co-headlined with Good Charlotte and Bjork. 2005-2006 was a busy time for McFly. They not only released Wonderland and headlined a tour, but played in front of Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Variety Performance and costarred in the movie “Just My Luck” with Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine. "We're not actors to be honest," commented Harry. "But it's a great opportunity for us and to get our faces out there in America."The band’s songs were featured on the soundtrack and they played concerts in Los Angeles and New York. Much to the detriment of us American fans, the boys haven’t yet been back to perform in the states.

Motion in the Ocean was the band’s 3rd album, a cheeky reference to the skill level a girl wants from a guy in bed. The group released several top singles from the album and covered songs like Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” and Jellyfish’s “Baby’s Coming Back”. Fans appreciated the band’s decision to follow an arena tour with a small venue tour, called “McFly Up close and Personal” where they played in towns that weren’t on the arena tour. After the tours, McFly released a greatest hit album in 2007 and went on a tour to support the album.


Dougie Poynter: "I’d like to be reincarnated as a bra, thank you."

In 2008, the band made a major change when they left Island Records. McFly was having creative differences with their record label and wanted more control over the album. "There was just a creative difference thing. We felt like we were more in touch with the fans than this guy just sat in the office. We left on good terms and they understood why we were doing it. We just said, 'Yeah, let's try it on our own.' This album's not had any opinions forced on it apart from ours. We literally just made music we wanted to make and produced it how we wanted to produce it,” explained Danny. The band flew to Australia to record the album and released an early copy with “The Mail on Sunday”. “We can’t wait for our fans to hear it and we can’t wait to play it to them live,” said Harry. “These songs are by far the best we’ve ever done. We’ve never been happier.” McFly took their tour outside of the UK this time around playing in Europe and South America, before ending their round of tours by making a surprise appearance with the Jonas Brothers to sing Star Girl in London.

Above the Noise brought McFly back to their old record label, but with a great deal more creative control. The band worked closely with Dallas Austin and Taio Cruz in Atlanta, Georgia to write many of the songs. Fans were a bit unsure of the album at first, since McFly opted for a new sound with more dance music and smooth harmonies, but were quickly won over. McFly’s sound may change but the boys are still as talented as ever. The band made a point to reach out to their fans with this album, launching a brand new website titled “Super City”. The website features tons of interactive opportunities, webchats with the boys, new demo and photo releases and behind the scenes videos. Pioneers, the first members of the site, get early access to meet and greets and video premieres. In November of 2009, McFly released a 40 minute movie titled Nowhere Left to Run that featured many of the album’s singles. The tour has taken the boys to continental Europe as well as the UK and they have plans to return to South America as well.


Harry Judd: “I reckon i'm worth about 2.99 pounds- and that's with 50 per cent off.”

McFly wrapped up their “Above the Noise” tour last month but April 1st was a day few McFly fans will forget. The band used their official website, Super City, to give fans around the world a chance to watch a McFly concert live. As a long time fan myself, it was amazing to be able to watch the band in concert even on a computer screen. Details like this are why McFly will continue to be one of the great bands of my generation, because in a world where bands keep pulling away from fans to protect privacy, McFly is reaching out to their fans. Small wonder since the fans have stuck by through thick, thin and crappy critics. Tom even wrote “One For the Radio” as a way to let the band join fans in celebrating each other (and a little bit to tell off the critics. "It's kind of like, 'If you don't like us, we don't care,” says Tom. "'Cause we're the ones that get to hear 10,000 people sing the songs back to us. It's more positive, you know, uniting the people together that do like us, and saying if you don't, well, we don't care as we're happy and proud of who we are.” The lyrics remind listeners you can pretend to dislike McFly but in reality you’re singing along to every song. In other words, there’s nowhere left to run."


Xxx McFluCrew

Inga kommentarer:

Skicka en kommentar