+Band

Harry Judd (drums), Tom Fletcher (guitar/vocals), Danny Jones (guitar/vocals) & Dougie Poynter (bass/vocals) arrived into the UK pop scene in 2003. Since then they have became one of the biggest pop bands in the UK with two number 1 singles, a number 1 album a sell out theatre tour and an arena tour on the way!

Harrow boy Tom Fletcher grew up listening to bands like the The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and finds a fascinating charm in 60s music. "I've always loved the fact that there's a really unique quality to sixties music," he grins. "Everything from the chord progressions to the melodies themselves - and they still sound amazing today.” These days the 18-year-old slots CDs by acts like The Thrills in among those older discs and if you’ve heard Busted’s second album you’ll already be familiar with Tom’s work – many of the tracks were co-written by Tom with the rest of Busted, just as James from Busted has lent his own hand to many of McFly’s own tunes. Tom loves Katie Holmes and hates bananas.

Danny Jones is the band joker. He was born in Bolton's Royal Infirmary and went to a school whose brown uniform earned its pupils a rather unpleasant, and unprintable, nickname! He loves The Who, The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen as well as blues legend John Lee Hooker, and is an obsessive fan of live music. In today's pop scene Danny is perhaps unique in his support of Bolton Wanders (though he's pretty nifty with his own feet) and he admits that life back home often has a bit of a Phoenix Nights vibe going on. The rest of the band are constantly amused by Danny's insistence that anyone with any sort of accent is automatically from Bolton. He recently claimed this was true of an Italian tourist.

Dougie Poynter is McFly’s youngest member. He grew up in the historic Essex town of Corringham, some parts of which date back to Saxon times. Dougie’s own history doesn’t go back quite so far – he was only 15 when he joined McFly. Now 17, he loves clothes (“at least, I prefer them to being naked”), and lists bands like New Found Glory and Blink-182 among his favourites. Tom describes Dougie as “one of the most quirky people I've ever met. He comes across as being quiet and shy when you first meet him – but you soon find out what he’s really like!” One of Dougie’s particular habits, the rest of the band will tell you, is to pepper everyday occurrences with his own sound effects. Adds Danny: “He never complains and he never gets angry. Mind you, he does have the smelliest feet in the world.”

Harry Judd has lived in Essex (which is, he claims, "pure quality") all his life, and was educated at posh school Uppingham. “He's so determined,” says Danny. “But he’s a really good friend. He’s the one we can all turn to for advice, and he’s got lots of common sense.” Adds Tom: "Harry can be brutally honest at times - but you know he'll always give it to you straight. We wouldn't want him any other way." Harry's first record was Oasis' '(What's The Story) Morning Glory' - and his favourite bands include Dashboard Confessional and Led Zeppelin.

Tom began his own deal with Busted’s managers’ own production label, and McFly was born. Tom stayed in touch with James Bourne and the pair started writing together – the name McFly came from Tom and James’ shared love of 80s teenflick Back To The Future. The arrival of Danny as Tom’s own writing partner cemented McFly and before long things began to pick up pace , with the boys playing their songs for label bosses all around London.
The final step for McFly was to find the band’s remaining members, again through adverts in the NME. The auditions threw up Harry and Dougie - who was so nervous that he literally threw up minutes before his audition – and finally McFly were complete. (The band still have that NME ad framed on the wall of their shared north London home: for Tom and Danny it was the first time their band had been in print, for Dougie and Harry it was their doorway to McFlydom.)