Tell us about today. What have you been up to?
Tom: We’ve been doing a Celebrity Masterclass, where we’ve been trying to pass on some knowledge to a group of 26 people...
Danny: [Interrupting] 26 youths.
Tom: We’ve been talking about our career over the last six years. It’s been good talking about the bits of our job most people don’t get to see, like the behind-the-scenes stuff. Like, coming up with ideas for videos, or the album artwork, or recording...
Harry: Yeah, it was good. We first of all talked about how we got into it, how it all started for us, our journey, how we all met, and our record deal. All that kind of thing, and then we split them into three groups, and first we talked about song-writing and lyrics...
Tom: We did a breakdown of our song Lies, explained all the lyrics and how we came up with it. Normally we don’t get to say, really.
Harry: Then we set them a challenge to rewrite the lyrics to Lies, the verse and the chorus, in pairs, and then in each group they chose the best lyrics to perform.
Tom: They did good, didn’t they? It was only, like, an hour.
Danny: It was really, really good.
Harry: That was our thing, Tom was saying about their song-writing and lyrics and coming up with ideas, you have to dare to suck, just get out there and do it. Don’t be afraid. They did really well with it, and to just get up there and sing...it was awesome. Me and Danny talked to the groups about production and recording an album, and Tom and Dougie talked about the creative side of things, while Tommy our tour manager talked to them about touring and stuff, so they got an insight into everything. In the end, the guys [Tom and Danny] played them a little tune (Falling In Love – it was amazing), and it was a good day.
Do you think that a lot of kids assume the way to get famous is to do The X Factor or similar?
All: Yeah.
Tom: That’s the thing. I think a lot of them were kind of surprised by how much work goes into it. You know, hearing about how, when we’re writing songs like now, when we’re writing songs for our next album, already we’re coming up with what the next tour stage is going to look like, or what the artwork’s going to be like.
As this point, the boys get distracted by a signed picture of them on the table (the same one you can see above). Danny has noticed that Harry is “popping out” on the end, and finds it very funny...
Danny: Harry’s just popping out of there! That’s the worst picture ever.
All crack up.
Harry: I can’t believe they did that to me! Why did they do that?
Tom: [Laughing] It’s like a panto photo!
Danny: It’s like your picture when you work at GMTV.
All crack up again.
Harry: I could be a GMTV presenter...
Danny: You could with that!
Tom: That should be your Twitter profile picture!
All laugh.
Harry: I look like Ben Shephard!
Dougie: You do, yeah, I think that’s it.
heatworld: There’s nothing wrong with looking like Ben Shephard...
Danny: I’m Tweeting about this interview!
After we’ve all compared who has the most followers on Twitter and talked about how good Harry looks in a cricket jumper, we get back on track...
Do you think you’re good role models for young people?
Danny: I can roll quite a long way...
All fall about laughing.
Danny: A forward-roll model!
Harry: I think we are.
Dougie: I think so, yeah.
Harry: We’re quite well-behaved.
Danny: That’s quite a tough question.
Tom: I think we are, in comparison to other people. I think the fact that we work hard at our job means a lot. Obviously a certain amount of luck is involved, and we have a one-in-a-million type job, but it does take a lot of hard work to do this. We sit somewhere in the middle of a pop boy band and the creativeness of a rock band. We have the best of both worlds.
Danny: The best of both, like the bread.
Tom: Like that middle advert. It’s good to be in the middle. We’re semi-skimmed milk, that’s what we are.
Has there been one bit of advice, throughout your career, that you’ve always remembered?
Harry: When you’re going through hell, just keep going. I love that quote.
Dougie: When you’re going through hell, just keep going?
Harry: Just keep boshing it. Just bosh it! Epic, isn’t it?
Dougie: That is cool. Who’s it by?
Harry: Winston Churchill.
Danny: That is cool!
Harry: That makes it even cooler.
Tom: I think I’ve seen that on Call Of Duty 2.
Harry: I remember Robbie Williams at The Brit Awards after-party, me and Dougie were talking to him and he said something really nice and gave us some advice. He was like, “Enjoy yourselves.”
Dougie: Be the band you want to be, not the band you think you are. Tom Delonge from Blink 182 told us that.
Harry: Dougie loved that!
Dougie: I loved it. I went home and was like, ‘Yessss!’ I got an erection.
All laugh.
heatworld: You got an erection?!
Dougie: [Laughing] Nah...
Danny: We can’t take you anywhere, can we?
Has there been one person who has been the best teacher for you guys?
Harry: We’ve kind of learnt along the way and been there for each other. We’ve always been together.
Dougie: We kind of taught each other as well. If I started being a bit of a knob, then I know one of these [gestures around the room] would tell me.
Tom: Our management have been great, too.
Harry: You know, we enjoy it, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Danny: Well, we do take it seriously.
Harry: We take it seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We take what we do very seriously.
Dougie: We don’t think we’re the most amazing band in the world...
Danny: Yeah we do!
Harry: [Deadpan] We do.
Dougie: We’re not like, I am legend.
Danny: [Laughing] I am London!
Tom: We are my favourite band, that’s true. [Laughing] We’re amazing. I think I would really like myself, if I wasn’t myself.
Dougie: But every time you see yourself on TV, you always go, ‘Oh no,’ like that.
Tom: I hate myself on TV.
Danny: I think I’d be really jealous of McFly.
Harry: I wouldn’t.
Danny: I’d be like, ‘They’re so scabby.’ I’m so jealous.
Tom: Look at those poor talentless twerps – how did they make it?
Harry: I wouldn’t like you if you said the word ‘twerps’!
Dougie: I love ‘twerp’.
Danny: Makes me think of a Twirl. Mmmm.
Harry: Do you think if you were exactly the same person, but you looked different and you met you, do you think you’d like yourself?
Tom: I’d be jealous of their normal chin.
Harry: No, you’re the guy with the normal chin.
Tom: Oh... Then I’d probably hate him.
Harry: I think I’d think I was quite classic. [Laughs.]
Do you think you’d ever do anything like this again? Another masterclass?
Harry: Our manager was like, ‘Harry, you could be a college professor.’ And I was like, ‘Really, what would I teach?’, and he was like, ‘You know...music.’ So I was like, OK...
Tom: It’s quite fun. If the person is genuinely interested, then it’s really great. When Dougie was talking it was a little bit...
Dougie: [Interrupting] Amazing!
Tom: [Laughing] Yes, amazing. I would like to do it again, yeah.
What would you be doing if you weren’t in McFly?
Tom: Professional Tweeter.
Dougie: Burglar.
Harry: Shagging...
heatworld: Shagging? Does that mean you don’t now...?
Harry: [Laughs.] I don’t know why I said that! I don’t know what I’d be doing, being a hobo apparently.
Danny: You’d see him in, like, Rio de Janeiro walking down the street.
Dougie: I’d be, like, hanging out...
Can you tell us anything about the new album?
We went out to Australia in February to do some recording, and then along that way we sort of found a new direction, halfway through the recording process. We came home, then we had the tour earlier in the year, and then we went out to Brazil and Europe, so we were touring for most of the year and now we’ve just started writing again and er...
Danny has started laughing at the photo of Harry “popping out” again...
Tom: [Distracted] And, so, we’ve kind of got a new direction we’re exploring...
Danny is trying not to laugh and it sounds like he’s squeaking...
Tom: And, like, this whole year, because we haven’t released anything, we’ve spent the whole year planning what we’re going to be doing next...
Danny, Dougie, Harry and heatworld are all now laughing.
Tom: [Laughing] You can’t have a serious conversation about this...
Danny: [Almost crying with laughter as he holds up the picture] It’s signed!
All crack up.
Danny: It’s signed like he’s proud of it!
Dougie: I’ve got to put that in my wallet.
A lot more laughing as Dougie attempts to fit the picture of Harry into his wallet.
Tom: Anyway, we’re writing up until about February, then we go back into the studio around then I reckon.
Will there be a UK tour next year?
Tom: Definitely! We’ll definitely tour next year.
Harry: [To heatworld] Will you come?
heatworld: Yeah!
Tom: We’ll release something first, because we haven’t released anything this whole year.
Danny: Release a dove.
All laugh.
Tom: We’ve got some quite different plans for next year. Not sort of music related, but something new. Something quite exciting... It’s really boring talking in the creative stages, because we can’t say anything. This whole year has been setting up stuff.
Danny: It’s pretty epic.
Tom: Much more so than we’ve ever done before.
Danny: Lots of exciting things, but they just take a bit of planning.
Harry: Do you want to ask us one more thing? Go on...
heatworld: OK. Harry, why don’t you Tweet more often?
Harry: [Groans.] That’s a bad question!
heatworld: Lots of people were asking that on Twitter today.
Harry: Tell them I’m aloof. [Laughs.] That’s a great word. He’s being rather aloof today! I love it.
You can read the whole thing here as well.
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