Random Fandom: McFly with Dan & Tom from Blank Atlas

[00:00:14] Hello and welcome to Fandomentals, the podcast that explores pop culture one conversation at a time. I am your host, Harley. Every episode I interview different people from around the world to discuss a variety of topics within the world of pop culture. Thanks for joining me on this journey and I hope you enjoy the episode.

[00:00:41] Welcome to the fifth episode of Random Fandom 2024. And for this episode, I'm joined by two returning guests to the podcast. I'm welcoming back Dan and Tom from the incredible band Blank Atlas. And for their returning guest spot, they chose a topic which is very close to their heart. One of their biggest musical influences, a band that they have loved for several years and have so much to say about them.

[00:01:08] And that is, of course, McFly.

[00:01:12] This for me was a really interesting conversation because honestly, I don't know a lot about the band. And in the lead up to this conversation, which we had in person in a rehearsal space in Gloucester just before a gig, I learned that they have a surprisingly eclectic back catalogue.

[00:01:27] It's something I've really enjoyed listening to before and after the conversation. And I, of course, urge you to go and check it out if you haven't done so already.

[00:01:34] And speaking of things to check out, you should definitely go and check out Blank Atlas's brilliant album Dawn Chorus.

[00:01:41] There are links in the show notes. You can check it out. I had the privilege of watching them live later that evening performing some of the songs.

[00:01:47] And they really are a fantastic band. You should definitely check them out after this episode.

[00:01:53] So that's enough from me. Let's just get to it.

[00:01:57] This is McFly with Dan and Tom from Blank Atlas.

[00:02:12] Hello, Dan and Tom, and welcome back to the Fundamentals podcast.

[00:02:15] Hello. Nice to be back.

[00:02:17] Hello.

[00:02:18] Nice to have you guys back and in person as well.

[00:02:20] I know. You're in a very cold rehearsal room in Gloucester.

[00:02:25] We are.

[00:02:27] It's really the rock and roll lifestyle.

[00:02:32] Yeah, yeah. I really feel so rock and roll right now.

[00:02:34] Yeah, it is. And we're here with a rock and roll subject as well in the band McFly, which I'm genuinely fascinated by because I know even on your Instagram page, actually, after I was messaging you, I went back and had a look and you have put it in your profile.

[00:02:47] It's like one of your influences.

[00:02:48] So we're not sure about it.

[00:02:50] Yeah, we say we're fans of McFly and Meshugga.

[00:02:54] Yeah.

[00:02:55] Which are two very different bands.

[00:02:57] Meshugga are like a metal band.

[00:02:58] Yeah.

[00:02:59] And like no singing, like just screaming and then McFly obviously very pop.

[00:03:03] Well, we think that if you like both bands, then you're like us. If you like one or the other, it's not 100% guaranteed.

[00:03:12] Okay.

[00:03:12] But if you're one of those weird people that like both of those bands, then you probably like our band.

[00:03:17] I can get behind that. I know someone who actually likes both bands.

[00:03:19] I do like your band.

[00:03:20] So there you go.

[00:03:21] It works.

[00:03:22] So it works.

[00:03:23] Yeah.

[00:03:24] So I'm curious, like when did that begin for you guys?

[00:03:27] When did you guys discover them?

[00:03:29] McFly?

[00:03:29] Yeah.

[00:03:30] Well, we first came to Busted, of course, with first.

[00:03:32] Oh, okay.

[00:03:33] Busted with first.

[00:03:34] Yeah.

[00:03:34] So that was like, I don't know, 2000, their first album came out in 2003.

[00:03:38] Yes.

[00:03:38] 2002.

[00:03:40] So yeah, we were big fans of them and I cried and they split up.

[00:03:43] Right.

[00:03:43] So then you had McFly.

[00:03:45] Yeah.

[00:03:45] After that.

[00:03:46] That was like 2005.

[00:03:47] But we were fans of them as soon as they came out in 2004.

[00:03:50] There was some crossover time where both bands were together.

[00:03:53] Yeah.

[00:03:53] So the first came in 2004, they were on like CD UK, Top of the Pops.

[00:03:57] Mm-hmm.

[00:03:58] We were a prime age for that when CD UK was on the TV.

[00:04:04] We were like in primary school.

[00:04:06] So we were watching CBBC and all that stuff.

[00:04:10] Yeah.

[00:04:10] And we'd see them on the table all the time.

[00:04:12] We thought they were cool guys.

[00:04:14] They're like, yeah, they're like really young, like 15.

[00:04:17] Yeah.

[00:04:18] Dougie was 15 when he won the first album.

[00:04:20] So I suppose he's the youngest person to ever get a number one album.

[00:04:25] Really?

[00:04:25] Guinness World Record.

[00:04:26] Yeah.

[00:04:27] That's wild.

[00:04:28] I knew they were young when they started.

[00:04:29] I knew all of them were, but yeah, that's, I didn't realize that.

[00:04:31] 15.

[00:04:32] Apparently he lied about his age.

[00:04:34] Yeah.

[00:04:34] He was meant to be 18, but he's 15.

[00:04:36] He was meant to be 16, but he was 15.

[00:04:38] Somehow he got away with that.

[00:04:39] Okay.

[00:04:40] Okay.

[00:04:40] He's just quite a tall teenager.

[00:04:41] He could just get away with it.

[00:04:42] Yeah.

[00:04:43] He's not even that old looking.

[00:04:50] Since the start.

[00:04:51] Since the start.

[00:04:52] And that's probably the reason why we play instruments as well.

[00:04:55] Yeah.

[00:04:55] I was going to say, yeah.

[00:04:56] Because how old you guys would have been when you stumbled across them?

[00:04:59] 2004, we would have been like.

[00:05:00] From the first album, yeah.

[00:05:03] Been eight.

[00:05:04] Eight or nine, seven or eight.

[00:05:05] Seven, eight, nine.

[00:05:05] There you go.

[00:05:06] That's like perfect age.

[00:05:07] Yeah.

[00:05:07] And then we've got our first instruments when we were like 10 or 11, so.

[00:05:11] Right.

[00:05:12] So it was like straight away like, yeah, I want to do that.

[00:05:14] I want to learn those songs.

[00:05:15] We used to watch McFly had like a live DVD.

[00:05:18] Mm-hmm.

[00:05:19] And we used to just watch it on repeat all day.

[00:05:21] Right.

[00:05:22] And we'd like act it out and everything.

[00:05:24] Yeah.

[00:05:24] And we'd like memorize all the.

[00:05:26] The stage banter.

[00:05:27] The stage banter and stuff like that.

[00:05:28] Yeah.

[00:05:28] Same for the busted DVD as well, to be fair.

[00:05:30] Nice.

[00:05:31] Okay.

[00:05:32] And we used to put on little shows for our grandparents.

[00:05:35] Where they would pretend we're McFly.

[00:05:36] What did they make of it?

[00:05:38] They just went, oh, very nice.

[00:05:41] Very good.

[00:05:42] Oh.

[00:05:43] Yeah.

[00:05:44] I'm very supportive, but I don't think it was that bad.

[00:05:47] Well, we all used to do Take That.

[00:05:49] I think they liked that.

[00:05:50] They liked that.

[00:05:51] Okay.

[00:05:51] Yeah.

[00:05:51] They knew who they were.

[00:05:53] That's more their bag.

[00:05:53] Yeah, exactly.

[00:05:54] We just made them sit through Bustin McFly as well.

[00:05:57] Sure.

[00:05:58] But yeah.

[00:05:59] Big fans.

[00:06:00] Yeah.

[00:06:00] And we still like them now.

[00:06:01] We still go see them multiple times a year.

[00:06:03] How many times have we seen them this year?

[00:06:04] At least two.

[00:06:05] Really?

[00:06:06] Yeah, I've seen them twice this year, I think.

[00:06:07] Okay.

[00:06:08] Where was that?

[00:06:08] Because I knew they did one show.

[00:06:09] I didn't realize they did a couple shows.

[00:06:10] We saw them in Cardiff.

[00:06:17] And that's it.

[00:06:18] We've seen them twice.

[00:06:19] That's it, yeah.

[00:06:19] We saw them two or three times last year as well.

[00:06:21] We've seen them like a couple times every single year.

[00:06:23] The best time we've seen them was in the underworld in Camden.

[00:06:27] Yeah.

[00:06:27] Really?

[00:06:28] When was that?

[00:06:29] I was in London.

[00:06:30] That was last year.

[00:06:31] Last year.

[00:06:31] Yeah.

[00:06:32] Yeah.

[00:06:33] It was a new album.

[00:06:34] Cool seeing them in such a small room because you've only seen them in big places.

[00:06:37] Yeah.

[00:06:38] They played the O2 in it twice just recently.

[00:06:40] Yeah, that's right.

[00:06:41] Yeah.

[00:06:41] And then we saw them in the underworld, which is pretty cool.

[00:06:44] Yeah.

[00:06:44] Yeah.

[00:06:45] I can imagine that was quite an intimate vibe.

[00:06:47] Quite an interesting gig to go to.

[00:06:49] Yeah.

[00:06:50] It was really cool.

[00:06:51] Great time.

[00:06:52] Have you booked for the Busted McFly tour?

[00:06:55] Yes, of course you have.

[00:06:57] It's the best crossover as well.

[00:06:59] And the ticket price is not that much.

[00:07:02] No, there's no Oasis.

[00:07:03] That's for sure.

[00:07:04] It's like 60 quid and that's like 30 quid a band.

[00:07:07] It's true.

[00:07:08] Yeah.

[00:07:08] I was quite surprised by that.

[00:07:09] My wife's got a ticket with a few friends.

[00:07:11] And yeah, I was quite shocked by the price.

[00:07:13] I thought it would be much higher.

[00:07:14] They've done well there, to be fair to them.

[00:07:17] Yeah.

[00:07:18] That'd be very good.

[00:07:19] Apparently they're not doing like a co-headline.

[00:07:20] They're like playing like one after each other.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:24] Yeah.

[00:07:24] So they're not like doing like McFly do a set, then Busted do a set.

[00:07:27] They're like, don't know.

[00:07:28] And it's sort of some sort of voting systems going in where people get to vote who goes

[00:07:32] next or who votes, who wins, who wins the battle versus McFly at the end of the night

[00:07:38] probably.

[00:07:39] I'm quite interested to see what they actually did, to be fair.

[00:07:41] Yeah.

[00:07:42] Yeah.

[00:07:42] I am too.

[00:07:43] Did you hear their episode on Sapnin?

[00:07:46] Yeah.

[00:07:46] I listened to it.

[00:07:47] Yeah.

[00:07:48] It was good.

[00:07:48] Yeah.

[00:07:48] It was quite interesting hearing them talk exactly about that, about the concept and what

[00:07:53] they're going to do with it.

[00:07:53] I thought, yeah, that sounds like just a really interesting gig to go to.

[00:07:57] I think even if you're maybe just a passive fan, like you can still probably get a lot

[00:08:00] out of it, I'd have thought.

[00:08:01] Yeah.

[00:08:01] Because I've seen both bands several times.

[00:08:04] Yeah.

[00:08:04] So, but that makes it a bit more interesting to me.

[00:08:07] Hmm.

[00:08:08] Rather than just seeing a headline tour, which I've seen before.

[00:08:11] Do you know what I mean?

[00:08:12] Yeah, of course.

[00:08:13] Yeah.

[00:08:13] Because when McBusted was a thing.

[00:08:19] We went to that.

[00:08:20] We went to that as well.

[00:08:20] Yeah.

[00:08:21] Hmm.

[00:08:22] Yeah.

[00:08:22] I don't think it'll be that.

[00:08:24] It won't be like that.

[00:08:25] No.

[00:08:25] They might play one song together, maybe.

[00:08:28] Maybe.

[00:08:28] Don't know.

[00:08:29] What song do you reckon they would play together?

[00:08:30] Yeah.

[00:08:31] 2000 probably.

[00:08:32] Yeah.

[00:08:32] Yeah.

[00:08:33] Feels like an obvious choice, but.

[00:08:35] Yeah.

[00:08:35] Yeah.

[00:08:36] But maybe one of the songs, because Tom from McFly wrote some of the Busted songs.

[00:08:41] Is that right?

[00:08:41] And James from Busted wrote some of the McFly songs.

[00:08:45] Right.

[00:08:45] Okay.

[00:08:45] It's quite a lot of crossover.

[00:08:46] They wrote them together.

[00:08:47] Didn't like Tom write all of them.

[00:08:48] Yeah.

[00:08:48] Yeah.

[00:08:49] Tell me to write with James, who's in Busted.

[00:08:51] Yeah.

[00:08:52] Yeah.

[00:08:52] Tom's wrote loads of songs for Busted.

[00:08:54] So one of those ones would be good to face.

[00:08:55] I heard a joke that said that Tom was making more money off Charlie from Busted.

[00:09:01] From Busted songs, yeah.

[00:09:02] Which is probably true, to be honest.

[00:09:04] Yeah.

[00:09:04] Because Charlie didn't write any of the first album.

[00:09:06] Yeah.

[00:09:07] Hmm.

[00:09:08] And he probably wrote a handful of the second album.

[00:09:10] I think we're talking about Busted more than McFly here.

[00:09:13] Yeah.

[00:09:13] But what we're trying to say is that McFly is obviously better because Tom, you know.

[00:09:16] If you ask us, McFly are better than Busted.

[00:09:19] Why is that?

[00:09:20] Well, they've got more albums to start.

[00:09:22] That's true.

[00:09:23] Yeah, yeah.

[00:09:24] And they're more of a band.

[00:09:26] Yeah.

[00:09:27] Like, they've got all the instruments.

[00:09:29] And I feel like they don't really.

[00:09:30] Busted's sort of leaned into the pop punk stuff.

[00:09:34] But McFly is sort of like, they don't change it up now.

[00:09:36] They're way more broad than Busted, I think.

[00:09:38] The last McFly album, they got like, it's more like.

[00:09:41] 80s rock.

[00:09:42] Bon Jovi sort of thing.

[00:09:43] Right, yeah.

[00:09:44] Like, yeah.

[00:09:45] Yeah, like, yeah.

[00:09:46] Bon Jovi, Def Leppard sort of thing.

[00:09:49] Yeah, it's quite 80s rock.

[00:09:51] But then there's like other albums where it sounds like The Beach Boys or Queen.

[00:09:55] Yeah.

[00:09:56] So it's quite broad.

[00:09:57] And there's one album where it just, it's like completely like R&B poppy album.

[00:10:01] Which is not the best album.

[00:10:02] We have a black sheep of the albums, but.

[00:10:03] No.

[00:10:04] Okay.

[00:10:04] There's some bangers in there.

[00:10:05] No one, yeah.

[00:10:05] We don't talk about that album.

[00:10:08] How many are they up to now?

[00:10:10] You know.

[00:10:11] So we got Room on the Third Floor.

[00:10:12] We got Wonderland.

[00:10:14] Yeah.

[00:10:14] We got Merchant on the Ocean.

[00:10:15] Yeah.

[00:10:16] We got Radioactive.

[00:10:17] We got Above the Noise.

[00:10:19] Then we have.

[00:10:20] You could count the Lost Song.

[00:10:21] They've got a little B-Sides and Rarities album.

[00:10:24] You could count that.

[00:10:24] Lost Songs album.

[00:10:25] And you got Young Dumb Thrills.

[00:10:28] Then you got the latest album, Pound to Play, eight.

[00:10:32] Wow.

[00:10:32] Okay.

[00:10:33] Eight.

[00:10:33] And Busts have four or something.

[00:10:36] Four or five.

[00:10:37] They've got the first two, Night Driver, four.

[00:10:42] Yeah.

[00:10:42] Yeah.

[00:10:43] Oh.

[00:10:43] Interesting.

[00:10:44] There you go.

[00:10:45] So twice as much.

[00:10:46] Yeah.

[00:10:46] Twice as better.

[00:10:47] It's more fun.

[00:10:48] Yeah.

[00:10:49] Yeah.

[00:10:49] That was something I was caught by actually listening to some of their music this week

[00:10:53] in preparation for this.

[00:10:54] I didn't appreciate before like how broad their music was.

[00:10:57] That was the first thing I thought was, as you said, like listening to the albums going,

[00:11:00] oh yeah, this one sounds completely different to that one.

[00:11:02] And I kind of respect that because I can imagine especially starting at quite a young age for

[00:11:07] that band and being part of that scene, right?

[00:11:10] Like we said, like with Busted with other bands like that at the time, it could be very

[00:11:14] easy to be pigeonholed.

[00:11:16] It's just that band.

[00:11:17] And you have to just be that forever.

[00:11:19] Whereas I kind of respect that over the years, they've obviously tried to distance that a little

[00:11:23] bit and kind of go, no, we can do other stuff too.

[00:11:25] So here it is.

[00:11:26] And if you want to hear it, great.

[00:11:28] You know, fans will come with us.

[00:11:30] If you don't, then fair enough.

[00:11:31] Yeah.

[00:11:31] I think a big reason for that is probably when from the first album, they were like marketed

[00:11:36] as a boy band.

[00:11:38] Very much so.

[00:11:39] Yeah.

[00:11:39] Yeah.

[00:11:39] So like from the second album onwards, they wanted to, like the second album was quite

[00:11:43] like moody and rocky and like not very poppy at all because they didn't want

[00:11:49] to be like marketed as a boy band, I guess.

[00:11:53] Mm hmm.

[00:11:53] Yeah.

[00:11:54] So that's probably why they'd like change every album.

[00:11:57] Yeah.

[00:11:57] I think if it wasn't for that, they probably would just sound like this.

[00:11:59] They would sound quite similar.

[00:12:00] I don't know.

[00:12:01] Hmm.

[00:12:02] Yeah.

[00:12:03] Do you have a favorite album?

[00:12:05] I would say Radioactive is my favorite album.

[00:12:07] Radioactive is a solid, good, solid album.

[00:12:10] It's a fan favorite.

[00:12:10] It's a fan favorite album.

[00:12:12] If you're like a hardcore Monty 5 fan, chances are Radioactive will be their favorite

[00:12:17] album.

[00:12:18] Okay.

[00:12:18] It's not their most popular album in the charts.

[00:12:22] It's their fourth album.

[00:12:23] Yeah.

[00:12:24] But it's like the rockiest, the rockiest album, I'd say.

[00:12:27] Yeah.

[00:12:27] It's like classic, like.

[00:12:29] Naughty to rock.

[00:12:30] Yeah.

[00:12:30] Naughty to rock sort of.

[00:12:31] Yeah.

[00:12:32] Very good.

[00:12:34] Rage is on that.

[00:12:35] But then, yeah, there's loads.

[00:12:37] There's good songs on every album, to be fair.

[00:12:38] Even the worst, worst album's got some good songs on it, to be fair.

[00:12:42] Hmm.

[00:12:43] But in general, I reckon Radioactive is the best.

[00:12:45] That's the album I would recommend as a whole.

[00:12:47] If they never listen to Book Flyers, they listen to Radioactive.

[00:12:50] Yeah.

[00:12:50] If you've got the preconception that they're like a manufactured boy band, then I'd be

[00:12:55] like, you should listen to maybe, maybe listen to Radioactive, then you might know that

[00:12:59] that's probably not the case.

[00:13:01] Okay.

[00:13:02] I like that.

[00:13:03] Is that the one you go back to the most then, by the sounds of it?

[00:13:06] Well, I mean, I've listened to it a lot.

[00:13:08] Hmm.

[00:13:08] So I don't really, if I really put it on, but when it does come on, I enjoy it.

[00:13:14] And if I go see them, I like more songs than that album, the better.

[00:13:17] Yeah.

[00:13:17] Yeah.

[00:13:17] When they play those songs, those are the songs we most enjoy when they play.

[00:13:21] We see them play.

[00:13:22] Yeah.

[00:13:22] Do you ever think about doing covers and bringing those into your sets?

[00:13:26] Well, fun fact, we were in school.

[00:13:29] We were a McFly tribute band.

[00:13:30] Ah, there we go.

[00:13:31] That makes sense.

[00:13:32] And we didn't do any gigs.

[00:13:34] You didn't do any gigs.

[00:13:35] No, we've got one of our closest friends from school.

[00:13:38] Yesin Morrigan Shoutout.

[00:13:39] Yesin Morrigan Shoutout.

[00:13:43] He also has a passion for McFly as well, like us.

[00:13:47] Same situation as us.

[00:13:49] Yeah.

[00:13:49] So we would just get together in a room and just play those McFly songs.

[00:13:53] And we still do it now and again today, to be honest.

[00:13:56] Yeah, we do it every week with our bassist Chrissy.

[00:13:58] We'd force him, even though he wasn't really that into McFly,

[00:14:01] but we sort of forced him to play with us.

[00:14:04] Because he's a bassist.

[00:14:06] I think he does like McFly now.

[00:14:07] He doesn't have a round we've converted in now.

[00:14:08] He does like McFly.

[00:14:09] Yeah.

[00:14:09] Yeah.

[00:14:10] But he would like, sometimes when we'd come home from at uni,

[00:14:12] yesin would come round and we would literally just play every single song.

[00:14:16] Wow.

[00:14:17] Because yeah, he's so good.

[00:14:18] He knows roughly how to play every single song.

[00:14:20] Yeah.

[00:14:21] So he had a shout out, what's his key in?

[00:14:22] Because they're quite simple songs.

[00:14:24] Yeah, yeah.

[00:14:25] You can like play, and we just like playing all day.

[00:14:27] We play like literally every single song they have.

[00:14:29] Hmm.

[00:14:30] Which is quite intense.

[00:14:32] But we had a great time.

[00:14:34] But we did, when we played, we did an acoustic set of 2000 Trees a couple years ago.

[00:14:40] And we played Five Colors at that, didn't we?

[00:14:42] And it went well.

[00:14:43] Yeah.

[00:14:43] Yeah.

[00:14:44] People liked it.

[00:14:45] The do-do-do-do-do's.

[00:14:47] Yeah.

[00:14:47] Yeah.

[00:14:48] That's the thing with a lot of this stuff is it's, I think it's very formative.

[00:14:51] Right.

[00:14:52] And like even just having that dual headline tour being such a massive moment on the internet.

[00:14:58] Like it just exploded when they announced it.

[00:15:00] Yeah.

[00:15:01] Yeah.

[00:15:01] And like just chatting to you guys and sort of reflecting on it.

[00:15:04] You're like, yeah, I kind of get it.

[00:15:05] Because for so many people, it was what it was for you guys, which is like the introduction

[00:15:08] to music.

[00:15:09] It's that nostalgia.

[00:15:11] It's taking you back to that moment.

[00:15:13] And they're really catchy songs.

[00:15:14] I got to say, like you sort of listen to them driving along.

[00:15:17] It's like, I can see why people really like this.

[00:15:19] Like there's so many great hooks in their choruses.

[00:15:22] Yeah.

[00:15:22] They're great songs.

[00:15:23] It's not like, I don't know.

[00:15:25] I wouldn't say it's not guilty pleasure.

[00:15:28] No, not at all.

[00:15:29] Because, I don't know.

[00:15:30] Because sometimes you listen to things where you used to like when you're little and you're

[00:15:33] like, that's a bit cranger.

[00:15:35] That's a bit naff.

[00:15:36] But I don't get that.

[00:15:38] Some songs might fly.

[00:15:39] Like I'm not a fan of All About You.

[00:15:41] Okay.

[00:15:42] Not a fan.

[00:15:42] Okay.

[00:15:43] If I didn't play that ever again, I would not complain.

[00:15:45] Really?

[00:15:46] Yeah.

[00:15:46] The thing is a bit, I don't know.

[00:15:47] It's just because it's overplayed.

[00:15:49] You don't like it, I reckon.

[00:15:49] I've still played.

[00:15:50] Same with Five Colors.

[00:15:51] We'd like Five Colors, but I've seen it loads of times.

[00:15:54] I'd rather than play something else.

[00:15:56] Yeah.

[00:15:56] Yeah.

[00:15:56] That's the same for any band you go see with loads.

[00:15:59] True.

[00:15:59] True.

[00:16:00] Yeah.

[00:16:00] I think that's true.

[00:16:01] If you see a band, my number's like, if you've seen it like five times, I think you

[00:16:05] get to a point where there's certain songs in the set where you're like, I'd rather

[00:16:08] switch out for something else.

[00:16:10] Yeah.

[00:16:10] But they can't really do that because someone's probably going for the first time.

[00:16:14] Yeah.

[00:16:15] Yeah.

[00:16:15] You've got to make it nice for them, but I would say come out.

[00:16:18] Not the real fans.

[00:16:20] Every one day they'll do like a fan voted set.

[00:16:23] Yeah.

[00:16:23] And then people will be smart and they won't vote for the ones that they've heard a million

[00:16:26] times.

[00:16:26] To be fair, that was cool about that when we saw them at the Underworld in Camden.

[00:16:30] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:31] They didn't really play.

[00:16:32] Did they play any of the big ones there?

[00:16:34] I don't think they did.

[00:16:35] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:35] Because it was all hardcore fans that were there.

[00:16:36] They just played new songs and a couple like good ones.

[00:16:40] Yeah.

[00:16:40] Yeah.

[00:16:41] So that was good about that gig actually.

[00:16:42] Yeah.

[00:16:43] Interesting.

[00:16:44] Yeah.

[00:16:45] Who ever fancied reigniting the old McFly tribute band in some capacity?

[00:16:50] I reckon, I'm not sure.

[00:16:53] It's quite niche.

[00:16:54] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:54] I could probably get a couple bookings out of it.

[00:16:57] I reckon you could, you know.

[00:16:58] We might have to cut do, it might have to be like a McBusted one to make it more appealing.

[00:17:04] That's it.

[00:17:04] Yeah.

[00:17:05] Find a band that's doing a Busted thing and just do that next year and cash in.

[00:17:09] Not bad that they do, but McFly and Busted tribute tour, yeah.

[00:17:12] Yeah.

[00:17:13] Go headline.

[00:17:13] Go headline.

[00:17:14] Yeah.

[00:17:15] Featuring Blank Atlas.

[00:17:16] There you go.

[00:17:17] I'm not sure if that would sell tickets, but.

[00:17:21] Yeah.

[00:17:22] I like the idea.

[00:17:22] I don't know.

[00:17:23] Mm-hmm.

[00:17:24] One day.

[00:17:25] That'd be a good idea.

[00:17:26] Well, now's the time, if anything.

[00:17:27] Yeah.

[00:17:28] It's one of them.

[00:17:29] It's a lot of effort, isn't it?

[00:17:33] And time and money.

[00:17:35] Mm-hmm.

[00:17:36] I don't have.

[00:17:37] But it's a good idea.

[00:17:39] It'd be fun.

[00:17:40] If someone just asks us, do you want to play McFly set?

[00:17:42] I'll pay you this amount of money, but yeah.

[00:17:45] Absolutely.

[00:17:46] Yeah.

[00:17:46] Quite a few bands I spoke to at Trees was telling me that some of their first festival experiences

[00:17:50] were at tribute festivals.

[00:17:52] Oh, really?

[00:17:52] And they seem to be quite popular, so.

[00:17:53] Yeah.

[00:17:54] I've never been to a tribute festival.

[00:17:55] Me neither.

[00:17:56] There's only one in our hometown.

[00:17:57] Yeah?

[00:17:57] Yeah.

[00:17:58] But I never won.

[00:17:59] It's called the Big Tribute.

[00:18:03] And New Key Festival was both basically all tribute bands as well.

[00:18:08] Yeah.

[00:18:09] That's only because it's great.

[00:18:10] They haven't got much money.

[00:18:11] Mm-hmm.

[00:18:12] Yeah, I suppose that's what it can afford.

[00:18:14] Yeah.

[00:18:15] Fair.

[00:18:16] There you go.

[00:18:17] If you do it, let me know.

[00:18:18] I'll come check it out.

[00:18:19] Okay, cool.

[00:18:20] We'll do.

[00:18:20] Genuinely, I'd be up for that.

[00:18:22] I think it'd be great fun.

[00:18:23] Yeah, we'll do.

[00:18:25] So how much does that kind of influence a lot of your music now?

[00:18:28] Because as you mentioned earlier, you do sort of list it as like one of your main influences,

[00:18:31] but in terms of what you guys are working on, what you've been doing with your albums and

[00:18:35] your music, like, do you sort of still feel the influence of a band like McFly or?

[00:18:40] Yeah.

[00:18:41] Lots of our choruses are super hooky.

[00:18:43] Yeah.

[00:18:44] Super catchy.

[00:18:45] Definitely.

[00:18:46] Yeah.

[00:18:46] The choruses are always the most important part.

[00:18:49] Right.

[00:18:49] It's not the riff.

[00:18:51] Okay.

[00:18:51] Riff is second.

[00:18:53] Interesting.

[00:18:53] Or even third.

[00:18:55] Okay.

[00:18:56] In my opinion.

[00:18:57] But yeah.

[00:18:57] So that's where that comes from.

[00:18:59] Because some bands, it's like riff comes first.

[00:19:03] Mm-hmm.

[00:19:04] Build around the riff.

[00:19:05] But all you do is like, we start with a chorus.

[00:19:07] The chorus is good.

[00:19:08] Then we build around the chorus.

[00:19:09] Okay.

[00:19:10] Which is probably a McFly sort of thing.

[00:19:12] Yeah.

[00:19:12] Because that's probably how they probably don't start with the verse or the five-coloured

[00:19:17] riff or something.

[00:19:18] They probably start with the chorus.

[00:19:21] Well, the five-coloured riff did come at the end, I think.

[00:19:23] Yeah.

[00:19:24] Oh, really?

[00:19:25] Yeah.

[00:19:25] Fun fact.

[00:19:26] Okay.

[00:19:27] That kind of makes sense, actually.

[00:19:29] Yeah.

[00:19:29] Yeah.

[00:19:30] I suppose that's maybe the nature of sort of pop-punk, right?

[00:19:32] As a genre, if you will.

[00:19:34] Yeah.

[00:19:34] You have a catchy chorus.

[00:19:35] You have something people can get behind.

[00:19:37] Yeah.

[00:19:38] Yeah.

[00:19:38] You need that.

[00:19:39] Yeah.

[00:19:40] Sometimes, yeah.

[00:19:40] If you listen to a song and it's got a good riff or a good verse and it gets to the chorus

[00:19:44] and it's not very good.

[00:19:45] It's like, ah.

[00:19:47] Yeah.

[00:19:48] That's true.

[00:19:48] Yeah.

[00:19:48] So close.

[00:19:49] Yeah.

[00:19:49] That's true.

[00:19:50] That's very true.

[00:19:51] Yeah.

[00:19:52] But then bands like loathe and stuff.

[00:19:55] We like loathe and their choruses aren't super hooking.

[00:19:57] Yeah.

[00:19:57] I've got some good choruses.

[00:19:58] They've got some good choruses, but a lot of the good ones are just riffs all the way

[00:20:01] through.

[00:20:02] I don't think we can't really get away with that sort of thing.

[00:20:04] I think we're more of a chorus-y.

[00:20:06] More of a chorus band.

[00:20:07] Hicky band.

[00:20:08] Mm.

[00:20:08] Yeah.

[00:20:09] So I'm curious.

[00:20:10] Where does the mashuga come in?

[00:20:12] The riffs, I suppose.

[00:20:13] Mashuga is the riffs.

[00:20:14] Yeah.

[00:20:14] All the weird angular riffs.

[00:20:16] Yeah.

[00:20:16] Some riffs are quite like technical.

[00:20:18] Yeah.

[00:20:19] And like rhythmic, which I suppose is sort of mashugary.

[00:20:21] Mashuga is sort of, it's just the extreme end.

[00:20:25] We like just doing extremities.

[00:20:27] It's more of a joke than a realistic comparison.

[00:20:32] I'm sure there's some mashuga fans who are offended that we're comparing ourselves to

[00:20:37] mashuga.

[00:20:37] Which is fair enough.

[00:20:39] But it's just like, you know, it's just like a good little.

[00:20:41] To be fair.

[00:20:41] I think a band that actually fits that bill, McFly and Mashuga, is probably a band called

[00:20:45] Superlove.

[00:20:46] Have you ever heard of Superlove?

[00:20:47] I have heard of Superlove.

[00:20:48] Yeah.

[00:20:49] That's interesting.

[00:20:50] Some of their riffs are very mashuga.

[00:20:52] And they also really like McFly.

[00:20:54] So if they want to steal that, they can.

[00:20:57] They can't because we've got it now.

[00:20:58] But we have it, but it applies to them as well.

[00:21:01] If you like us, make me listen to Superlove.

[00:21:03] Although I don't know what they're doing at the minute.

[00:21:07] I think they might be a bit inactive.

[00:21:10] Do you want me to find out?

[00:21:10] Right.

[00:21:11] We can do a live Google on the podcast.

[00:21:13] Which reminds me, Google jingle.

[00:21:15] Oh, what's his name?

[00:21:25] Because I have heard of them.

[00:21:26] But now that, as you say it, I'm like, yeah, when did I last see them do anything?

[00:21:32] Probably last year.

[00:21:34] Yeah.

[00:21:35] They released an album last year and they haven't really done much since then.

[00:21:37] Yeah.

[00:21:37] But yeah.

[00:21:38] I think that applies.

[00:21:40] McFly and Mashuga applies to them.

[00:21:42] Maybe more so than us.

[00:21:44] Yeah.

[00:21:44] Yeah.

[00:21:45] But.

[00:21:45] Okay.

[00:21:46] So according to this, their last post on Instagram was almost a year ago.

[00:21:50] Yeah.

[00:21:51] They were meant to play Burn It Down with us.

[00:21:53] Yeah.

[00:21:54] And they weren't there.

[00:21:56] Okay.

[00:21:57] So.

[00:21:57] But I wish they would come back.

[00:21:59] They were very good bands.

[00:22:01] At least write some more music.

[00:22:03] Yeah.

[00:22:03] Please just write at least another album or something.

[00:22:05] Yeah.

[00:22:05] Absolutely.

[00:22:06] Hey guys.

[00:22:07] If you're listening and put it out into the world, why not?

[00:22:09] Yeah.

[00:22:10] Manifest it.

[00:22:11] Absolutely.

[00:22:12] Side note as well.

[00:22:13] You're also the second band I've had on that's mentioned Mashuga as an influence.

[00:22:17] The other band being, what's Damien from St. Pierre.

[00:22:20] Oh, cool.

[00:22:21] Yeah.

[00:22:21] I listened to that podcast when I was packing boxes in the warehouse.

[00:22:25] I listened to it.

[00:22:26] Did you?

[00:22:27] Yeah, it was good.

[00:22:28] Yeah.

[00:22:28] Thank you.

[00:22:29] Yeah.

[00:22:29] I mean, he was a great guest, but yeah, he named Drops Mashuga as an influence, which

[00:22:33] is quite interesting when you listen to St. Pierre.

[00:22:34] But it's that thing of like you guys mentioning it and mentioning it.

[00:22:38] You can kind of hear these things.

[00:22:40] I can definitely hear it in St. Pierre.

[00:22:42] Yeah.

[00:22:42] Especially the newest album.

[00:22:44] Yeah.

[00:22:44] Love Damien.

[00:22:45] He's a character.

[00:22:46] He's a very funny man.

[00:22:48] He is.

[00:22:49] When we see him, you just like, his stage run is actually hilarious.

[00:22:53] He should be like a stand up comic.

[00:22:56] Yeah.

[00:22:57] I would have to go.

[00:22:58] He loves it as well.

[00:22:59] Like he loves being on stage.

[00:23:00] Yeah.

[00:23:01] Having the attention.

[00:23:02] Which is great.

[00:23:03] As long as you're doing like some things they say, you think, oh, are they being serious?

[00:23:07] Because if they are being serious and maybe it's a bit of a pull off, but it's obviously

[00:23:10] a joke.

[00:23:11] Yeah.

[00:23:11] Most things he says are quite ironic.

[00:23:12] So you got to take a picture.

[00:23:14] So yeah.

[00:23:14] It's very funny.

[00:23:14] That's what makes it funny.

[00:23:16] Absolutely.

[00:23:17] What about McFly's stage banter then?

[00:23:18] What do you reckon of?

[00:23:19] They got really good stage banter, didn't they?

[00:23:21] McFly.

[00:23:22] Yeah.

[00:23:22] It's like Blink-182-esque.

[00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:25] Right.

[00:23:25] It's quite Blink-182-esque.

[00:23:26] Like take the f*** out of each other.

[00:23:27] Yeah.

[00:23:27] And like, yeah, tell weird stories.

[00:23:31] Uh-huh.

[00:23:32] Yeah.

[00:23:33] It's great.

[00:23:33] It's sort of why we sort of try and go for some stage banter.

[00:23:37] Yeah.

[00:23:38] That's sort of that sort of vein.

[00:23:39] Nothing too that edgy.

[00:23:40] Quite playful.

[00:23:41] Playful.

[00:23:42] Mm.

[00:23:42] Yeah.

[00:23:43] Yeah, it's good.

[00:23:45] And I think that their stage banter has changed over the years.

[00:23:48] Like it started, it would be like, maybe Tom would do most of the talking and then Danny

[00:23:53] would.

[00:23:53] Now it's all Dougie.

[00:23:55] Yeah.

[00:23:56] Even Harry the drummer speaks sometimes.

[00:23:59] Oh.

[00:24:03] But yeah.

[00:24:04] They have good stage banter.

[00:24:05] Yeah.

[00:24:05] Yeah, good stage banter.

[00:24:07] Yes.

[00:24:08] I mean, you'd hope so after being in a band for like, what, 20 years.

[00:24:11] Yeah.

[00:24:12] They'd be able to have a bit of fun.

[00:24:13] Yeah, exactly.

[00:24:15] I think they're children at heart, to be fair.

[00:24:18] Mm.

[00:24:21] Very, yeah.

[00:24:22] Very childish, just like us.

[00:24:24] Right.

[00:24:24] Same sort of sense of humour, to be honest.

[00:24:26] Yeah.

[00:24:27] Quite childish.

[00:24:28] Yeah.

[00:24:29] Yeah.

[00:24:29] Also.

[00:24:29] Young at heart.

[00:24:30] Especially with us.

[00:24:31] It's like, I don't know.

[00:24:32] I feel like being serious with that little stage banter, like, I don't know.

[00:24:36] Can be a bit cringe sometimes.

[00:24:37] Some bands do like speeches about like, you know, this song's about this, you know, bring

[00:24:42] everyone together, which is nice.

[00:24:43] But it's definitely not our bag.

[00:24:46] Yeah.

[00:24:46] We're not very serious people.

[00:24:48] Our songs are quite serious.

[00:24:49] Songs are very serious.

[00:24:50] But everything else is quite tongue in cheek.

[00:24:54] Same goes for McFly.

[00:24:55] Their songs are serious.

[00:24:56] Mm-hmm.

[00:24:56] But then they just have a fun time and talk nonsense on stage, which I think is good.

[00:25:02] That's probably where we get it from, to be fair.

[00:25:04] Mm.

[00:25:05] Yeah.

[00:25:05] It all comes back to McFly eventually.

[00:25:07] Yeah.

[00:25:08] If you follow the path.

[00:25:10] Follow the path.

[00:25:11] Yeah.

[00:25:11] It all goes back to McFly.

[00:25:12] Yeah, that's true.

[00:25:13] Even in your stage moves, if you have any.

[00:25:16] Although they do a lot of jumping, we don't do jumping.

[00:25:17] You don't do it.

[00:25:18] You don't fancy that.

[00:25:19] No.

[00:25:20] When we were like 15, we used to do that.

[00:25:22] But then we don't do that anymore.

[00:25:24] Yeah.

[00:25:25] Maybe if you had like a room full of people and they're all jumping, you would be feel

[00:25:29] obliged to jump.

[00:25:30] Yes.

[00:25:30] Maybe.

[00:25:31] Okay.

[00:25:32] I feel like if I had a whole crowd of like maybe about 400 people.

[00:25:37] Okay.

[00:25:38] Maybe not tonight.

[00:25:39] 400 people jumping.

[00:25:42] When you say jump, they jump.

[00:25:43] Yeah.

[00:25:43] And I probably would jump as well.

[00:25:45] Wow.

[00:25:46] So yeah, we've got that to look forward to.

[00:25:47] Not seen you jump in like 10 years.

[00:25:49] Yeah.

[00:25:49] Maybe I wouldn't.

[00:25:51] I wouldn't be too old by then.

[00:25:52] I'd be off my knees.

[00:25:54] Yeah.

[00:25:56] Chrissy does jump in though.

[00:25:58] Chrissy does jump in.

[00:25:59] Chrissy's the energetic one.

[00:26:00] I've noticed that actually.

[00:26:02] Yeah.

[00:26:02] I've watched you guys like either live or in your sort of Instagram reels and stuff.

[00:26:06] I see him moving around a lot on the stage.

[00:26:08] Yeah.

[00:26:09] He says he has to rein it in for our sets as well.

[00:26:12] Really?

[00:26:12] That's him like holding back a bit.

[00:26:14] Wow.

[00:26:14] When he's playing with the other band, he lets it completely loose.

[00:26:19] Interesting.

[00:26:20] Okay.

[00:26:20] What a nutter.

[00:26:21] Yeah.

[00:26:22] Yeah.

[00:26:23] No, no, no, that's rubbed off on you just yet.

[00:26:26] Not yet.

[00:26:26] No, yeah.

[00:26:27] We need to go in that mental.

[00:26:29] I don't feel like there's no need.

[00:26:31] I think you would start playing worse if you started going a bit mental down.

[00:26:36] Yeah.

[00:26:37] Yeah.

[00:26:37] Yeah.

[00:26:37] I think that's sometimes the thing, right?

[00:26:39] Especially if you're doing more like technical riffs, you probably a bit more like don't

[00:26:42] mess this up.

[00:26:43] Like I've got to hit this spot on.

[00:26:45] Yeah.

[00:26:45] Some bit's a bit fiddly.

[00:26:46] I'm not the best guitarist in the world either.

[00:26:49] I definitely need to concentrate.

[00:26:51] Yeah.

[00:26:52] Yeah.

[00:26:52] I feel you there.

[00:26:53] Yeah.

[00:26:54] I've got a little band on my own and even just in rehearsals, it's the same.

[00:26:56] It's kind of like very conscious of like, I think I need to move more.

[00:26:59] But to your point of like, yeah, but then I might drop something or miss a note or.

[00:27:03] Yeah.

[00:27:04] I mean, as we like do last time we played a new song for the first time.

[00:27:08] And like, that's when I'm really concentrating.

[00:27:11] Absolutely.

[00:27:12] I find myself looking down like nearly the whole time.

[00:27:15] Yeah.

[00:27:15] Yeah.

[00:27:15] Yeah.

[00:27:15] Yeah.

[00:27:15] Because I'm not used to playing it.

[00:27:17] Sure.

[00:27:17] But as time goes on, we play a song like, um, like better off that we play every single

[00:27:22] time.

[00:27:23] Yeah.

[00:27:23] So I know how to play that.

[00:27:24] So I sort of, I can think about playing it more and I can like move more.

[00:27:29] Yeah.

[00:27:29] Yeah.

[00:27:31] I move more as time goes on.

[00:27:33] Hmm.

[00:27:34] I don't know why I play a song.

[00:27:35] I'll move more.

[00:27:36] Yeah.

[00:27:37] But not too much.

[00:27:38] Yeah.

[00:27:39] You're not jumping off of cabs anytime soon.

[00:27:41] Oh, no.

[00:27:42] No.

[00:27:43] Just like my go-to is a power stance.

[00:27:45] Yeah.

[00:27:46] The power stance.

[00:27:46] Yeah.

[00:27:46] The power stance and a bit of a head bang.

[00:27:49] Yeah.

[00:27:51] And maybe a little bit of a raise the foot and a kick.

[00:27:54] Oh, okay.

[00:27:55] Okay.

[00:27:55] Raise the foot.

[00:27:56] And that's about it.

[00:27:58] Maybe a foot on a monitor.

[00:27:59] Maybe.

[00:27:59] Do you raise the goblet of rock?

[00:28:02] Um, sometimes.

[00:28:03] Sometimes.

[00:28:03] Sometimes.

[00:28:03] Yeah.

[00:28:04] Occasionally.

[00:28:05] Yeah.

[00:28:05] Yeah.

[00:28:08] I like it.

[00:28:10] So who's your favorite member of the band then?

[00:28:14] Hmm.

[00:28:16] Probably Tom.

[00:28:17] Yeah.

[00:28:18] I'd go to Tom.

[00:28:19] I feel like we've got a lot in common.

[00:28:21] Oh, yeah.

[00:28:22] If we knew each other, I think we would be friends.

[00:28:23] You know, Star Wars.

[00:28:24] I love Star Wars.

[00:28:25] Yeah.

[00:28:26] Yeah.

[00:28:27] Um.

[00:28:29] Bye.

[00:28:31] He likes YouTube.

[00:28:33] He was like a YouTube at one point.

[00:28:35] Really?

[00:28:35] Yeah.

[00:28:35] He's got, um, he's seen his wedding speech on YouTube.

[00:28:39] No.

[00:28:39] It went viral.

[00:28:40] It's called, it has like about 30 million views.

[00:28:42] Oh, okay.

[00:28:43] Yeah.

[00:28:43] I'll look this up.

[00:28:44] I mean, like, he like sings like McFly songs, but he changes the words to be about his friends

[00:28:50] and his wife and his best man and stuff like that.

[00:28:52] Oh, that's nice.

[00:28:53] A bit of a tear jerker.

[00:28:55] Tear jerker.

[00:28:55] Really?

[00:28:56] Oh, yeah.

[00:28:56] Oh, yeah.

[00:28:57] Interesting.

[00:28:58] It went viral at the time.

[00:28:59] Yeah.

[00:29:00] Yeah.

[00:29:00] It probably worked around over 10 years ago now, I think.

[00:29:04] Hmm.

[00:29:04] Yeah.

[00:29:05] Yeah.

[00:29:06] Probably Tom.

[00:29:07] Okay.

[00:29:07] Dougie's pretty cool.

[00:29:08] Yeah.

[00:29:09] Dougie's, yeah.

[00:29:09] Second.

[00:29:10] Then Danny.

[00:29:10] And then probably Harry at the end because he's a, he was a private school, private school

[00:29:14] boy.

[00:29:15] And I don't think we can relate to that.

[00:29:16] We don't have much in common with him.

[00:29:18] So.

[00:29:18] Yeah.

[00:29:19] We come from different, different beginnings.

[00:29:20] I'd probably say Dougie's the second favorite because he's like, he's got the same sort

[00:29:24] of music taste.

[00:29:25] Yeah.

[00:29:25] Right.

[00:29:25] Okay.

[00:29:26] He likes Blink-A-Nate 2 and like quite heavy stuff.

[00:29:29] Mm-hmm.

[00:29:30] Mm-hmm.

[00:29:30] But yeah.

[00:29:31] I feel like it would get along with Dougie, but Tom was more, I don't know.

[00:29:35] If Dougie and Tom were together, that's the perfect combo of that.

[00:29:38] Yeah.

[00:29:39] Yeah.

[00:29:40] So I take it you've not crossed paths with them yet?

[00:29:42] Actually, we did, we did one year at Trees.

[00:29:46] Yeah.

[00:29:46] Or we didn't play.

[00:29:47] We were working.

[00:29:48] We were doing stage hands.

[00:29:49] Yeah, yeah.

[00:29:49] We were working it and then.

[00:29:51] Working on the main stage.

[00:29:52] Dougie was in.

[00:29:53] Nice.

[00:29:53] Have you ever heard of a band called A?

[00:29:55] I have, yeah.

[00:29:56] Yeah.

[00:29:56] So he was playing bass for a band called A.

[00:29:58] Right.

[00:29:59] And he was actually playing and we were doing that stage and he was there.

[00:30:03] Amazing.

[00:30:03] And we were like.

[00:30:05] Be cool.

[00:30:06] Be cool.

[00:30:06] Yeah.

[00:30:06] Be cool.

[00:30:07] Be my friend.

[00:30:07] Be my friend.

[00:30:09] But then we were like.

[00:30:10] We were like.

[00:30:11] We just can't do it.

[00:30:13] No, I can't.

[00:30:13] We couldn't go up to him.

[00:30:15] I was hoping I could like meet him professionally and be like.

[00:30:17] No, Dougie, let me know if you need anything.

[00:30:20] But.

[00:30:20] Yeah.

[00:30:20] He's like on off.

[00:30:22] Yeah.

[00:30:22] Yeah.

[00:30:23] He's not there.

[00:30:24] He doesn't need to talk to anyone.

[00:30:24] He's just playing the bass.

[00:30:26] There's definitely opportunities we could have gone up to him.

[00:30:28] But yeah.

[00:30:28] But we're not very outgoing people.

[00:30:30] Okay.

[00:30:31] And I don't want to pester him.

[00:30:32] Yeah.

[00:30:32] I'd rather like him want to speak to me rather than me pester him.

[00:30:38] Do you know what I mean?

[00:30:39] That's understandable.

[00:30:40] I think that's common for a lot of people.

[00:30:41] I know I feel the same way.

[00:30:43] Like if you see people at festivals, for example, gigs.

[00:30:46] Ah, do I bother them?

[00:30:47] Do I not?

[00:30:48] I'm sure someone like that will probably be fine with you coming up to him and be like.

[00:30:51] Oh, yeah.

[00:30:51] Nice to meet you.

[00:30:52] Yeah.

[00:30:52] I'm sure it'd be like.

[00:30:52] Yeah.

[00:30:53] Cool.

[00:30:53] Thank you for the support.

[00:30:54] Whatever.

[00:30:54] Yeah.

[00:30:55] I don't know.

[00:30:56] You're just overthinking your brain, don't you?

[00:30:58] That's true.

[00:30:59] Yeah.

[00:30:59] But yeah, I'm sure he's a lovely person.

[00:31:01] I've heard no rumors about them being horrible people.

[00:31:04] Yeah.

[00:31:05] That's true, which in this day and age is quite rare.

[00:31:07] So yeah, that's quite cool.

[00:31:10] Yeah.

[00:31:11] Maybe one day you'll cross paths and you get to talk about Star Wars and everything else

[00:31:15] that you want to talk to them about.

[00:31:16] Yeah.

[00:31:16] That'd be cool.

[00:31:18] That'd be if I could meet like one band who probably would be McFly.

[00:31:22] Yeah.

[00:31:23] I've had some exchanges with them on Instagram, but that's the closest I've gotten to.

[00:31:27] Like it was guest list once.

[00:31:29] Yeah.

[00:31:29] What?

[00:31:30] Yeah, that's cool.

[00:31:31] There you go.

[00:31:31] That's really cool.

[00:31:32] What was that for the Candom show or for another one?

[00:31:34] No, it was one of their summer gigs they did last year.

[00:31:38] How'd you manage that?

[00:31:38] I think he's just pestering him.

[00:31:41] Harry, do you have been my friend?

[00:31:42] Well, Harry made a mistake to reply to him on Instagram once and then he got into the

[00:31:46] general.

[00:31:47] Yeah.

[00:31:48] It was a bad mistake from him.

[00:31:52] I try not to pester him these days.

[00:31:54] Yeah.

[00:31:55] But he did give us guest list.

[00:31:57] That was nice.

[00:31:57] We didn't meet him.

[00:31:58] We didn't meet him there.

[00:31:59] Well, that was really nice.

[00:32:00] He didn't have to do that.

[00:32:01] I could have just blocked you.

[00:32:02] Yeah.

[00:32:03] He must be a decent person.

[00:32:04] He's giving a random person guesses.

[00:32:06] He doesn't need to do that.

[00:32:08] Do you know what I mean?

[00:32:23] Would you ever want to support them one day?

[00:32:25] Oh, yeah.

[00:32:25] Yeah.

[00:32:26] He actually was on the cards.

[00:32:27] Yeah, we were.

[00:32:28] Oh, okay.

[00:32:29] Apparently, we were on the cards to support them in Yates this year.

[00:32:32] Right.

[00:32:32] And it didn't happen.

[00:32:33] Oh, man.

[00:32:34] But I'm sure nobody would like it.

[00:32:38] Yeah.

[00:32:38] Because we were actually at that gig as well.

[00:32:40] Right.

[00:32:41] There's no way.

[00:32:42] We were going down very well.

[00:32:43] Yeah.

[00:32:44] Do you ever go to those gigs where, like, you're near the front and people, like, put, like,

[00:32:48] um...

[00:32:48] Camping chairs.

[00:32:49] Camping chairs down and, like, blankets.

[00:32:51] They claim it.

[00:32:53] They claim it down the front.

[00:32:54] What?

[00:32:55] That's when you know you're, um...

[00:32:57] These are rookies.

[00:32:58] Oh, yeah.

[00:32:59] Yeah, that's...

[00:32:59] I've never heard of that.

[00:33:01] Yeah.

[00:33:01] If you go to, like, a...

[00:33:03] Like, a gig where they book, like, I don't know, Sophie Ellis Baxter or something like

[00:33:07] that.

[00:33:07] Yeah.

[00:33:07] And it's family-friendly festival type things.

[00:33:10] Oh, I got you.

[00:33:11] People will go early and they'll put a blanket down.

[00:33:12] Oh, look, no one's here.

[00:33:13] So let's put a blanket down now and we'll have a spot in the front by the end.

[00:33:17] Literally the third row, there was, like, camping chairs and picnic blankets and

[00:33:21] stuff.

[00:33:21] This is not what you do in gigs.

[00:33:23] Yeah.

[00:33:23] And then, like, we were, like, walking up to the stage to get a good spot and people

[00:33:26] were, like, touching at us because we were, like, standing on their picnic

[00:33:30] blanket in front of their camping chairs.

[00:33:32] I was like, well, this is not what you do in your guys.

[00:33:34] This is not how it works, mate.

[00:33:34] This is a standing event.

[00:33:36] That's...

[00:33:37] If you want to sit, you sit at the back.

[00:33:38] Yeah.

[00:33:39] That's wild.

[00:33:40] Yeah.

[00:33:40] And obviously no one was telling them.

[00:33:41] None of the staff were like, what are you doing?

[00:33:43] Yeah, I feel like they didn't...

[00:33:44] These people don't know how to do gigs.

[00:33:45] That's the only bad thing about going to see these McFly summer shows is that...

[00:33:48] Yeah.

[00:33:48] They, like, play loads of them all summer long every weekend.

[00:33:51] Uh-huh.

[00:33:51] They play, like, I don't know, somewhere random in the UK where they have, like, a field.

[00:33:57] Mm-hmm.

[00:33:59] And they just turn up and play and these people just...

[00:34:00] This is their one gig to go to that year.

[00:34:02] Yes.

[00:34:03] Which is fair enough.

[00:34:03] Yeah, yeah.

[00:34:04] It's what I like to call gig etiquette.

[00:34:06] Yeah, gig etiquette.

[00:34:07] These people did not have gig etiquette.

[00:34:09] And it's usually, like, more...

[00:34:11] I mean, I guess you could say this about McFly, but I call them, like, mainstream, like, radio-friendly

[00:34:15] bands where you get that, where you go to certain shows.

[00:34:17] I went and went and went and went and was surrounded by people that were just so obnoxious.

[00:34:21] And I was just like, oh, you guys don't go to very many shows, do you?

[00:34:24] Yeah.

[00:34:26] Yeah.

[00:34:26] Yeah.

[00:34:27] It was definitely that vibe.

[00:34:28] Yeah.

[00:34:28] Lots of, like, middle-aged people.

[00:34:31] So if you guys came out just like, let's go, that you think it would be a bit like, what's

[00:34:35] this?

[00:34:36] Yeah, yeah.

[00:34:36] It would be like, yeah, this is heavy metal.

[00:34:40] I'm sure we'd finish a song and there'd be no...

[00:34:42] There'd be silence.

[00:34:43] Yeah.

[00:34:43] But it'd be great for Instagram.

[00:34:47] Yes.

[00:34:47] It would do so well on Instagram.

[00:34:49] It would be great for the algorithm.

[00:34:50] It would literally be our best reel to date.

[00:34:52] If we got a follow-us support McFly.

[00:34:56] Yeah.

[00:34:56] It would be big.

[00:34:58] Maybe I could get him on the GovCast.

[00:35:00] Yeah.

[00:35:00] Absolutely, you could.

[00:35:01] Yeah.

[00:35:02] Yeah.

[00:35:02] So we'd only do it purely for social media reasons.

[00:35:05] Yes.

[00:35:06] And to possibly meet them.

[00:35:07] But...

[00:35:07] Yeah.

[00:35:07] I don't think we'd gain any followers from it.

[00:35:10] Not a single one.

[00:35:11] I mean, given the amount of shows that they do and how frequent they are, I reckon one

[00:35:15] day that could happen for you guys.

[00:35:16] I think it would work if they...

[00:35:18] Because they did like a secret set at Slam Dunk a few years ago.

[00:35:22] Yeah.

[00:35:23] Yeah.

[00:35:23] And that...

[00:35:24] If we played before them on that, that would work.

[00:35:27] If it was that sort of setting.

[00:35:29] Yeah.

[00:35:29] Let's say if they played Trues.

[00:35:31] I think it'd be cool if they played Trues.

[00:35:33] Yeah.

[00:35:33] Not sure.

[00:35:34] James, if you're listening.

[00:35:35] Yeah.

[00:35:35] James, he's definitely watched Trues.

[00:35:37] Book McFly for Trues.

[00:35:38] Ah.

[00:35:39] Once we were saying Book McFly and Busted.

[00:35:41] That's way above their budget though.

[00:35:43] That's...

[00:35:44] Yeah.

[00:35:44] They did it for 100 grand.

[00:35:46] Yeah.

[00:35:47] Yeah.

[00:35:47] I would double it.

[00:35:49] Absolutely.

[00:35:49] For which band.

[00:35:50] Yeah.

[00:35:51] So yeah.

[00:35:52] But yeah.

[00:35:52] If it was something like that, yeah.

[00:35:53] I would work quite well.

[00:35:54] Mm-hmm.

[00:35:55] But any other...

[00:35:56] If it was like a family festival, it would not work.

[00:35:58] I don't think.

[00:35:59] But yeah.

[00:36:00] It's like...

[00:36:01] If that is something like Slam Dunk a few years ago,

[00:36:04] hopefully we're playing.

[00:36:05] I would do it.

[00:36:06] They have a good talent.

[00:36:06] It'd be better than their usual audiences

[00:36:09] because they're usual just like people who are like our age.

[00:36:12] You have kids and...

[00:36:13] Right.

[00:36:14] Don't really go crazy.

[00:36:15] Which I would...

[00:36:16] We don't go crazy.

[00:36:17] But if you go to Trues and Trees,

[00:36:19] people will be like crowd surfing,

[00:36:22] moshing.

[00:36:22] True.

[00:36:23] And they would be into that.

[00:36:24] So they'd have a nice time,

[00:36:25] but they'd just be taking a major pay cut.

[00:36:28] But what's better?

[00:36:29] I reckon we'd go down well at an actual McFly gig,

[00:36:33] like on their own tour.

[00:36:35] Because at their recent years,

[00:36:37] they had a band called Lost Alone Support.

[00:36:38] Yes.

[00:36:39] No Lost Alone.

[00:36:40] Yeah.

[00:36:40] Yeah.

[00:36:41] Yeah.

[00:36:41] And yeah, they're quite similar to us.

[00:36:43] Yeah.

[00:36:44] We supported them.

[00:36:45] Oh, right.

[00:36:46] When they played last year.

[00:36:47] So we supported them in March.

[00:36:48] Yeah.

[00:36:48] In March.

[00:36:49] Yeah.

[00:36:49] So...

[00:36:50] So there is crossover there.

[00:36:51] There is crossover.

[00:36:52] I think, yeah.

[00:36:52] If you...

[00:36:53] Yeah.

[00:36:53] If it was a headline gig,

[00:36:54] it'd go well.

[00:36:55] If it already had like maybe Lost Alone

[00:36:57] Main Support,

[00:36:58] then us,

[00:36:58] it would work all right.

[00:37:00] That's a solid lineup.

[00:37:01] That's a solid lineup.

[00:37:02] That's a solid lineup.

[00:37:03] Yeah.

[00:37:04] You hear it here, folks.

[00:37:05] One day.

[00:37:06] Yeah.

[00:37:06] That'd be great.

[00:37:07] Yeah.

[00:37:08] Yeah.

[00:37:08] I think that could very much be the case.

[00:37:10] I look forward to seeing that.

[00:37:11] Nice.

[00:37:17] Same sort of vein.

[00:37:18] So hopefully...

[00:37:19] And excerpts are like...

[00:37:20] Yeah.

[00:37:20] They're sort of our thing.

[00:37:21] They're being less heavy.

[00:37:23] Alt rock.

[00:37:23] Alt rocky stuff.

[00:37:24] Alt rocky, yeah.

[00:37:24] Yeah.

[00:37:25] Yeah.

[00:37:26] So yeah.

[00:37:27] Hopefully.

[00:37:27] That'd be great.

[00:37:29] It's in the realms of possibility.

[00:37:29] That'd be living the dream status.

[00:37:31] I was going to say,

[00:37:32] yeah.

[00:37:32] I bet you bet that would be brilliant for you guys.

[00:37:34] Yeah.

[00:37:35] It'd be very full circle.

[00:37:37] Yeah.

[00:37:38] Of course.

[00:37:39] Yeah.

[00:37:39] Absolutely.

[00:37:40] Yeah.

[00:37:41] One day.

[00:37:42] Let's manifest it.

[00:37:43] Let's manifest it.

[00:37:44] That's what I'm saying.

[00:37:44] It's going to happen.

[00:37:45] It's going to happen.

[00:37:46] Yeah.

[00:37:47] You heard it here.

[00:37:48] Yeah.

[00:37:49] We've got it in recording.

[00:37:52] Tag him in this podcast.

[00:37:53] I absolutely will.

[00:37:55] Don't you worry about that.

[00:37:56] Yeah.

[00:37:56] That's happening.

[00:37:57] Cool.

[00:37:58] I mean, yeah.

[00:38:00] It's something I do admire about them as a band.

[00:38:02] And as you mentioned earlier,

[00:38:03] is they do seem quite open to stuff like that.

[00:38:06] And like supporting other people and engaging with fan bases.

[00:38:09] You know,

[00:38:09] not being resentful of where they've come from and what they have,

[00:38:12] which I respect that.

[00:38:14] I don't know about you.

[00:38:14] Whenever I see an artist like that,

[00:38:16] it makes me more inclined to keep following them and keep supporting them,

[00:38:20] whatever they choose to do.

[00:38:21] Because they're giving back,

[00:38:22] you know,

[00:38:23] to the community.

[00:38:24] And they're just going to be very,

[00:38:26] yeah,

[00:38:26] just kind like that.

[00:38:28] Yeah.

[00:38:28] Yeah.

[00:38:29] I feel like,

[00:38:29] yeah,

[00:38:29] they do try to change it up.

[00:38:43] Mm-hmm.

[00:38:44] That's true.

[00:38:45] Which is very,

[00:38:47] Pretty crazy.

[00:38:48] No one was expecting that.

[00:38:50] But yeah,

[00:38:51] they're obviously trying to like branch out,

[00:38:53] which is cool.

[00:38:54] Yeah.

[00:38:55] Back in the day,

[00:38:56] all the supports would be like boy,

[00:38:59] manufactured boy bands on their label.

[00:39:02] Obviously like bands that have paid to be on the tour.

[00:39:05] Right.

[00:39:05] From like tour support labels.

[00:39:07] All their labels have forced them to be like,

[00:39:09] they have to support because we want them to do better.

[00:39:13] Yeah.

[00:39:14] But they never did.

[00:39:15] There's no one support,

[00:39:16] we've seen in support McFly who have,

[00:39:19] no,

[00:39:19] we do know the only people that have done well from support McFly is the vamps.

[00:39:23] The vamps.

[00:39:24] Oh,

[00:39:24] okay.

[00:39:25] Yeah.

[00:39:26] Yeah.

[00:39:26] Which they did do quite well.

[00:39:28] They still do well,

[00:39:28] I think.

[00:39:29] Hmm.

[00:39:30] But everyone else,

[00:39:32] it's a bit of a,

[00:39:33] it's a bit of a curse.

[00:39:34] Yeah.

[00:39:34] A latch in the pan.

[00:39:35] Yeah.

[00:39:36] Yeah.

[00:39:37] How do you find the audience?

[00:39:39] When that happens,

[00:39:40] are they quite receptive to it as,

[00:39:42] as a fan base?

[00:39:42] I don't think they're really.

[00:39:43] They really care.

[00:39:45] Yeah.

[00:39:45] I think they're pretty,

[00:39:46] um,

[00:39:47] we've paid to see McFly and that's about it.

[00:39:49] Yeah.

[00:39:49] That's another reason why I'm saying if we support McFly,

[00:39:52] I don't know if we would like it,

[00:39:53] it'd be more just for us.

[00:39:54] Yeah.

[00:39:54] Sure.

[00:39:54] It's more of a selfish,

[00:39:55] selfish thing.

[00:39:57] I mean,

[00:39:58] I'm sure we lost loan support them because they,

[00:39:59] when they did it,

[00:40:00] they did a big tour last summer,

[00:40:01] last winter.

[00:40:02] Mm-hmm.

[00:40:03] And I thought the whole thing,

[00:40:04] I'm sure they gained a lot of fans,

[00:40:07] but no one is if they did,

[00:40:08] if they did a tour supporting like,

[00:40:10] I don't know,

[00:40:11] neck deep or someone like that.

[00:40:12] Or my chemical romance,

[00:40:13] something like that.

[00:40:14] Oh yeah.

[00:40:14] But where bands like,

[00:40:17] people go to those gigs are like,

[00:40:18] they like the underground scene as well.

[00:40:21] And they're open to,

[00:40:22] for support bands and like,

[00:40:24] checking them out.

[00:40:25] Yeah.

[00:40:26] Yeah.

[00:40:26] Yeah.

[00:40:27] Yeah.

[00:40:28] How was it like to do it?

[00:40:29] Just one.

[00:40:30] Mm.

[00:40:34] Yeah,

[00:40:34] absolutely.

[00:40:35] Bucket list.

[00:40:35] Yeah.

[00:40:35] Take it off the bucket list.

[00:40:36] Totally.

[00:40:37] Totally.

[00:40:38] I mean,

[00:40:38] I gather from following you guys that you're pretty open to playing most gigs,

[00:40:41] really.

[00:40:42] Just whatever.

[00:40:43] Within reason.

[00:40:44] Yeah.

[00:40:44] Within reason.

[00:40:44] You played someone's wedding recently.

[00:40:45] I wanted to ask about that.

[00:40:47] What happened there?

[00:40:47] That looked amazing.

[00:40:49] Yeah.

[00:40:49] We like,

[00:40:52] do you want to play our wedding?

[00:40:54] So yeah,

[00:40:54] we could play some colors at your wedding,

[00:40:56] I guess.

[00:40:56] And they thought,

[00:40:57] no,

[00:40:57] we want you to play our wedding.

[00:41:00] We want to play the wedding.

[00:41:01] We want to hear Blank Atlas songs.

[00:41:02] Like,

[00:41:03] wow.

[00:41:04] I don't think your grandma's going to like that.

[00:41:06] Yeah.

[00:41:06] Oh yeah.

[00:41:07] Uncle Clive.

[00:41:08] Yeah.

[00:41:08] He's going to go home.

[00:41:10] But they were like,

[00:41:11] no.

[00:41:12] And we like,

[00:41:12] sort of like,

[00:41:14] um,

[00:41:16] we made it to that.

[00:41:17] We'll do half covers and half.

[00:41:19] Right.

[00:41:21] Blank Atlas stuff.

[00:41:21] But the Blank Atlas,

[00:41:22] I mean,

[00:41:23] I mean,

[00:41:23] some people enjoyed the Blank Atlas set.

[00:41:25] Mm hmm.

[00:41:25] Mm hmm.

[00:41:26] Um,

[00:41:27] they knew all the words.

[00:41:29] Yeah.

[00:41:30] Which is great.

[00:41:30] The majority weren't,

[00:41:32] weren't too fussed.

[00:41:33] But the few,

[00:41:33] there was like four or five people who were there to watch us,

[00:41:36] they knew all the words.

[00:41:38] Brilliant.

[00:41:38] Which is great.

[00:41:39] Yeah.

[00:41:39] Good to see.

[00:41:40] Of course.

[00:41:40] I suppose it is nice that someone's wants us to play their wedding.

[00:41:44] Yeah.

[00:41:45] Yeah.

[00:41:45] Which is a big deal.

[00:41:46] And therefore they're like table setting.

[00:41:49] Each table was named after their favorite albums.

[00:41:53] And one of the table was the Dawn Chorus table.

[00:41:55] Wow.

[00:41:55] Which is the name of our album.

[00:41:57] Wow.

[00:41:58] I bet that was quite the honor.

[00:41:59] Yeah.

[00:42:00] It was quite cool.

[00:42:01] It was quite cool.

[00:42:02] Yeah.

[00:42:02] But then when I said,

[00:42:04] uh,

[00:42:04] asked if anyone's on the Dawn Chorus table,

[00:42:06] no,

[00:42:06] no.

[00:42:11] That's the table for all the coats.

[00:42:13] Oh,

[00:42:14] okay.

[00:42:15] That was a nice idea.

[00:42:17] Yeah.

[00:42:18] It was good though.

[00:42:18] It was fun.

[00:42:19] That's cool.

[00:42:20] Yeah.

[00:42:21] It was wholesome.

[00:42:22] It was wholesome.

[00:42:22] I can say,

[00:42:23] yeah,

[00:42:23] it looked really wholesome.

[00:42:25] Like all the videos I saw just looks like,

[00:42:27] yeah,

[00:42:27] it was just,

[00:42:27] it must've been quite a nice experience.

[00:42:29] A strange one,

[00:42:30] but quite a nice one.

[00:42:31] That's a unique.

[00:42:32] Yeah.

[00:42:33] We've done some pretty unique gigs.

[00:42:35] Uh huh.

[00:42:35] What was another unique one we've done?

[00:42:38] Uh,

[00:42:41] I don't know.

[00:42:42] You put me on the spot here.

[00:42:45] Well,

[00:42:46] we played a bandstand in,

[00:42:48] on the beach.

[00:42:49] Uh huh.

[00:42:50] In Aberystwyth where we're from in the afternoon.

[00:42:53] Right.

[00:42:54] Okay.

[00:42:54] Nobody was there.

[00:42:55] We were like 17.

[00:42:57] And then Chris,

[00:42:58] he had to go do his,

[00:42:59] his,

[00:43:00] his pot washing job.

[00:43:02] Brilliant.

[00:43:02] The second we finished.

[00:43:04] Yeah.

[00:43:04] Didn't really want to do the gig because he knew he had to work.

[00:43:07] Oh,

[00:43:08] like,

[00:43:08] um,

[00:43:10] I think we finished at like one o'clock.

[00:43:13] Yeah.

[00:43:13] And he had to be at work at half past one and it's half,

[00:43:16] it's half an hour away.

[00:43:17] Oh,

[00:43:18] so yeah.

[00:43:19] So as soon as he finished,

[00:43:20] he'd like,

[00:43:21] look at his face.

[00:43:22] guys,

[00:43:22] I've got to go.

[00:43:23] And then dropped his base.

[00:43:24] He left.

[00:43:24] Didn't he pack away?

[00:43:25] We get to pack away his stuff.

[00:43:26] Oh,

[00:43:27] and there's a video of him like doing that.

[00:43:29] And he gets his phone out and he just says,

[00:43:30] I've got to go.

[00:43:31] And he just goes.

[00:43:31] That's funny.

[00:43:35] That's the one that comes to mind.

[00:43:36] I can't even think of anything.

[00:43:37] We've played lots of gigs.

[00:43:38] We've been in a band for 13 years.

[00:43:40] Really?

[00:43:41] Yeah.

[00:43:41] We went to school together.

[00:43:43] So we've done all them.

[00:43:45] Yeah.

[00:43:46] Yeah.

[00:43:47] Rubbish gigs together.

[00:43:50] Try to stay,

[00:43:50] stay away from the rubbish gigs now.

[00:43:52] We sort of can pick them out these days.

[00:43:54] I was going to say.

[00:43:54] That one's not going to be good,

[00:43:55] so we're not going to do that one.

[00:43:57] Yeah.

[00:43:57] This one could be good,

[00:43:58] so let's give that one a go.

[00:43:59] We're going to see.

[00:44:00] We can spot a band gig from a mile away.

[00:44:03] What's some of the telltale signs?

[00:44:05] Ooh.

[00:44:07] Any trade secrets you can share with anyone listening?

[00:44:10] Well,

[00:44:11] if it's like,

[00:44:11] I don't know,

[00:44:12] we pretend to be more picky,

[00:44:14] like,

[00:44:15] try not to like,

[00:44:16] just play with like,

[00:44:17] those local bands all the time.

[00:44:18] Obviously,

[00:44:18] if it's our own headline tour,

[00:44:19] we're going to want local bands playing with us.

[00:44:22] But saying like,

[00:44:23] oh,

[00:44:23] if a local band says,

[00:44:24] oh,

[00:44:25] please,

[00:44:26] can you support us here?

[00:44:27] We probably wouldn't do that,

[00:44:29] because we probably would save ourselves for more,

[00:44:31] for more of a,

[00:44:32] a bigger band.

[00:44:34] Because,

[00:44:34] but I'm sure it would be a good gig,

[00:44:36] but,

[00:44:37] yeah,

[00:44:37] because we don't know what offers are going to come in.

[00:44:39] Like,

[00:44:39] we could say yes to that gig,

[00:44:40] and then a week later,

[00:44:42] like a band that we really like,

[00:44:44] a fly might come along.

[00:44:45] We'll be like,

[00:44:45] can you support us on this date?

[00:44:46] We can't,

[00:44:47] we're supporting the,

[00:44:49] the,

[00:44:49] the,

[00:44:50] the,

[00:44:50] the spotted dragons in,

[00:44:52] in,

[00:44:53] in Hull.

[00:44:55] Oh,

[00:44:56] damn.

[00:44:57] So we're trying to be a bit more picky these days.

[00:44:59] Yeah,

[00:45:00] that makes sense.

[00:45:01] Yeah.

[00:45:01] But,

[00:45:02] well,

[00:45:02] any,

[00:45:02] any battle of bands type gigs,

[00:45:04] usually,

[00:45:05] even though,

[00:45:06] I wasn't aware those are still a thing,

[00:45:07] really.

[00:45:08] Yeah.

[00:45:08] They still happen.

[00:45:09] The,

[00:45:09] the bloodstock thing is still a thing,

[00:45:11] like melt to the masses.

[00:45:12] Is that still a thing?

[00:45:13] Okay.

[00:45:13] We used to do them back in the day.

[00:45:15] Yeah.

[00:45:16] But we don't do them anymore.

[00:45:17] We wouldn't really fit bloodstock anyway.

[00:45:19] No,

[00:45:20] we wouldn't fit bloodstock now.

[00:45:21] But,

[00:45:22] um,

[00:45:22] yeah,

[00:45:23] we sort of tell which ones,

[00:45:24] I'm sure they could be very good gigs,

[00:45:27] but just,

[00:45:28] yeah,

[00:45:28] it's just good to be a bit picky.

[00:45:30] If you,

[00:45:30] if you've got gigs coming in,

[00:45:32] it's good to be pickier.

[00:45:33] Yeah.

[00:45:34] Yeah.

[00:45:34] If you start an out and you obviously take any gig that you can shake all the gigs.

[00:45:38] We,

[00:45:38] we did that,

[00:45:39] but now we're,

[00:45:40] we've done the graft.

[00:45:41] We've done the graft.

[00:45:42] Yeah.

[00:45:43] Over a decade in now we can be like,

[00:45:46] well,

[00:45:46] we do,

[00:45:47] we want to do the good ones.

[00:45:49] We've done enough bad gigs.

[00:45:51] Gotcha.

[00:45:51] We've done enough soul crushing gigs.

[00:45:53] Our soul has been well and truly crushed many times.

[00:45:56] It could not be crushed anymore.

[00:45:57] Okay.

[00:45:59] So yes,

[00:46:00] we stay away from them.

[00:46:01] Yeah.

[00:46:02] Yeah.

[00:46:03] Well,

[00:46:03] fair play.

[00:46:04] I mean,

[00:46:04] I feel like it's one of those things I can imagine.

[00:46:06] There's a lot of bands that bow out before the 10 year mark.

[00:46:09] Yeah.

[00:46:09] Hmm.

[00:46:10] Yeah.

[00:46:11] I don't know how we've done it to be fair.

[00:46:12] And no lineup change either.

[00:46:13] No lineup change.

[00:46:14] Yeah.

[00:46:15] Yeah.

[00:46:15] That's huge.

[00:46:17] Yeah.

[00:46:17] And it's Chris,

[00:46:18] he's first band he's ever been in ever.

[00:46:20] Really?

[00:46:28] Yeah.

[00:46:29] Which is pretty cool.

[00:46:30] It's like U2.

[00:46:33] Yeah.

[00:46:34] We are U2.

[00:46:35] We are U2.

[00:46:36] We are the Midwest Wales version of U2.

[00:46:39] Yeah.

[00:46:40] Mixed with McFly and Meshuggah.

[00:46:41] That's it.

[00:46:41] Yeah.

[00:46:42] I like that.

[00:46:43] That's a good combo.

[00:46:44] And if I remember correctly,

[00:46:45] you guys have got a single that's either coming out or has just come out.

[00:46:48] It's just come out.

[00:46:49] Yeah.

[00:46:49] It came out on Thursday.

[00:46:50] That's right.

[00:46:51] Yeah.

[00:46:51] It's called,

[00:46:52] if you can't beat them,

[00:46:53] join them.

[00:46:54] Nice.

[00:46:55] It's like a minute long,

[00:46:57] a minute and a half of just like fast.

[00:47:00] Remember when Daniel said about,

[00:47:02] we,

[00:47:03] if we're not going to write a chorus,

[00:47:05] then it's not worth it.

[00:47:06] That song,

[00:47:07] it doesn't really apply to this song.

[00:47:09] There's not a chorus.

[00:47:10] There's not a chorus.

[00:47:11] Daniel kind of.

[00:47:12] Yeah.

[00:47:12] That's pretty,

[00:47:13] yeah.

[00:47:13] Like I said,

[00:47:13] we wrote the riff first.

[00:47:14] We wrote the end riff first.

[00:47:16] Yeah.

[00:47:17] Let's make it.

[00:47:18] Hypocrite.

[00:47:18] He's being a bit hypocritical with that one.

[00:47:20] But it's not very songy.

[00:47:23] Because it's so short.

[00:47:25] Yes.

[00:47:25] It doesn't really matter.

[00:47:27] It's like,

[00:47:27] it's like a fun song.

[00:47:29] It's like a live song.

[00:47:30] Right.

[00:47:30] I'm not expecting it to do very well.

[00:47:34] Compared to other songs.

[00:47:35] It's not going to be a big radio hit.

[00:47:36] I don't think it'll be a big radio hit.

[00:47:37] It's going to get playlists on Radio 1,

[00:47:38] I don't think.

[00:47:39] But it's a good fun song for the set,

[00:47:41] I think.

[00:47:41] We put it live yesterday,

[00:47:42] and it looked down well.

[00:47:44] It was very rowdy.

[00:47:45] There you go.

[00:47:45] It was very difficult to play.

[00:47:46] It's like,

[00:47:47] yeah,

[00:47:47] it's a nod to like,

[00:47:50] a hardcore scene.

[00:47:51] If you know what I call that,

[00:47:52] turnstile.

[00:47:52] Yeah.

[00:47:53] Yeah.

[00:47:53] Knock loose.

[00:47:54] That sort of scene is like thriving in the moment.

[00:47:56] It is.

[00:47:56] And we loved Turnstile.

[00:47:59] We saw Turnstile at Thousand Trees.

[00:48:00] It was a very good set.

[00:48:01] Probably the best set I've seen at Thousand Trees

[00:48:03] is Turnstile.

[00:48:04] Yeah.

[00:48:04] So we were like,

[00:48:06] we just want,

[00:48:07] we mean him,

[00:48:08] we wrote a riff,

[00:48:09] the last riff,

[00:48:11] without an instrument.

[00:48:12] Oh,

[00:48:12] so I could play the voice memo if you like.

[00:48:15] Oh,

[00:48:15] please do.

[00:48:16] Yeah.

[00:48:17] We said,

[00:48:18] I'd like a riff like this.

[00:48:20] Yeah.

[00:48:20] And we,

[00:48:21] I sang it.

[00:48:22] Yeah.

[00:48:23] And then,

[00:48:23] so I just play,

[00:48:24] I just play what the riff is first.

[00:48:26] Yeah.

[00:48:30] This is the original,

[00:48:31] this is the actual version.

[00:48:33] Okay,

[00:48:33] that's the riff.

[00:48:34] Yeah.

[00:48:34] And then the voice memo.

[00:48:43] And you just learnt the riff from the voice memo.

[00:48:47] That's,

[00:48:47] yeah,

[00:48:48] I was going to say,

[00:48:49] it translates very well.

[00:48:50] It's so bad.

[00:48:52] Yeah.

[00:48:53] So that's all we had.

[00:48:53] And then,

[00:48:54] of course you said,

[00:48:55] well,

[00:48:55] let's do this riff.

[00:48:56] That was like quite Turnstile-y sort of vibe.

[00:49:00] And yeah,

[00:49:01] we had like a bit crazy bit.

[00:49:02] And before,

[00:49:03] let's just have it like,

[00:49:04] hardcore style,

[00:49:05] minute and a half long,

[00:49:06] no chorus.

[00:49:08] Nice.

[00:49:09] And yeah,

[00:49:10] I like it.

[00:49:10] It's quite tongue-in-cheek.

[00:49:12] It's tongue-in-cheek.

[00:49:13] I don't know if we'll have many of the songs like that.

[00:49:15] Yeah.

[00:49:16] Because the lyrics are going on like,

[00:49:18] the lyrics in it are like,

[00:49:21] one of the lyrics is,

[00:49:22] you've been making waves while I've been chasing.

[00:49:25] Yeah.

[00:49:25] Right.

[00:49:26] We've been going for such a long time

[00:49:27] and all these hardcore bands are really popular.

[00:49:29] So we're just going to write a hardcore song.

[00:49:31] We'll write a hardcore song.

[00:49:32] We can cash out.

[00:49:34] but the reality is really that we just wanted,

[00:49:37] we like those sort of bands.

[00:49:39] We wanted a song like that in our set.

[00:49:41] Yeah.

[00:49:42] We actually do like it.

[00:49:43] It's not us trying to play a genre that's doing well

[00:49:46] and we actually like it ourselves.

[00:49:48] We actually,

[00:49:49] we love the Turnstile album.

[00:49:51] And we just,

[00:49:52] it's just seeped into our writing stuff.

[00:49:54] Yeah.

[00:49:55] Yeah.

[00:49:56] It's seeped into the writing.

[00:49:57] Yeah.

[00:49:57] That's for sure.

[00:49:58] Yeah.

[00:49:59] It's very,

[00:49:59] if you listen to the lyrics,

[00:50:00] it's quite tongue-in-cheek lyrics,

[00:50:03] which I quite like.

[00:50:05] So what's on the cards for you guys moving into sort of next year then?

[00:50:08] You're looking to put another album together or an EP or something?

[00:50:11] Yeah.

[00:50:11] We're working on an album.

[00:50:12] Nice.

[00:50:13] Won't be,

[00:50:14] won't be out next year.

[00:50:15] Won't be out next year probably.

[00:50:16] That's fine.

[00:50:16] Year after that.

[00:50:18] More likely to be the year after that.

[00:50:20] Yeah.

[00:50:21] I'd hope so.

[00:50:22] But yeah,

[00:50:23] writing.

[00:50:24] We have started recording.

[00:50:26] But it's like.

[00:50:27] We've got one song in the can.

[00:50:28] We've got one song in the can.

[00:50:29] So yeah.

[00:50:32] Got to write another like at least nine.

[00:50:35] Good ones.

[00:50:36] We've written lots of songs.

[00:50:38] Yeah.

[00:50:38] You know,

[00:50:38] the good ones.

[00:50:40] But yeah,

[00:50:41] just a lot of writing next year.

[00:50:42] Probably start recording maybe springtime next year.

[00:50:45] Do some more festivals.

[00:50:47] Yeah.

[00:50:48] TBA.

[00:50:48] Yeah, yeah.

[00:50:51] Yeah.

[00:50:52] Hopefully busy.

[00:50:53] Hopefully support McFly.

[00:50:55] Yeah.

[00:50:55] I was going to say,

[00:50:56] put that on your goals for next year.

[00:50:58] Yeah.

[00:50:59] Okay.

[00:50:59] If I can manifest it.

[00:51:00] I'm going to manifest us supporting the McFly versus Busted tour.

[00:51:04] Yeah.

[00:51:04] That's what I'm manifesting.

[00:51:05] It's like a 40 day arena tour.

[00:51:07] Yeah.

[00:51:08] That'd be cool.

[00:51:09] That'd be cool.

[00:51:09] We'll be cheap.

[00:51:10] We'll be a hundred pounds.

[00:51:11] Yeah.

[00:51:12] No,

[00:51:12] we'll do it 50 quid.

[00:51:14] We'll do it 50 quid.

[00:51:15] Exposure bucks.

[00:51:16] That's all we're after.

[00:51:17] We'll pay you 50 quid.

[00:51:19] Yeah.

[00:51:20] Yeah.

[00:51:21] We'll pay you.

[00:51:22] It's 40 gigs.

[00:51:23] That's a lot of money.

[00:51:25] Yeah.

[00:51:25] We have to hope that we make it back on merch every day.

[00:51:28] Yeah.

[00:51:28] Making t-shirts really expensive.

[00:51:30] Mm.

[00:51:32] 50 quid a t-shirt.

[00:51:33] Well,

[00:51:33] there probably will be.

[00:51:34] Yeah.

[00:51:35] Arenas.

[00:51:36] Yeah.

[00:51:36] Arenas.

[00:51:37] The other day I saw t-shirts going for 40 quid.

[00:51:39] Yeah.

[00:51:40] It's mad now,

[00:51:41] isn't it?

[00:51:41] Back in the day,

[00:51:42] you'd get a hoodie for 40 quid.

[00:51:44] I don't understand why bands nowadays just don't bother bringing the merch and they just

[00:51:48] instead just have like a QR code on the drum kit or something.

[00:51:52] Yeah.

[00:51:53] And maybe just say like,

[00:51:54] you know,

[00:51:55] scan this and you can get a discount and just buy the bunch of merch.

[00:51:59] Yeah.

[00:51:59] A lot of bands,

[00:52:00] a lot of bands,

[00:52:01] they,

[00:52:02] they do like pop-up shops now,

[00:52:04] don't they?

[00:52:04] Yeah.

[00:52:05] Yeah.

[00:52:05] Where they'll just set up merch in like a random pub so they can avoid like the,

[00:52:10] the percentage that the venue takes.

[00:52:12] They usually take like 25% of the merch takings,

[00:52:15] don't they?

[00:52:16] Mm.

[00:52:16] Yeah.

[00:52:17] Yeah,

[00:52:17] exactly.

[00:52:18] Oh,

[00:52:18] well,

[00:52:18] there we go.

[00:52:19] Such is the system.

[00:52:20] Right.

[00:52:20] I'm aware that people are coming in.

[00:52:22] So I guess to wrap ourselves up guys,

[00:52:24] um,

[00:52:24] where can the good people find you and what you're up to?

[00:52:27] Um,

[00:52:27] Blank Atlas band on Instagram on many things,

[00:52:30] I think.

[00:52:31] Blank Atlas band.

[00:52:31] Mm.

[00:52:32] On Spotify,

[00:52:33] Yelp Music,

[00:52:34] all the things.

[00:52:35] Got our website,

[00:52:35] blankatlas.co.uk.

[00:52:37] Nice.

[00:52:37] All the links are on there.

[00:52:38] All the tour dates are on there.

[00:52:40] You can see what we're up to.

[00:52:41] Yeah.

[00:52:43] That's funny,

[00:52:43] really.

[00:52:44] Nice.

[00:52:45] Yeah.

[00:52:45] I'll make sure I put links in there same as last time.

[00:52:47] Nice one.

[00:52:48] Guys,

[00:52:48] thank you so much for coming back.

[00:52:49] Thanks for having us.

[00:52:50] Nice.

[00:52:50] Pleasure.

[00:52:52] A massive thank you to Dan and Tom from Blank Atlas for coming back onto the podcast

[00:52:56] and sharing your love of McFly.

[00:52:59] I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you guys listening to it did as well.

[00:53:03] Please do yourself a favor.

[00:53:05] As I said up top,

[00:53:06] go and check out Blank Atlas's brilliant album,

[00:53:09] Dawn Chorus.

[00:53:10] Well worth your time.

[00:53:11] I've left links in the show notes.

[00:53:12] You can check them out as well as their social media pages.

[00:53:15] You can stay up to date with any future shows that they have coming up.

[00:53:18] I really cannot recommend the band enough.

[00:53:20] I had a fantastic time watching them later that evening.

[00:53:22] So I highly recommend that you seek them out when they come to a town near you.

[00:53:26] So once again, links are in the show notes for you to do that.

[00:53:30] Thanks again for listening to this episode.

[00:53:32] If you have enjoyed the podcast,

[00:53:34] then please consider doing a few simple things to help me on my way as an independent podcaster.

[00:53:39] First and foremost, just tell somebody.

[00:53:42] If you've enjoyed this episode, sharing it really goes a long way.

[00:53:47] You can tell somebody by word of mouth, social media,

[00:53:50] shout it out when you're playing at a gig.

[00:53:52] That would be cool.

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[00:54:27] by one Alex Jenkins.

[00:54:29] His details are also in the show notes.

[00:54:31] Also, don't forget, you can get yourself 25% off pet accessories.

[00:54:36] Thanks to my good friend Richard over at styleupyourpet.com.

[00:54:40] The links are in the show notes for that.

[00:54:41] If you want to pick yourself up a present for your favorite furry friends.

[00:54:44] Once again, 25% off styleupyourpet.com.

[00:54:48] Links are in the show notes.

[00:54:50] Thanks for listening to this episode.

[00:54:51] Thanks for giving me your time.

[00:54:53] I really do appreciate it.

[00:54:55] I will be back next week with another returning guest of the podcast featuring one of the most

[00:55:00] unique and special conversations I've had this entire year.

[00:55:04] And that is saying something because this year has been a whole bunch of firsts,

[00:55:08] a whole bunch of very, very unique conversations that,

[00:55:12] frankly, I'm kind of overwhelmed that I've had the privilege to do it.

[00:55:15] But that's neither here nor there.

[00:55:17] What's important is you make sure you are here for that episode next week.

[00:55:21] That will be with you in your podcast feeds next Monday.

[00:55:25] Make sure you are following, subscribed, whatever it is you have to do so you don't miss out on that.

[00:55:30] So thanks again for listening.

[00:55:31] And I'll meet you right back here for that very special episode on Monday the 9th, bright and early.

[00:55:37] See you then.