Flying the McFly flag
YAWN, groans Danny Jones as he arrives to enthuse at CityLife about the latest news in the McFly camp.
Yawning? A McFly? It's a worrying twist in the world of pop, this. If we were any kind of lesser music weekly we'd be scraping around for a potential titbit of gossip: McFly Run Danny Ragged, perhaps?
As it turns out, Danny's problem this afternoon is adjusting to the speed of the latest rollercoaster. He's currently flying the McFly flag for four big projects: a new album, a big screen live extravaganza, a special summer show and an enormous national tour in November.
He and has bandmates Tom Fletcher (vocals, guitar), Dougie Poynter (bass) and Harry Judd (drums) have been away for 18 months, with the wheels turning at just a leisurely speed.
Nothing like throwing yourself back in at the deep end, then. "We're trying to broaden our fanbase," says Danny about the current attack.
Exposure
Part A for McFly's march into the nation's hearts was to give their new album, Radioactive, away in July with a major national newspaper.
A single - One For The Radio - preceded it on their own record label, Super Records.
"Getting that exposure gets our album into three million homes in one day," says Danny, excitedly. "We believe this album is the best we've ever made; we wanted to take McFly to the next level.
"With the record label, we were going through the motions a bit: another album, another tour, which is great to start with but we wanted to find out what else we were about.
"The main reason for the label was just having creative control and not having to compromise. That bugged us, every time we made albums they got filtered. This album is all us, no filtering."
Which brings us to part B - iTunes' live showcase. It was a 31-night series of one-off performances in London, but McFly's night (on July 24) has a little twist. It was shown at 42 Vue cinemas across the nation as the gig happens, giving 10,000 fans the chance to watch it in high definition, surround sound, real time.
Assault
Getting back on the road is the final part of the assault.
Bolton-born Danny will be back near home turf on Saturday at the M.E.N. Arena.
With the war fought, who do they hope to find looking back at them from the front row?
"When we first started, it was 13 or 14 year olds, but now they're grown-ups: 17, 18, they're still with us. Hopefully we'll see those diehard fans.
"When people say they appreciate the music and us as a band and not for something else, if you know what I mean, that's what it's all about."
With all that done, CityLife reckons there's only one thing left that could cap 2008 - a video shoot on the moon.
"I like that idea," chuckles Danny. "You should always think big."
McFly play the M.E.N. Arena on Saturday, November 22. Tickets are £26 and £16.
Published: Wed, 22 October, 2008
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