| Beyond the pop machine: McFly |
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| "It's not so much being called a boyband that's a problem ... it's the stereotype that goes with" |
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CMU ALBUMS OF 2005: 'Wonderland'
released 28 Aug on Universal / Island
Despite what some people might tell you, music doesn't have to be bad to be popular. Some popular music is bad, granted, but then lots of unpopular music isn't great either, and some of the greatest music ever made was aimed at and embraced by the mainstream. For genuine music fans frustrated with the chart dominance of the pop machine built by the big commercial players in the nineties, I can see why it is tempting to write off anything that is created and marketed using their approach. But to automatically do so would be a mistake, and no more so than with McFly. I ranted at length about this when I reviewed the band's Wembley gig back in October, but I say it again: Prestige Management and Island Records shouldn't be criticised for using the pop machine to create the McFly phenomenon, they should be congratulated for providing the teen pop market, so often dominated by formulaic nonsense, with some damn fine guitar filled pop music. Through McFly, the next generation of music fans are buying a musical product that relies not on fashion, fixtures and dance moves, but on good songwriting and good guitar playing. What's more, because of the band's genuine passion for rock 'n' roll heritage, their teenage fans are discovering some of the greatest rock and pop bands of all time. For me this is one of the most exciting developments in the music industry in the last eighteen months. But it is not the reason why we are listing McFly's second album as one of our favourites of 2005. We're doing that because it really is one of our favourite long players of the year. 'Wonderland' is a great pop album, taking in a refreshingly eclectic range of pop styles and influences, and demonstrating that McFly are maturing nicely as both performers and songwriters. If anything the latter more so - because it is the songs that make 'Wonderland' something special. Yes, the recordings are produced with a pop audience in mind, but the songs aren't written that way and, given an edgier finish, several could easily fit within the sets of any of the indie establishment. Which is why it would be a mistake to ignore these guys. Seemingly in it for the long haul, McFly are some of the great British pop creators of the moment. So if you haven't been enjoying 'Wonderland' this year, I suspect you might be rediscovering it sometime in the future. And hurrah to that. |
The genius of the marketing behind McFly is that here you have what is essentially a good old fashioned rock pop band reaching a mass teenage audience by using the same packaging as the manufactured pop machine. The downside to all this, though, is that the band's members have to do the rounds of all those kids TV programmes and daytime chat shows, and you can't help getting the impression the novelty's warn off. "This is the hardest part of the job" the band's Tom Fletcher admits, "but you've got to do it".
The other problem, of course, is that the pop machine is known for being good at style, less so at substance, which means some people will be put off your band as soon as they see that teen orientated packaging. "You can't blame people for seeing a pop band and assuming things," fellow McFly boy Danny Jones says when I bring up the 'b word', "but it is a bit irritating when people write you off as just another boyband".
"It's not so much being called a boyband that's a problem," Tom adds "it's the stereotype that goes with. People assume we don't write our songs. We write all our songs. They assume we don't play our instruments, but that's just not true".
"That's the problem," Danny agrees, "if by 'boyband' you just mean a bunch of young guys in a band, then yes, we're a boyband. But then so are Razorlight, or Arctic Monkeys, or any of those young bands".
"Yeah, we're no less talented than any of them," Tom adds. "It's just that there's so much shit in pop music that everyone frowns on it without thinking. But that's one of our aims. I'd never say McFly was a rock band or a punk band. We're a pop band, but we want to redefine what pop music is".
Which is why we love McFly - it's the redefining pop music thing. Or, rather, reminding everyone that teenage orientated pop has given us some of greatest music, and bands, in history. "Look at the Beatles," Tom continues, "their fans were mainly teenage girls at the start. And The Who. We worked with Roger Daltrey recently and he was telling us how everyone called them a boyband at the beginning. People just changed their minds over time".
Of course the McFly boys are far too modest to suggest they are the modern day Beatles or The Who, so I'll do it for them. I've no idea what the future holds, of course, but the quality of the songwriting on second album 'Wonderland' and the sheer rock 'n' roll energy of their recent live shows suggest, if nothing else, that these guys have the potential to become one of the big pop bands of history. I suspect behind the modesty they know that too, though they're still trying to come to terms with the huge success they've had, in the UK especially, in the last twelve months.
"It began for me when my mum signed me up to audition for a boy band", Bolton born Danny says, stepping back a bit in the McFly story. "I was completely not what they wanted. I showed up with my guitar and played them a Richard Ashcroft song. They just said 'can you do anything else?' I think they wanted me to dance or something, and I was like, 'well, I could play an Ian Brown track'. But that's where I met Tom".
As any pop fan surely knows, Tom was the founding member of McFly, signed up by Prestige Management after unsuccessfully auditioning to be the third member of Busted. He formed an early songwriting partnership with Busted boy James Bourne, but came into his own as a songwriter once working on the debut McFly album 'Room On The Third Floor' with Danny. Bassist Dougie Poynter and drummer Harry Judd were recruited via a classified ad in the NME, and so the band was born. Utilising what Prestige and Universal label Island had learned through the marketing of the then chart topping Busted, the McFly machine kicked in, mainly by tapping heavily into Busted's existing fan base through b-side collaborations and arena tour support slots. At that point no one, except perhaps one Charlie Simpson, expected Busted to come to an end so quickly. But it was a happy coincidence for both Prestige and Island that when Busted did split at the start of the year they had a ready made alternative for teen fans to switch to - and one with a second album already sitting in the release schedule. But McFly very quickly threw off the 'Busted 2' moniker, mainly because their music, especially on 'Wonderland', was actually very different than that of their predecessors. Some of the same adolescent lyrics were there, but musically things were much more sophisticated.
Which brings us to the music, something you don't read much about in the average McFly interview - another down side of that pop machine thing. "I never write a song thinking 'this has got to be hit', I write from the heart", Danny says - somehow getting away with the cliché through a combination of genuine passion and a down to earth Northern accent. "Sometimes we write together, other times we work on our own, and then see what the other guys think. We haven't got a specific process, we just do what we enjoy doing."
"I love writing songs," Tom adds, "I'm always writing new ones. We've done probably 15, may be 20 songs since we recorded 'Wonderland'. I can't wait to get into the studio to record some of them".
McFly's songwriting abilities developed considerably between the first and second albums (and it should be added that the other two, Dougie in particular, contributed too on the second long player). But what makes 'Wonderland' so special as a pop album is the variety of music styles employed across its eleven tracks. "It's healthy to experiment, and it's nice to do something people don't expect," Tom explains, "Take 'She Falls Asleep' on 'Wonderland' - I really like theatrical music, and I wanted to do something like that. So we did. It's cool that we can do interesting things on our album, but that the fans still really seem to like it".
The quality of Tom and Danny's songwriting has certainly matured over the band's two year history. Has the songwriting process changed? "I don't think so. I suppose we know more now. It is great to work with [producers] Hugh Padgham and Jay Reynolds, they really know what they're doing. I like to watch Jay working on Pro-Tools, I'm really in to all that stuff".
I'd heard that Danny was a budding music producer as well as songwriter and boy band idol, is that a possible career route? "I don't know," he says, "I'd like to. One band asked me the other week if I'd produce their album. But I think they just wanted to be able to write 'produced by Danny from McFly' on their record! But if someone wanted me to do it because they thought I'd be good at it, and if I had the time, yeah, that would be good".
Tom, surely, as one of the UK's best modern pop writers would like to write for other artists? "I used to really want to write for other people," he says, "but now, at the moment, I just want to concentrate on McFly, and on doing everything we want to do as a band".
Which is probably just as well, because that's the other problem with being part of the pop machine - never getting a day off. America is next for McFly, with the release of the Lindsay Lohan film 'Just My Luck' in which the band appear. The plan, as far as I can see it, is to capitalise on the hype surrounding the film to launch McFly to a US audience. Americans have shown little interest in British pop in recent years, of course, but then again the USA has got its own manufactured pop machine generating its own style over substance teen bands, why would they need ours? But McFly aren't one of those bands, and given how popular the music that inspires them was in decades gone by, it wouldn't surprise me if they achieve a lot more than most other Brit-bands once they are out there.
Either way, all of McFly seem to be in it for the long haul, willing to persevere with the down sides of the pop machine they are marketed through, because they know it enables them and their music to reach a mass audience. Let's just hope that they can continue the success of 2005, because I remain convinced that if McFly can stick around long enough those that currently can't see past the pop machine will eventually realise just how good a pop album 'Wonderland' really is.
Danny from McFly's New Year's resolutions:
"To be more tidy. And to stop buying shit. I keep wasting money on all this useless stuff".
Tom from McFly's New Year's resolutions:
"To see more of my family and girlfriend. It's not going to happen though - we'll be way too busy".
Some McFly plugging:
McFly's 'Wonderland' was released on 28 Aug 2005 on Universal Island.
chris@unlimitedmedia.co.uk - published dec 2005
