Express & Star

Busted to play Birmingham tomorrow

Drink, drugs, bitterness and rehab have been the tale of Busted's lives since their split in 2005.

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The pop punk chart smashers endured the worst of times before their split and reformation, with Charlie Simpson likening his time in Busted to torture. At one point, he vowed never to return under any circumstances before U-turning and finding himself playing to 12,500 fans at Wembley Arena.

The band are back on the road on their Night Driver tour and will play Birmingham's O2 Academy tomorrow. It follows the release last year of their third album, Night Driver, their first since the 2003 smash A Present For Everyone. The band ditched their buoyant guitars and dodgy lyrics about getting off with teachers and upgraded their music to a poppy form of R&B.

Matt Willis was pleased people didn't have high expectations when they returned: "It's such a funny thing that I think people still don't really get why we are here again, because they know the story of why it ended. It seems crazy it might happen again."

The tale of Simpson's return, however, is the key to understanding Busted V2.0.

And, despite rumours to the contrary, he insists it wasn't just about the money. Simpson says: "There are plenty of things over the years that I could have done for the money.

"Well for a start…what Matt and James did with the McFly guys. If there was ever a time for a massive amount of money to be made then that would be it. It wasn't on my radar.

"It's weird because our perspectives were so drastically different. It affected us in different ways. It's such a wide thing because we had such different things going on in our heads; different issues to deal with. And to be young in that situation – you are very naive, so you sort of take it more at face value. Now I know so much more about the industry, I know so much more about how things work.

"What happened to us was 10 years ago, and I do want to move it past that.

"Had we stayed in the band, we would have driven our friendship into the ground. We probably wouldn't have talked to each other again. It's the only way this could have happened now, and I do quite want to move it on.

"Being excited about making music with those guys – that's what's led me here. It's made me think, 'this could be fun again'. I can put my hands on my heart and say that I wouldn't be rejoining Busted if I wasn't excited about the music,"

The band have played big gigs since their return, and enjoyed a series of shows at racecourses. Matt says: "We played a few racecourses last year (including here in Wolverhampton in September). Busted means so much to all of us. We have got our latest album and this is going to be special."

Matt also admits he didn't think they'd get back together after their earlier split.

"I put it to bed," he says. "I just never saw that in our future. It didn't end that great. I thought it was never going to happen.

At the moment we are loving it and we are looking forward to the future."

By Andy Richardson

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