Busted sat down for an interview with Louder before their performance at the Avalanche Stage last month. The band members talked about how the rock community ‘shunned’ them in their early years during the chat. Charlie Simpson mentioned their role in the genre as a response:
“Busted became a huge gateway into rock bands. You look at bands like Neck Deep, they were hugely influenced by Busted at a young age… Now there’s people listening to Sleep Token, or whatever, that may have started when they were much younger listening to Busted. Busted bringing guitars into the mainstream… did put a lot of kids onto guitars which I’m immensely proud.”
James Bourne added:
“I think we were always a pop band, but with a rock spirit.”
Their Label Didn’t Allow More Rock Elements In Their Music
Simpson previously noted that Busted was forced to use sounds they weren’t satisfied with in their first albums, ‘Busted’ and ‘A Present for Everyone.’ He recalled in a 2019 chat with BBC:
“I would go to the label and say, ‘You’ve got to turn the drums up, you can’t hear them and it doesn’t sound like a rock record, it sounds like a pop record.’ They would be like, ‘Oh, that won’t work on radio.’ I was like, ‘We’re one of the biggest bands in the country, who the hell are you to tell us that this won’t work?’”
The band broke up in 2005 following two albums but reunited in 2015. Bourne remarked:
“The albums we’ve made since we’ve come back are rectifying all of that. Our last two albums, I know I will listen to them in 10 years’ time and they will stand up.”
Busted Has A ‘Very Important’ New Album On The Way
Now, Busted is working on a new ‘experimental’ album with Bring Me The Horizon’s Jordan Fish. They revealed the news last month to Rolling Stone UK. Simpson told the outlet that they already have some ‘great songs:’
“We want to try and get a whole bunch of songs that we can choose from because I think this next album is very important for Busted. We had such a great year last year and I feel like there’s a lot of love out there for Busted. We want to make a record that pleases the fans and takes Busted on into the future.”
Matt Willis noted:
“We’re in a position where we give less fucks and we just want to do what makes us really fucking stoked.”
The band’s last album, ‘Greatest Hits 2.0,’ came out in September 2023. It was a compilation of re-recorded songs from ‘Busted’ and ‘A Present for Everyone.’