August 16, 2023

McFly

With seven UK number-one singles, six top-ten albums, seven arena tours and ten million records sold worldwide, McFly are without question one of the most significant British pop acts of the twenty-first century. Since hitting the big time as the youngest band ever to have a debut album go straight to number one — Tom, Danny, Dougie and Harry have become one of our best-loved bands, not to mention major stars in their own right.

Outside of McFly Tom has become a bestselling children’s author; Danny a TV mainstay with his regular appearances as a coach on The Voice Kids; Dougie formed alternative-rock band INK and is a passionate environmental campaigner; and Strictly winner Harry  is often seen presenting on The One Show sofa, as well as starring in the hit dance show Rip it Up. 

Joined by The Hoosiers as their Special Guests.

The multi-platinum success of The Hoosiers 2007 debut album, “The Trick to Life”, and singles such as “Worried About Ray” and “Goodbye Mr. A”, raised huge expectations for its follow-up, not least at The Hoosiers’ record label. The prophetically titled “The Illusion of Safety” was, all the band agree, a troubled project from the start.

Irwin suggests, “The word ‘hit’ is substituted for ‘good’. There’s an art to writing under those conditions, but it wasn’t one that worked for us. It exacts a toll on too many writers. You give up too much if you do that.”

Such a negative experience of the creative process – the odd laugh aside – would have done for many bands, and there was indeed a period where The Hoosiers went their separate ways. “I remember getting to this point,” says Al, “where I said, ‘I need some space from this’. I think we all knew it. We needed to forget about it for a while.”

“The News From Nowhere”, released in 2014, was an astonishing return to form. “Doing it on our own terms,” says Irwin, “and actually having a proper say in it, felt wonderful. We had nothing to lose, but a lot to prove.”