They helped define the pop-rock landscape of the early-2000s with hits like Year 3000, What I Go To School For and Crashed The Wedding – and Busted are keen not to follow the crowd with their new material.
The group – starring James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson – are currently working on tracks for their fifth studio LP, and as an independent act they’re enjoying getting creative in the studio.
Speaking with the Daily Star’s Wired column, Matt shared: “We’re really not rushing it, we don’t have a record company, we don’t have anyone breathing down our neck. We’re in a really lucky position.
“It’s difficult because we’re like, ‘Who the fuck are Busted in 2025? What are we? What do we wanna do?’
“Because we don’t wanna do the same as what we’ve done before, but we don’t wanna try and fit in with what’s fucking trending.”
For their new LP – which serves as the follow-up to 2023’s chart-topping ‘Greatest Hits 2.0’ – they’ve teamed up with former Bring Me The Horizon star Jordan Fish.
“Jordan is so switched on to melody. I love that guy. I’ve always been a big fan of him,” he adds. “I like Bring Me, but Jordan as a writer, he’s an extraordinary talent. And having him in the mix in a Busted room was what I really wanted.
“What I think people think Jordan Fish is and what he actually is a two different things. Because I think people think of him as Bring Me The Horizon and were like, ‘Oh my God it’s going to be metal.
“But it couldn’t it be further from that? He’s the most pop-sensitive guy I’ve ever met. And as a lyricist, he is on my case. He’s like, ‘Make that better, do that!'”
Speaking with RETROPOP in an exclusive cover feature celebrating their latest, career-spanning retrospective, Matt previously opened up on the group’s approach to new music, explaining: “Normally it takes that for us to press the button and the reason that this works is that we can re-record the songs with new people and it’s exciting. But moving forward, it will all be about new songs and that’s in the pipeline.
“The best thing about Busted now is that everything is us. Not that it wasn’t in the beginning, but we had a lot of other voices. Now, we listen to people because they know what they’re doing and they’re good at their jobs, but the buck stops with us.”
