New Dougie Interview with Digital Spy
Those McFly boys are awfully hardworking aren't they? After releasing three albums in as many years, scoring more top ten hits than the Spice Girls in the process, they're currently touring the nation's enormodromes in support of their Greatest Hits collection. We called Dougie Poynter, the band's bassist/most fanciable member, to discuss the tour, the band's future and - eek! - what it's like setting fire to your pubic hair. The trick, apparently, is to "always keep moving".
How's the tour going? Are you getting tired yet?
"Great thanks. We change the songs around quite a bit, so it never really gets tiring. It can get a little tiring rehearsing all the time, but playing the songs live in front of fans is never, ever boring."
We recently saw you getting naked at G-A-Y...
"Again!"
What it is about that place that compels you to take your clothes off?
"I think it's the dirty, gritty, homosexual vibe of it. It just makes us think 'We've got to get our clothes off'. So we do."
Have you ever remained fully-clothed all through a gig there?
"One time I did stay fully-clothed, but I was dressed as a woman, so I still made the effort, you know. Maybe it's time for someone else to have a go at getting naked there?"
Girls Aloud, perhaps?
"Who knows, maybe they'll feel the vibe?"
You're currently promoting your Greatest Hits album. What made you decide to release it at this moment in time?
"It wasn't really our decision. It's in our record contract that they can release a greatest hits whenever they want, so we figured that if we're going to do it, we might as well get 100% behind it."
If it had been up to you, would you have chosen to release it now?
"No, not really. I'm not angry about it, but I'd rather have released one more album and then done a greatest hits album. It would have made for a better mix of songs. After just three albums, it does feel very soon and you do get a lot of people thinking that we're going to split up now. It is a little frustrating."
Is it hard to get as excited about a greatest hits album?
"It's not as exciting as when you've got a new album out, no, because there's not much to it. When you've got a new album coming out, you get really excited about the artwork and stuff like that. With the hits album, we were like 'Oh, just do whatever'. There's just no creative process involved in it."
Is there going to be a second single from Greatest Hits?
"There was going to be, but there isn't now."
How's work going on your fourth studio album?
"We've already started thinking about it. We've started writing and we're going out to Australia to record it in January. We've all started writing individually, but we haven't pooled all our ideas together yet."
How's it shaping up?
"I think it's just going to be natural. We are getting older, so it's natural that we will progress, but at the same time we don't want to mature too quickly. Otherwise, what would happen when we get to our seventh album?"
Why have you decided to record the album in Australia?
"Well, it doesn't really cost that much more because recording in London is so expensive. Plus, there won't be any distractions. It will just create a really nice vibe - everyone's really looking forward to going out there."
Do you get a break from each other between albums?
"Yeah, it's really important that we get our own space, because we're up each others' a**ses all the time."
Would you ever take a break from the band to make a solo album?
"I don't think any of us would. Danny's the only one who's really got the potential to do it, but we do all kind of need each other. We're a unit."
Are you enjoying the popstar lifestyle as much as when you first started?
"It's much better now. I met these dudes when I was 15, and I'm 20 soon, so I've pretty much grown up with them. You know, Harry taught me how to shave and how to drive. They're like my brothers."
Have you changed much after three-and-a-half years of pop stardom?
"I've changed quite a bit - not in a bad way - but I would have been a completely different person if I wasn't doing this. I'm really arrogant and I go around saying 'Do you know how I am?' No, only joking! Well, I guess I wouldn't have lit my pubes onstage if I hadn't been in the band."
Were you nervous before you did it?
"Nah, I've done it before, but in a hotel. Luckily I've got a very big, thick bush that's very easy to light. As long as I always keep moving, it doesn't burn. And fire goes up, you know!"
|
