So it's a little sort of vocal space in the control room, because we all hate vocal booths. I got this shelf from IKEA with squares in it, and I've cut loads of foam up and put a microphone in front of that. I've got KRK monitors and some little Genelec ones, because I don't want them too big, 'cause it's only a flat. I started it off in my bedroom and I've built it up and now it's the band's studio. We do all our vocals there and some guitars. "It's got a guitar room, a drum room and the lounge is the control room. Danny Jones, the most gear-literate of the foursome, was instrumental in its setup.īoth live rooms at Studio 301 were used, the smaller Studio 2 for a more intimate sound (below), and the larger Studio 1 for a more expansive feel (above - note the kick drum 'tunnel' created using chairs and packing foam). Though used mainly for overdubs, B-sides and mix preparation, it's an impressively tech-savvy proposition based around a Pro Tools HD/Apple G5 rig with Apogee AD16 and Rosetta 800 converters and a Control 24 fader surface. You go and see them live and it's like, 'Wow, they're amazing.'"Īny great battle needs a sturdy HQ, and for that, McFly have their own studio, based in a flat near Watford close to where all four band members live. I don't think people realise they write the songs and actually play them. I was like, 'You're one of the best bands in the country'. "When I first met the boys," he recalls, "because they come from the pop world, they always seemed a bit insecure and almost apologetic about themselves. "'Cause we're the ones that get to hear 10,000 people sing the songs back to us." Watford Gapįully supportive of McFly in their fight for critical acceptance is their producer since 2006, Jason Perry, former singer in Suffolk rockers A. "It's kind of like, 'If you don't like us, we don't care,'" explains the band's chief writer and other singer/guitarist Tom Fletcher. Tellingly, however, certain frustrations linger, with the lyric of the album's lead single 'One For The Radio' ('Don't pretend you hate us when you sing along') being a one-fingered salute to their detractors. In effect self-financing the making and release of Radio:ACTIVE, McFly have undeniably been bold in making the decision to step out on their own. We literally just made music we wanted to make and produced it how we wanted to produce it." We just said, 'Yeah, let's try it on our own.' This album's not had any opinions forced on it apart from ours. We left on good terms and they understood why we were doing it. "We felt like we were more in touch with the fans than this guy just sat in the office. "There was just a creative difference thing," explains singer/guitarist Danny Jones. Partly, the circumstances behind this shift lie in their decision to quit their label Island Records last year - apparently an amicable decision for both parties - after the band felt they were more in tune with the expectations of their audience than their paymasters. Frequently a heavier, darker affair than their previous outings, it bears more relation to the full-tilt singalong punk of Green Day than the pop-flavoured teen rock of Busted. Their desire to be taken seriously as writers and musicians has taken a long, slow grind to achieve, but the process looks set to be completed with the release of their fourth album, Radio:ACTIVE. Producer Jason Perry (right) at the Neve 88R desk in Sydney's Studio 301 with singer/guitarist/pianist Tom Fletcher.In spite of the fact that they've always written their own songs and played their instruments, McFly have, until now, felt lumbered with their 'boy band' tag. No ordinary 'boy band', McFly have taken complete artistic control over their output, from recording to retail.
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