How Mcfly have influenced my Art.

Mcfly have influenced me in so many ways:

• The way I perceive music-I used to think that music was just a tune to dance to but as I've grown up listening to different types of music that Mcfly have written and different artists. I've realised there are so many unique songs whihc hold representations and feelings. I've heard what Mcfly say about different videos and what's inspired them to write it. I think it just make music even more interesting than before.
• The type of music I listen to-As Mcfly have been around for so long (8 years) many of us has grown up listening to them. I think that this have changed and shaped my taste in music. I listen to loads of bands they listen to eg. Blink 182. When their music tastes changes, mine kinda evolves to see what they are listening to. Rather than listening to what's popular, I listen to bands that have the sounds as Mcfly or have performed with them and that's kind of  what's shaped the music I listen to now.
• My emotions-When I feel a negative emotion, there are songs written by Mcfly which have the exact feeling and it makes me more positive knowing that others have gone through it as well. Mcfly can change the way I'm feeling in an instant, it's just listening to them playing yet it makes such a difference.

I would also love to learn play guitar because Mcfly play so many acoustics and they sound amazing. It seems like an interesting instrument to play because so many artists use them yet everyone gets a unique tune out of it.

Change

I think that it has changed. I think that their music is always changing. Every song they write has a different tone to it. Every album they've produced has a different genre type. From surf pop rock to full on rock to dance pop and to rock pop. They are constantly changing because they grow up and their tastes/writing/composing always switches to different things. They change to their tastes and to the way society is changing.
If you click on the links:
5 colours in her hair This is their debut single
Party Girl This is one of their more recent songs

You can hear the complete difference from the beginning of their career to their most recent album, from surf pop happy type of tune to a more deeper dance techno kind of tune. Furthermore in the album being produced now is changing from what they just did:
New single: 'Red'
This single has more of a rock vibe to it. It's only been sung at tours so far, this song will be on their album and released as a single due to the success from the fans.

Albums

Mcfly have released 6 albums in their 8 year career so far:

• Room on the 3rd floor
• Wonderland
• Motion in the Ocean
• All the Greatest Hits
• Radio:Active
• Above the noise

Room on the 3rd floor was their debut album, released 5th July 2004, it was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. This album broke records, Mcfly was awarded for the youngest band to have a debut album enter the charts in the top position, by Guinness World Records. It was previously held by The Beatles.

Wonderland was released on 25th August 2005. Despite it being less of a success in the UK(however still reached No1), it went on to match the worldwide sales of their debut album, Room on the 3rd floor, selling over 1 million copies. Nemesis, a popular roller-coaster at Alton Towers, was briefly renamed Wonderland                                                                                                                                                                     for a month in 2005.

Motion in the Ocean was released in the UK on 6th December November 2006. The album was recorded in Ireland, it was certified gold.

All the Greatest Hits is a compilation album full of Mcfly's top of the charts songs. It also featured three new songs: The Heart Never Lies, Don't Wake Me Up, The Way You Make Me Feel. Mcfly revealed that it wasn't their idea to do a 'Greatest Hits' album and that they still weren't keen on the idea.

Radio:Active was released 20th July 2008, it was the band's first album under their new self created label:Super Records. It contains their song Lies which was the first song performed at the 2008 Olympic Torch Event.

Above the noise was released on the 15th November 2010. It included Shine a Light, the popular collaboration with Taio Cruz. The album was written with several producers including Taio Cruz and Dallas Austin who's worked with Madonna, Michael Jackson etc.

The next album is currently being worked on. Mcfly have played some new material on their recent tour Keep Calm and Play Louder. They'll also be releasing a single Red which is also to be on the album. It was originally not intended to be released as a single however after being tested and performing on tour and the great reaction Mcfly have decided that this seemed the most popular out of the new material they played.

No.1 singles.

I'm not exactly sure about what it means by famous work cause loads of their albums are popular. I think it means their top music songs that've topped the charts. Here are their No.1 singles:

• 5 colours in her hair 
• Obviously 
• All about you / You've got a friend
• I'll Be OK
• Please Please / Don't stop me now(cover)
• Stargirl
• Baby's coming back / Transylvania 

5 colours in her hair is their debut single, it was their first No.1, written by Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones and Busted member, James Bourne. It stayed at the top for two weeks.Overall it spent 12 weeks in the charts. It is one of Mcfly's most known songs.

Obviously is also another popular song Mcfly are known for. It was written by Tom Fletcher who was inspired by his childhood sweetheart/now wife, Giovanna Falcone. 

All about you/You've got a friend was the official 2005 Comic Relief single. You've got a friend was shot when Mcfly visited Uganda. It shows Mcfly teaching them to sing, perform to them and playing with them, the Mcfly vocals in the last chorus was removed and replaced the chorus sung by the children. All about you had many different celebrities starring in it some including Dermot O'Leary, Fearne Cotton, Davina McCall, Graham Norton etc. Tom Fletcher wrote it about his childhoodsweetheart/now wife Giovanna Falcone. All profits were donated to Comic relief.

I'll Be OK is not as known as the other songs however it is renowned for selling more copies than 5 Colours in her hair. It is from their second album Room on the 3rd floor. 

Please Please/ Don't stop me now were released together as one single. However Don't stop me now is the cover of Queen's song. Mcfly's version was the official 2006 comic relief song.

Stargirl was inspired by Tom Fletcher's dream about him falling in love with an alien lady. It was originally called 'Good Night' however the band felt like it didn't fit in with the lyrics. In 2009, the song was played in space to wake up the astronauts, after Tom started up a campaign on twitter asking NASA to play the song in space. Since the start of 2010, Stargirl is played every Friday morning on BBC radio 1 on The Chris Moyles Show in a feature called 'McflyDay'

Baby's coming back/Transylvania was one of the first singles in history to reach No1 on downloads alone. Baby's coming back is the cover of the 1991 Jellyfish song. Transylvania is based on the story of Anne Boleyn  who is played by Dougie Poynter. 

Mcfly's Big Break.

In 2003, Mcfly was formed however they weren't famous till fellow band Busted (who Tom and Danny helped write songs with) invited them to join their tour in March 2004. The same month which Mcfly released their first album Room on the 3rd floor.

They aren't afraid to try out different genres of music

Even though they started as a kind of surf rock pop sound they've changed and their music keeps changing as they go along. Each album sounds different from each other and they all have their own kind of sound. They like to try different types of music because as they grow up their tastes change as well, it doesn't mean that they don't like their original sound, they just want to experience playing different genres and sounds.

They're open to anything.

Mcfly are open to collaborating with different people. They're aren't scared that if they collaborate with someone that they will lose fans. They are open to it and want to show everyone that they will try and it doesn't matter if it goes wrong or anything but they want to see what it is like. People thought that Mcfly and Taio Cruz collaborating would not end well but instead they ended up securing their 15th top 5 hits.

They've worked their way up the music industry.

This reasons pretty simple. They've done it themselves. They haven't gone onto X factor or anything, they've actually done everything by themselves. Furthermore once they worked themselves up and made themselves known then they managed to stay there for 8 years. I think it's better this way rather than going on X factor because they actually know how much work they've put in and everyone else knows this as well.

From an artistic perspective.

This section  is going to be about what I like about Mcfly from an Artists' point of view. Some of the things I like about Mcfly are:

• They aren't afraid to try out different genres of music
• They worked their way up the music industry
• They've managed to stay in the music industry for so long and still be as popular
• They do a lot to help charity and are devoted to some.
• They are open to anything e.g collaborating with different people
• They play their own instruments
• They own a record company
• For their recent tour, Keep Calm And Play Louder, they've held a competition for unsigned amateur bands and the top ones(voted for by Mcfly Fans)supported them on their tour.

I'll explain a couple of them soon, but they probably will be quite short posts though. 

L-R. Danny, Harry, Dougie, Tom.

They play their own instruments.

Nowadays, you get solo artists, boy/girl groups and stuff like that. But I think a band is much better. You may think what's the difference between a band and a group? The difference is that a band plays their own instruments and sing whereas a group sings to music that's been recorded already or they have a live band behind them. So I think that being in a band requires more work for them.
I think that Mcfly being in a band is so much better and it makes them more special because they are the ones playing it and singing. No disrespect to groups like one direction, the wanted, etc because they do work hard for what they've done. I just prefer bands over groups since they sing and play so it's all about the band.
I think this links in with the reason I wrote about before about how Mcfly write about their experience cause we know that it's them whose doing/creating/playing these songs.

Writing from their own experiences.

Some people just write about general things. But in their songs they write about things that they have experienced and want to share. I think this is special because they write about their past which makes it more relateable than a person who wrote a song and hasn't experience it.

One of the most popular example of writing from their own experiences is 'Not Alone' by Danny Jones. He wrote about his past in  school when he got bullied for playing guitar and singing. 

When you hear about the experiences, it makes you feel closer to the band and it's better than writing about stuff that no-one can relate to because when you can relate to a song it makes it better as the lyrics become more meaningful.

Another example is 'All About You' and 'Obviously' by Tom Fletcher. It is from when Tom was a teenager and is about his childhood sweetheart Giovanna Falcone.

Their songs are literally from their feelings, you can feel the tone of the songs. Some are happy, some are sad, some are angry. 

Not Alone

All About You

Obviously

Why Mcfly's work is special.

I think that Mcfly work is special because it is a very distinctive sound, it is always changing,I can relate to their music, they're different from other bands, some of their work has helped charity,I know that they are writing from their own experiences which makes it better as it feels like they have nothing to hide from us by putting their heart and soul into it, their later albums are produced by them as they have their own record label so they could make more of the music decisions by themselves and they would have free rein over things.
I'm going to go over some of these reasons later in detail and might add some different ones later. I'll leave you with some videos of Mcfly official music videos so you can see all of these reasons you're self and see how their music has changed, but in a good way.


5 Colours In Her Hair
All About You
No Worries
Stargirl
Transylvania
The Heart Never Lies
Lies
Party Girl

How did they get into the area of music?

They all had different ways of getting into the area of music. In this post I am going to be writing about how they were inspired to get into music:

Younger Days.
Top L+R Danny and Harry.
Bottom L+R Dougie and Tom.

• Tom Fletcher-He was always a musical person and was interested in performing as he even went to Sylvia Young Theatre school, he played a major part in the play 'Oliver'. But his parents always encouraged him and supported him. His dad was also a major influence as he played in local bands. From the age of 14, Tom started song writing as well as playing and singing. His family was all quite musically gifted as his sister, Carrie, also got into the music industry. The music career started when he auditioned for Busted and helped James Bourne with writing.
• Danny Jones-He loved music and was always open and interested in different aspects of it. Music was the one thing that would always get him through, he was bullied in school for playing guitar however he took those emotions and turned it into an inspiring song and one of their hits 'Not Alone'. He also had an inspiration, someone who he looked up to through all those years-Bruce Springteen. His sister also went into the music industry. He even auditioned and appeared in a talent show on CBBC when he was a child with his sister, Vicky.
• Harry Judd-He had has a passion for drumming since he was little and even choose it over his other favourite thing Cricket.  Harry was known as the 'posh' member of Mcfly as he had a  education in two leading independent private schools and lived in a small village, so he had the choice of having a normal job but his drumming was always what he wanted. His music career started when he featured in Busted 'Crashed the wedding'.
• Dougie Poynter- He was also always into music as a child, he's played bass since he was 13 years old. His childhood friends also were, which did influence him, he was in a band called 'Ataiz' with all of them. While he was in Ataiz, he also wrote for them which opened up another pathway for him. He also had an idol, which he looks up too and inspires him in music, which is Tom DeLonge from Blink 182. Blink 182 was Dougie's favourite band and he loved them ever since he was a teenager and still loves them now. He's even has a shrine of posters of Blink 182. His big break in the music industry was when he joined Mcfly.

Tom Fletcher.

Tom as a child.

Name: Thomas Michael Fletcher

D.O.B: 17th July 1985

Place of birth: Harrow, England

Siblings: A younger sister, Carrie Fletcher

Instruments played: Vocals, guitar, piano, drums, bass guitar

Age joined Mcfly: 18 years old

Pets: 3 cats-Marvin, Aurora, Leia

Favourite Male singer: Tom Delonge

Random fact: He loves disney

Tom was always into music. When he was 10 years old, he played one of the main parts in the musical: 'Oliver' at London  Palladium. He attended Sylvia Young Theatre School, which focuses on performing arts for 10-16 year olds, on a scholarship. This school has taught many other famous people for example Amy Winehouse, Rita Ora, Denise Van Outen.
Click here to see the website of Sylvia Young Theatre School.

James Bourne and Tom Fletcher in their
younger days when they wrote together for
Busted.

At the young age of 14, Tom started song writing commercially. Then around 16/17, Tom auditioned to be in Busted, he got in however Island Records decided that Busted should only have 3 people in therefore he lost out to Charlie Simpson, Tom stated:

"I was in Busted for approximately 24 hours"

Even though the record label was against Tom being in Busted, they offered him a position in James Bourne (who was a member of Busted and an accomplished songwriter) writing team for the band. Fletcher accepted and has said that it was Bourne who helped him develop as a songwriter, teaching him ways to structure and create good songs.

Tom playing his guitar.

While writing Busted' second album, the record label asked Tom to film some auditions for a band called V. This was where Tom and Danny first met, Fletcher was impressed with Danny's style and asked him to join him and James Bourne writing team. After they finished writing the album, Danny and Tom continued writing together, they even stayed at the InterContinental Hotel for 2 months writing songs for their band. Then Dougie and Harry was recruited after an audition after they saw an advertisement in a magazine.

Tom, by himself, has achieved lots:

Tom with a few members of One Direction.

• As well as writing for Mcfly, Tom has written many other songs for other people such as the official song of the 2012 London Olympic's mascots Wenlock and Mandeville with his sister. He has also written with One Direction song 'I want' and is rumoured to be writing some tracks on the next album of theirs.
• He is writing a children's book with fellow bandmate Dougie Poynter.
• He has climbed the Ben Nevis with bandmate Harry Judd in order to raise money for underprivileged kids.  

Click here to hear One Direction's song 'I want'

Tom recently married his childhood sweetheart, Giovanna Falcone on the 12th May 2012.

Harry Judd.

When he was a kid.

Name: Harry Mark Christopher Judd

D.O.B: 23 December 1985

Place of birth: Essex, England

Siblings: One elder brother, Thomas Judd and an elder sister, Katherine Judd

Instruments played: Drums, piano, trumpet, guitar

Age joined Mcfly: 17 years old

Pets: 1 cat

Favourite bands:The Beatles, The Used, The Doors, The Starting Line, Green day, Blink 182

Random Fact: Went to school with former band member Busted, Charlie Simpson

Drumming.

When Harry was younger, he was very sporty and loved cricket. He was very talented however he decided to chose drumming over it as it was his biggest passion. Before joining Mcfly, Harry appeared in Busted's music video: 'Crashed the wedding' as the drummer.

Harry saw the Mcfly advert in a magazine and went to audition. He, coincidentally, turned up at the same audition as fellow bandmate Dougie Poynter. They both started talking after Dougie noticed Harry's t-shirt which had the logo and a picture of one of their favourite bands 'The Starting Line'. Despite forgetting his drumsticks, Harry went on to become a member of Mcfly.

Individually, Harry has achieved loads such as:

Harry at a charity cricket match.

• Winning a special Strictly Come Dancing Children in need episode against Rochelle Wiseman from The Saturdays.
• He ran the London Marathon under four hours raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust and The Brain Injury Rehabilitation.
• After participating in that special edition, Harry went on and won the 9th series of Strictly Come Dancing with professional dance partner Aliona Vilani.
• He has also travelled to India to play in charity cricket match for Sport Relief's All Out For India
• Harry has climbed the Ben Nevis with band mate Tom Fletcher to raise money for underprivileged children.
• He played lots of cricket matches for charities.

Click here to see the highlights of Harry in Strictly Come Dancing.

Harry and Aliona with the Strictly Come
Dancing trophy.

Danny Jones.

Name: Daniel Alan David Jones

Danny when he was younger.

DOB: 12th March 1986

Place of birth: Bolton, Greater Manchester, England

Siblings: An older sister, Vicky Jones

Instruments played: Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, ukulele, bass

Age joined Mcfly: 17 years old

Pets: 2 police dogs

Favourite singer&idol: Bruce Springsteen

Random Fact: He supports Bolton Wanderers football club

Playing guitar.

Danny was into music since he was little, in 2000, he appeared in a band with his sister called: 'Y2K' on a talent show called 'Steps to the Stars'. From then on he participated in loads of open mic competitions and wrote his own songs. He was bullied in school for playing guitar and singing, he used those experiences and put it into one of Mcfly's song 'Not Alone'.

DJing

Danny auditioned in 2002 to a new boy band 'V' which he mistaken to be a pop punk band but it was actually a all dancing and all singing boy band. This is where he met Tom Fletcher for the first time who was helping out the record company film the auditions. Tom like Danny's style and asked if he would write with him and James Bourne(from Busted) if he would write with them, he accepted. After that writing project for Busted finished, Tom and Danny carried on writing together for their own band. He had to move away from Bolton and moved in with Tom for a bit and they both moved in InterContinental Hotel -for two months- so they could concentrate on writing. From there on, they held auditions where they recruited Harry and Dougie.

Sometimes Danny would write with Tom and Dougie or by himself.. He has produced several tracks of Mcfly and countless demos with band mate Tom Fletcher.

This post is about Danny and as well as being in Mcfly and achieving loads all together. Jones has a few side projects of his own:

At socceraid.

• Producer-As well as producing some tracks for Mcfly he has also produced for other musicians and bands as well.
• DJ- Danny is keen on DJing and has remixed lots of songs. He is working with DJ Roger Sanchez and is under the name of 'The Saturn V'. He has been touring around England as a DJ and is set to release songs with DJ Sanchez. He has also been seen DJing at Mcfly concert after parties.
• Football-Jones has had played in a charity football game called 'Socceraid'. He played in England team which ended up beating the rest of the world. He said that he would like to be a professional footballer if he was not in Mcfly.     
• Danny Jones also appeared in a show called 'Popstar to Oprahstar' where he ended up 5th.

Picture I took of him when  I saw Mcfly live!

 

Dougie Poynter.

Name : Dougie Lee Poynter

Dougie around 5 years.

D.O.B : 30th November 1987

Place Of Birth : Essex, England.

Siblings : One sister(Jazzie Poynter).

Instruments played : Bass guitarist, vocals, guitar.

Age when joined Mcfly : 15 years old.
Pets: 2 dogs (Fraser & Maggie), 2 lizards (Zukie & Jerry), a frog (Ned). He also plans to rescue some Iguanas
Favourite Band: Blink 182
Idol: Tom Delonge
Random fact: He has 4 tattoos. A star on each ankle, the word 'Athletes' on his foot. A assortment of tattoos all following a space theme on his arm and bit of his chest.


Before joining in 2003, Dougie was in another band called: 'Ataiz'. They all were childhood friends and dreamed of being in a successful band. Dougie wrote one of Mcfly's songs in this band, 'Silence is a scary sound'. Their first gig was at the 'Crooked Billet' it was a cramped pub and they played to 40 people but it inspired them to keep going. They started writing loads of songs and played at more and more gigs. They were on the brink of fame till Dougie announced that he is leaving to join Mcfly.

Playing his bass

Dougie joined Mcfly at the young age of 15 years. He saw an advertisement in a magazine and went to audition. He bonded with Harry Judd, talking about their appreciation of the band:'The Starting Line' after seeing Harry's t shirt with the band's name and logo. He was then recruited for Mcfly. He quit school before sitting his GCSEs in order to fit with Mcfly's schedule.


He was going to move into a house in London with the band. However a week before he was to leave, his father left. There was a note left saying that he had enough. Dougie thought him as a 'coward' and has never seen him since. He thought as he was the only man in the house he had to get into a position where he could look after his mother and younger sister This made him even more eager to make this band a success and to be a better person. He was only a teenager back then, he didn't have a father figure but he had his bandmates to turn to:

"The guys in the band became my role models. Harry taught me to shave, Tom took me down and opened my first band account with me, showed me how to use a cashpoint card. They'll always be the ones who I'll turn to"

Dougie as
'King of the jungle'

 From then Dougie has worked and achieved lots with the band (TV appearences, films, band autobiography, songwriting with Tom and Danny) and also as an individual has achieved by himself:

• He owns two clothing lines: 'Zukie' which is named after one of his lizards. His most recent one is 'Saint Kidd' which is a pirate based company inspired by William Kidd.
• He won the 11th series of 'I'm a Celebrity, get me out of here!'
• He is also writing a children's book with fellow bandmate Tom Fletcher. 

Modelling his new clothing line
'Saint Kidd'

His clothing lines are very popular. His Saint Kidd first opened in Spring 2012 worldwide, it crashed due to popular demand and had to be taken down for a while.
The links for Saint Kidd and Zukie, I suggest you go and check them out, the clothes are amazing!


Click here for Saint Kidd website.
Click here for Zukie website.

That's all for Dougie, I think.

Bye for now!

Who are Mcfly?

Mcfly are a British Pop Rock band who were formed in 2003. That is them as a group however I think that first off you need to know who Mcfly are indiviually. There are 4 of them:

• Tom Fletcher (Top Right)
• Danny Jones (Bottom Right)
• Harry Judd (Bottom Left) 
• Dougie Poynter (Top Left)

I'll be writing all about them in this section. I might start with Dougie since he's the youngest and then go up, according to age, so Tom will be last. 

First Post!

This is my first post, I'll tell you all about this blog. 

L-R: Harry Judd, Dougie Poynter,
 Danny Jones , Tom Fletcher.

It's for my arts award at school. This blog is to write all about my music hero and stuff. It was hard to choose because I am interested in so many bands like You Me At Six, All Time Low, Forever The Sickest Kids, We The Kings, We Are The In Crowd. However I have chosen... Mcfly! I love them, they have influenced my music choices so much, I think lots of people know how 'obsessed' I am with them. I'm so excited since this will just be a whole blog on them! I've seen them live before (7/04/12) at the hammersmith apollo. It was recorded and they are going to released it soon so I might be able to post the link here. I chose a blog because I thought it would be fun to write about things that I find out on the way- adding links, pictures and videos. I think it's better than just doing a poster/powerpoint because people can leave comments and anyone can see it. I'll add different sections/pages on my research as I go. So for now I'll attach a picture of Mcfly in case you don't know who they are (It was hard trying to find just one but this is quite a recent one of them!).