Date: 1st March 2007
Place: ABC, Glasgow
Are you videoing now? ... Am I on TV? WOW! With my like, real trev hat on. Right, so, where were we?
Well, we haven't really started yet...
[all laugh]
Sorry.
It's the last night of your tour, so are you going to miss being on the road?
Yes and no. I mean, it's been amazing but it's too much hard work - I mean, it's not too much hard work, I'd love to be on tour for a lot longer - but I just have to get used to the fact that; "if you go out and get pissed one night Matt, you're going to sound like shit the next day and you really will. Sometimes you'll think you might be okay, but you actually really will". So you know, the first couple of nights I'd be really well behaved, and then I'd get a little bit pissed and sound rubbish the next night so I've been quite well behaved, but tonight is the last night so I'm going to enjoy myself very much.
Well, good for you.
And then get up to get a train at five o'clock, even though I've got a flight booked for ten, but I don't like my girl going up on the train on her own.
Will you be glad to get home?
Well, I've got a load of meetings next week, so it's basically quite a boring time for me - I've got meeting after meeting after meeting. I've got a manager meeting first and then a record company meeting. I've just sacked my management, so I'm looking for new management. I've kind of let every manager that I want come see me. I've got a choice of about 8 or 9, well, I've got 16 but there are those that are just kinda... I'm not really that fussed on, but there are about 8 or 9 that I think are wicked. So I'm going to be meeting them next week and getting the ball rolling, so to speak.
What differences have you noticed between the audience of Busted and yourself as a solo artist?
There's a lot more boys at my gigs. I mean it was kinda boys at Busted gigs but they were really young. These quite cool blokes seem to come in to have a bit of a laugh, they like the band, they like a bit of a chat, you know. It's quite fun you know, it's been very different to be honest. It's been a lot more free, to be able to say what I want, talk about what I want, you know. It's been quite fun, but tonight's gonna be wicked - last night of the tour's gonna be my best night I think.
Let's hope so!
Yeah, and what a fucking good venue as well, have you ever been to this venue before? It's amazing, I mean the venues we've been playing, a few of them have been bigger, but this is by far the best. It just looks so cool to look at from the stage, it just looks absolutely amazing, it looks like a really cool venue. And the dressing room's nice, good rider as well, it's been good fun.
You've expressed disappointment in how your album's done...
Yeah, I'm a bit of a dickhead like that, you know...
Well no, you have every right to be disappointed.
I know, but you shouldn't really say that, apparently that's a bad thing to say. Apparently you should never look like you're disappointed, you should always look like you're on the up, and I think I am on the up. I just want it to get out there and be heard, you know, I'm in a place right now where I just can't wait to do another one. I think this album is amazing, I think this first Matt Willis record is really really good, but if we re-release it then we re-release it. If we don't I'll be so stoked to be able to go to studio and write loads more songs. I already have some ideas for maybe a slight change and stuff like that. Things I'm listening to right now are inspiring me to write records, which is not what I was listening to three years ago when I started writing this first record. But you know, I'm not going to change too much, I'm still going to be a big pop record, but it's just going to be a bit more ... 'me'. Me right now, you know.
You've said in a previous Musicadian interview that you wanted to make an album of "Jump"s (Van Halen), how well do you think you've kept up to this?
Well... that didn't really end up happening. That wasn't quite what we ended up doing, but I love that song. I really wanted that song to be how I make the album. Now, I want to make a completely different album to that. That was what I wanted to do, that was where I was writing songs from - that big anthemic massive sounding, stadium kind of record. Now I'm like "let's try this thing and that thing", and some things are really working so we'll see. I'm only 23, I'm not going to retire.
I remember when you were 19.
Oh really, how old are you?
I'm 18.
You're 18 now? Wow.
What are your favourite tracks on the album?
I'd say "Who You Gonna Run To", "From Myself Baby"... I like "Me And Your Mother" as well, it's something I wrote on my own and I'm quite passionate about it.
You've covered The Primitive's hit "Crash", why did you choose that song?
Because of "Mr Bean" the movie. They came to me and asked me if I wanted to sing the title track for their movie. They wanted a girlband to sing it, but I had quite a good relationship with a guy who owns the company that gets the music in - as Busted we did "Thunderbirds" with him. I remember when I was writing that track, I was always on the phone with him, asking if they liked it, so we have a really good relationship with him, and he asked if I want to have a go. And apparently it was going to sit very well over the girlband going for it, so I did it and they seemed to like it.
What other songs would you love to cover?
I don't know. I don't think I'd cover anything - maybe Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby", just because it would be funny.
I remember once you said you wanted to cover "Turning Japanese".
I did want to cover "Turning Japanese", that was back in Busted. I really did want to cover that. I wanted to do it instead of "Teenage Kicks", because I thought that would be a good idea as we were just getting big in Japan, and if we did that at a big awards ceremony in Britain, I thought the Japanese would be like [pulls a silly overexcited face]. I thought it would be a really, really good idea to please the Japanese fans, but everyone went against me, and we ended up doing a song that we got dissed for. I was right! I'm always right!
Prepare yourself, this is a very very random question.
Okay...
Right, consider the scene: a snake and an aardvark are having a 3-lap race around a golf course. The winner will not only live in glory for the rest of his life, but will also be granted eternal life and happiness. The loser will be banished from the realm of the living. Considering all this, how do you like to eat creme eggs?
How do I like to eat creme eggs? What a random and weird question! Do you know what, I don't like creme eggs, because funny story, a creme egg actually ruined my gig the other day. We did a gig where... it was the last night I wore shoes on stage. I was wearing these shoes with a slight heel - not like a stiletto - and this girl threw this creme egg on stage and I didn't see it, and I had trodden it all in, so about three songs in suddenly I slipped up, and it was on all the stage. We tried to wash it off but it made it like an ice rink, so I couldn't jump up and down or do anything. I was so annoyed.
Apart from the next single, what have you got planned for the next year or so?
God, that's a tough question right now. I don't know, I'm going to be honest, I don't know what's going to happen in the next year.
Would you like to do more TV presenting?
I didn't like TV presenting, I don't want to do it. It's not something I chose to do, it's something I got asked to do, I did a favour to the people from I'm A Celebrity. But you know, I'm not a TV presenter, I'm a musician, it's not what I want to do in life. It was fun, kind of stressful, didn't like it that much. But you know, for next year, I don't really look too far ahead. I only really look to the next two months, what's going to make me happy for the next two months, and that's sorting my management situation out, and writing more songs, that's what I'm focused on right now.