Dougie Poynter first burst onto the scene back in 2004 as part of the band Mcfly  who in their career spanning over thirteen years have amassed 19 top 10 singles, 5 albums and will be heading off on their 14th tour in September! Dougie’s personal writing skills are just as impressive, credited for his songwriting on tracks by 5SOS and One Direction respectively, he has also cut his teeth as FAULT Magazine’s own guest reporter at London Collection Man. 

We caught up with Dougie to discuss next month’s tour, favourite band moments and where his creative steps will take him.

 

When the news broke that bandmate Harry Judd had suffered a neck injury forcing you to postpone your Mcfly Anthology tour, were you relieved for the extra rehearsal time?

It’s weird, it felt like someone had moved Christmas. I’m still very excited though and now Danny will actually have learned all the songs again. The only bit of production we were bringing on tour was an autocue for lyrics so it’ll be nice to just let loose without it!

 

You’re going from 6 members in McBusted back to 4 in Mcfly, will the stage feel more daunting with less members?

There will be more space, that’s for sure because with 6 of us we were constantly running into each other. When we would play arenas it was fine because the stage was massive but our guitars came away full of dents! I have some gnarly jumps up my sleeve now we have the extra space.

 

In a few words, what can fans expect to see on your tour?

It’s every album back to back. There will be songs that as a band we’ve only ever played one time during recording sessions but never played live. It will definitely be a one off for us.

 

Looking back to 2013 and to McFly’s first album, many people said you’d be a passing fancy but here you are in 2016 you’re about to embark on nationwide tour. How does it feel to prove so many naysayers wrong?

It doesn’t feel like good in a smug sense because for us it’s been a continuous thing. It really weirds us out when people are like “you were my first concert when I was in year 6” and now they’re all adults with jobs and kids! We’ve never really stopped working, even when we took 9 months off after McBusted to work on other projects, we were all still working.

We are just grateful that we have had the opportunity to stay making music because we always say to ourselves that “the band won’t be around forever” although we’re starting to think it will be! Our awesome fanbase keeps us going even though we haven’t released new music in so long. We’ve actually recorded 2 albums and just scrapped them because we can’t make up our minds at all!

 

Do you foresee there will be McFly tour when you’re old and grey?

If we survive that is! Everyone keeps hurting themselves, Harry has slipped a disc and Danny fractured his elbow so it’s pretty good we had more time to recoup and recover!

 

Can you pinpoint one favourite moment from your career?

We’ve done some really cool stuff and won awards and set world records but honestly, when we’re all together and reminiscing, our favourite moments are when we’re just pissing around and getting up to no good. It’s the little things…Although it is nice to win awards.

 

Future plans for the rest of the year?

Everyone has their own thing going on. As we’ve gotten older our solo careers keep us busy, Tom has his songwriting and Danny is a DJ and I’ve been out in the states doing my own thing. We’ll probably postpone the tour again after I hurt myself on this shoot!

What are you working on in the states?

I’ve been studying acting for the last 2 years. I just really enjoy studying and taking on new crafts. It’s a bit of everything and by the end of the tour I plan to relocate to LA and continue the acting.

Despite only ever putting your music out there, the press continuously write about your personal relationships, has that pressure every become too much for you?

I don’t like the personal stories about me. It always freaks me out, I know some celebrities can just brush it off and say any press is good press but there’s something about it that makes me feel very uneasy.

What is your FAULT?

I hate the feeling of powerlessness. I’ve been very involved with charities cleaning up the ocean and stopping plastics and micro plastics from being dumped but it Is bewildering to see just how much needs to be done and how little I can do alone.

 

Words: Miles Holder