Busted have revealed that they have been working on new music with former Bring Me the Horizon musician Jordan Fish.
Speaking to Rolling Stone UK prior to their set on Friday (June 14), the ‘Year 3000’ singers shared that they have been working on “experimental” new music alongside Fish, with what is set to be the follow up to 2023’s ‘Greatest Hits 2.0’.
“We’re currently in the process of writing a new album and we’ve been out in LA with Jordan Fish,” said Busted’s Charlie Simpson.
He continued: “We’re doing some writing with him and we’ve got some great songs already. We want to try and get a whole bunch of songs that we can choose from because I think this next album is very important for Busted. We had such a great year last year and I feel like there’s a lot of love out there for Busted. We want to make a record that pleases the fans and takes Busted on into the future.”
Bassist Matt Willis added: “We’re experimenting, we trying to not be tied down to anything too hard right now. We’re in a position where we give less fucks and we just want to do what makes us really fucking stoked.”
He continued: “Jordan’s the best thing to happen to Busted in a long time. He’s the most creative person and he’s different to us because he loves all the same shit as us, but he brings all the stuff we’ve never had. It’s this added little element of genius that is really unique. I think people would be surprised to hear what we’re doing with him. It’s not necessarily what you might think. We’re experimenting. It’s fun.”
Fish departed Bring Me The Horizon last December. He had been part of the Sheffield rock band since 2012 and had been instrumental in shaping the band’s songwriting approach and modern sound by adding more electronic elements – particularly on 2013’s landmark record ‘Sempiternal’. He was also part of the band for 2015’s ‘That’s The Spirit‘, 2019’s ‘amo’ and 2020’s ‘Post Human: Survival Horror’.
Speaking about Fish’s departure from BMTH, the band’s frontman, Oli Sykes, told NME that the former band member’s exit from the band came as they had “got to the point where we weren’t happy as a unit anymore”.
Since his exit from the band, Fish has worked with the likes of Poppy on her latest Madonna-meets-metal single ‘New Way Out’, House Of Protection and Architects.
Speaking to NME about the musicians he works with, Fish said: “I’m usually attracted to artists who don’t want to go down the same road as something that’s been before. I’ve worked in rock music for quite a while, and there are a lot of bands that do sound similar. I’m usually looking for someone that wants to bring in a broader influence and blend that in.
“I can’t help but do that. I tend to go for stuff that’s quite colourful. I’m not that into drab music. I want to be like candy. That’s more my style and instinct.”
Fish, who has completed four records this year already (that he can’t talk about as they’ve not yet been announced, aside from his single with Architects) told NME about the freedom he’s currently enjoying through the roster of artists he collaborates with. “I’ve done a pop record, but it’s not straight pop,” he revealed. “I’ll go for anything as long as there’s enough for me to be excited about. I’m not bothered about genre, as long as it’s good. If I vibe with the people, if they’re cool to work with, that has a massive impact on how shit comes out.
Elsewhere, Busted spoke to Rock Sound ahead of their debut Download set and opened up about the fan reactions to them performing at the festival. “It’s one of those things where it came through and we have a five-minute conversation because we were like ‘Is this right? Is this the real deal? But then it was like absolutely,” explained Willis.
He continued: “And then it was announced and it was straight to the comments. I was like ‘I want to read all this shit’ and it was all really cool and I was like ‘This is all really rad.’ I feel like it’s a real positive feeling.”
Simpson added: “In a world where social media comments are generally in the bin, just as a thing, it was actually awesome.”
In other news, back in March, BRITs viewers shared their thoughts on Green Day being labelled “the American Busted” by host Roman Kemp.
