Since 2003, McFly have been a staple in the music business, and Tom Fletcher thinks this has helped them in recent years.
Tom Fletcher reveals that fans of McFly have always seen the “true” version of the band. The band’s members and the musician first gained notoriety in 2003, and they have since reached the top of the charts. However, those who follow the band are aware of this even though they don’t always get a fuller sense of what it’s like.
While the band may have a huge online following now, Tom, 39, Dougie Poynter, 37, Danny Jones, 39, and Harry Judd, 39, were on the rise before the likes of Bebo, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram became household names. Instead, fans of the band relied on meeting them at CD signings, TV interviews and magazine interviews to get to know them.
“We found a lot of our dedicated fans before social media,” Tom exclusively told the Mirror. He went on to add: “They got to know us before that was a thing, so they knew our personalities, and so I think it would have been strange if we were then presenting a different version of ourselves now that we had a phone with a camera on us all the time.
“I suppose the transition to social media was simple. “Tom explained that the first time the band ever did a live stream for fans, they had a man carrying a hardwired camera around them on tour.
Although he acknowledges it’s a balance, Tom does reveal some insight into his family life with his wife, Giovanna, 40, and their sons, Buzz, 11, Buddy, and Max. He said that finding the balance is really important because this has evolved over time. He continued:” There was a time when I feel like people were not presenting their true selves.
“I believe that more people are doing that right now, or maybe it’s just the people I follow. That’s the beauty of social media: my version of it is completely different from someone else’s. For me, it was really important to be as authentic as I could be and show people.
Knowing the details I’m sharing is a true reflection of who I am and who we are as a family or who we are as a band, but it’s finding the balance between allowing people to access my life and preserving some sort of privacy. It’s really important. “
The band has 19 Top 10s, 21 Top 40s, two Top 1 albums, and nine Top 40 albums all in one album. But how does he handle such high success standards? It just became our lives, “he said, before adding:” McFly is just being normal for us – that’s our default mode. We all work on different things, and McFly is where I write musicals and children’s books.
It changed our lives, and I can’t imagine living in a world without it. “That’s the default mode of who we are. The guys, we’re like brothers. We fight, as is the family. We fight like brothers and we share a brotherly love for one another. It’s not just children’s books and music for McFly that Tom has written, though, he’s also the lyricist behind the upcoming Paddington The Musical, which premieres at The Savoy Theatre in November.
He described the transition as “a very slow, long transition” from writing pop-rock songs. He added: “I grew up at theatre school, I was in West End musicals from the age of nine. Before the band, that’s how I lived my life, and I’ve spent more than ten years writing musical scores for my books.
“I believe all of these things have been gearing up for me, ready to tackle the difficult task of writing Paddington, which is undoubtedly a different kind of responsibility. Everything I’ve ever worked on has been like my own project and my own characters, and I’ve only got myself to kind of disappoint.
“Whereas with Paddington, everybody loves Paddington. Everybody knows him all around the world. So suddenly feeling that I am responsible for that. Yes, definitely had moments of feeling overwhelmed, but also just what an honour. Of all of the songwriters on this planet who would have lept to have written this musical, it was my phone that rang and they asked me, I just can’t believe, I still can’t believe it.”
Tom expressed his desire for the lyrics to sound justice to the audience. However, he and his family sat down to watch Paddington 2 the night before he received the call during the first coronavirus lockdown, which was a spooky turn of events. “It felt like stars were aligned”, he said. He continued, “My kids are incredibly excited, but I’ve also found that playing all the songs on them is very helpful.”
Buzz currently appears in Starlight Express and plays musical theater. Tom revealed that for songs he needs vocals from children on, his children have recorded the demo tracks he needed. He laughed as his wife and I both enjoyed having our families who enjoy musical theater.
Tom acknowledges that his three children “gave him more purpose.” He said: “The biggest change is becoming a parent, before that, my whole life revolved around my band and work. Then, suddenly, your children are the people who have your life’s center of gravity. It gives you more motivation to pursue your interests and accomplish your goals. You have a different motivation to it and the hardest thing is saying ‘ No. ‘
I believe that’s the most important thing I’ve learned about myself because, unfortunately, I can’t do everything I want to do. Tom did point out that having an “amazing problem” is a “very lucky person” for the opportunities he receives.
He said, “I feel very lucky that the stars are aligned and I was in the right place at the right time.” However, Tom couldn’t refuse to work on a project by joining forces with Yoplait to discuss the current issue of childhood calcium and vitamin D deficiency.
” As a dad, I can really relate to what these stats have shown, “Tom said. Tom concluded, “There is a lot of confusion about what we should be feeding our kids.” Knowing whether or not information is accurate or not, he continued, “There’s so much information out there, whether that’s on social media.”
“I think that is one of the things that has left to seeing an increase in kids that are deficient in calcium and vitamin D. Now being able to put my children’s author hat on and rework the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, hopefully to raise awareness for what I think is a fun way of highlighting a very serious issue.
Making one or two small adjustments is relatively simple, such as replacing one or more sugary snacks with a yoghurt that is rich in calcium and vitamin D. Hopefully, this will be something that parents can read the information from Yoplait and get all the information on the stats. “
What, however, has he taken away as the most important thing? Knowing where I’m getting my information, he said. If parents what to go to the Yoplait website, they’ll know that’s the best place to get this information and see all of the stats from there. However, we are all experiencing the same things as parents. That same confusion is happening to me. Kids will tell you what they want to eat as well, it’s hard knowing what you want to give your kids, but your kids are going to want to eat it as well. Thankfully, it’s not difficult to give them a yoghurt at my house.
In partnership with Yoplait, the brand behind Petits Filous and Frubes, children’s author and musician Tom Fletcher tackles childhood calcium and vitamin D deficiency, starting with a bold new take on Humpty Dumpty.
Source: Mirror
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