Busted were ordered to stay away from McFly to avoid 'tarnishing' the band

Matt Willis said their shared management team were terrified Busted’s hard partying would rub off on McFly when the bands started out - so they couldn't hang out together

Busted were banned from spending time with McFly when the bands started out – in case they corrupted their squeaky clean rivals.

Matt Willis said their shared management team were terrified Busted’s hard partying would rub off on the newcomers. And he said that he, James Bourne and Charlie Simpson got a shock when they finally did spend time with McFly’s Harry Judd, Dougie Poynter, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones – and realised that the Please, Please hitmakers could actually give them a run for their money.

Matt tells us: “Back in the day, Busted’s management, who also managed McFly, would never let me hang out with them. I was never allowed at anything they were doing. They’d say, ‘Matt, you’re not allowed, they’re really clean cut, really well behaved.’”

That image was shattered when he joined the band at their house after the Brit Awards one year. He recalls: “I just thought, ‘These are f****** reprobates. That night… it was messy.”

James lets on: “I broke into the McFly house once. I climbed up the drainpipe into the window on the second floor, and they were all stoned in the cupboard.” Remembering the moment, Harry laughs: “He scared the s*** out of us. We were up to no good… we thought the police were coming.”

The bands, who have previously united for gigs under the name McBusted, will join forces next year for a unique show going head-to-head in a bid to steal each other’s fans. Harry says: “We’ve been talking about this for years, it’s only now it’s the right time so it’s come together.

“The idea is that each band will perform, then we’ll come together to battle it out. There’ll be laser beams shooting out of guitars, and at the end some kind of winner.” James laughs: “I love the idea of it being a McFly show, and then they sing Bubble Wrap – and the first you see of Busted is Charlie coming down from the ceiling like an angel, singing the chorus.

“I’ve got a hundred of those ideas. I wanted to have the intro like in ET, with seven of us flying in on BMX bikes in the sky. That would be epic.”

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