Are they splitting up? Is Matt single? Did someone throw a toaster out of the hotel window? We get the Busted boys all to ourselves to find out the truth..

March is barely over and 2004 is already Busted’s greatest year yet. With 2 BRIT awards, a second No. 1 single and a month-long arena tour under their low-slung belts. But there’s more to Charlie Simpson, Matt Jay and James Bourne than their blazing pop career. For one thing, rumors about the band splitting up refuse to go away, fuelled by Charlie’s ‘other’ band, Fightstar, and by the advent of McFly, the boy band being touted as “the new Bused”, to which James has lent his support. And of course, the boy’s personal lives continue to keep us interested. Charlie,18, is happy with school sweetheart Camilla Smith, 20, who works in TV, and James, 20, is looking loved-up with his on-off actress girlfriend, Kara Tointon. But despite rumors that he’s back with PR girl Holly Davies, 30, who he split from last November, Matt, 20, insists he’s single, although not necessarily enjoying it. We chatted with the lovely threesome backstage at Wembley and asked them all about the women, the music, the drinking and the splitting up..

Do you miss your girlfriends when you’re on tour?
James: I don’t really miss Kara because she comes out on the road with us!
Charlie: Yeah it’s the same with me. Camilla will come along every now and again and I’ll get to spend some time with her. We tend to have a day off after every city we play, so we try to co-ordinate our schedules to spend some time together.
Matt: Well I don’t have a girlfriend at the moment, so I’m fine!

Are you taking advantage of being a single pop star then Matt?
M: Well, being on the road you’d think so, wouldn’t you! [guffaws] Seriously though, I don’t go in for the groupie thing, which is just as well when you see the age of some of our fans!

So what can a girl do to get a backstage pass on the Busted tour?
J: We often ask ourselves the same thing- there’s such a demand for passes that even we have trouble getting our own families backstage after the show, let alone anyone else!

But you seem to enjoy touring with or without your girlfriends. We hear there’s been some, er, ‘high spirits’ on the road..
J: Do you mean the TV-out-of-the-window thing? The papers said Matt threw a toaster out of the window, but I don’t remember that at all. Have you ever seen a toaster in a hotel room? The way I remember it, there was a TV, a wastepaper basket, two bananas and some grapes that went flying. In Matt’s defence, I’d like to say he was really p***ed - its not the sort of thing he’d do sober- and that window was already open. Which makes him a bit less responsible for what happened. Sort of.

Matt, do you drink too much?
M: You’d be forgiven for thinking so from all the pictures you see of me out on the town.. [laughs] I don’t know really. I mean I’ve got mates who are at university and the amount they get through on one night out is just unbelievable! As I get older I’ll probably have to chill out a bit, but I’m only 20 and my body seems to be able to cope.

You’re off to America after this tour- do you think you stand a better chance of making it over there than Westlife or Robbie?
M: I guess we’ll find out once we get there. We’re just going to go and see what’s what.
J: We’re releasing an album over there, which will be the best bits from our first two UK albums. Robbie did the same a few years ago.

Charlie, you were gigging with Fightstar, just before the arena tour. Which do you prefer?
C: Fortunately, I never felt I’d have to make that choice. Everyone’s been really supportive about it. I was beginning to feel a bit frustrated before I started gigging with Fightstar and I think people could see that. Fightstar has been a great release for me.

You’re touring with McFly, who share your record label. Are you worried they’ve been lined up to replace you?
J: Not at all. They’re a guitar band but they’ve got a whole different set of influences. There was enough room for Blur, and Oasis- so the idea that we’re going to disappear just because there’s another pop band with guitars on the scene is silly.
M: I reckon they could be huge, but I don’t feel threatened by them. The charts are a bit s**t at the moment so you’d hope there’s enough room for two half-decent bands.
J: We’re getting on really well with them on tour too. Tom from McFly was almost in Busted at one point and he and I have been writing together. He co-wrote the next Busted single, Air Hostess. I’ve been writing some stuff for McFly, too.

How long do you think Busted will stay together?
J: If you look at what’s happened over the past few years, bands seem to do three albums and a greatest hits and then split. But that’s not something we’ve ever thought of. Our fans are really dedicated and I don’t see any reason we can’t keep going for another five years - or for as long as we’ve got idea and people want to hear them. We’ll still be together when we’re 60 - like the Rolling Stones!
M: Seriously though, we all know that it won’t last forever- you can probably count on one hand the number of big bands who’ve stayed together for more than ten years. But we’re having a brilliant time at the moment - I can’t imagine wanting to do anything else.