They burst onto the scene in blazers and ties and now Busted rule the charts! James, Mattie and Charlie reveal their favourite moments so far..

All right, readers? We thought we'd write a personal introduction to our cover feature this issue - a special note from Busted to you. We've won loads of SH! Poll Winners awards this year and it's all down to you guys, so we're really excited - our fans are so important to us. You know what? A band without fans is just.. a bunch of ordinary guys. It's like a remote control without batteries - it just doesn't work. It's like a tomato with no seeds - it just can't grow.. Erm, anyway, it's amazing how things have changed for us in the past year. We hope you enjoy reading about our mad journey - and we'll see you all next year!

The highs and lows

What have been your highs and lows so far?
James: Getting our first SH! cover was a big deal - you guys put a lot of faith in us from the start. When you walk into a shop and see yourself on a cover, it's amazing.
Mattie: A low point was when our debut album, Busted, first got released - it went to No.30 then later it dropped to around 141..
Charlie: But we've sold nearly a million copies of it now.

And you must have had some funny moments, too..
Mattie: The whole of our May tour was funny. We partied every night 'cause we realised we could sleep on the bus the next day. We even partied on the bus one night because we couldn't find anywhere to go.

What's the cringiest thing you've done?
Mattie: I fell down the stairs on my way to our first celebrity party. That was awful because everyone saw.
Charlie: Mine was at the party to celebrate our first No.1 (You Said No). I ran in front of my mate's car, banged on the bonnet and shouted, "Yeaaaahhhhh!". But it wasn't him, it was a complete stranger.
Mattie: It was the funniest thing ever.

Tell us about the wildest Busted night out..
Mattie: It's got to be when we went out with Lee from Blue in Germany and got trashed. It was such a stupid night - and I got it all on video.

Their showbiz life

You're really showbiz now, aren't you, boys?
James: No! We're not really showbiz types.
Charlie: I think it's really sad being in the papers all the time.
Mattie: The last thing I want is for my friends and family to open up the papers and see me drunk, swearing and getting my bum out.

But you went to a J.Lo's Maid in Manhattan premiere..
Charlie: We did - but only to see her.
Mattie: I only got to glimpse her bottom though. It's got a mind of its own. She can be anywhere in the room and you will still see her arse.

Who are your celeb mates?
Mattie: All the Blue boys are good lads..
Charlie: We don't really make friends with people in the industry.
James: I don't want to be friends with people just because we're both famous.

You've fallen out with a few celebs too - how are things with Girls Aloud and Kelly Osbourne now?
James: It's all in the past with Girls Aloud - things are civil.
Charlie: But Kelly's a **** and her new single is the worst song I've ever heard.
James: I have to say, Shut Up was also the worst song I've ever heard.
Mattie: Kelly deserves a slap, although Ozzy is a legend.

The rumours

Charlie, Blazin Squad have accused you of nicking their girls. True?
Charlie: What? That's crazy. It's definitely not true. That's just ridiculous. Hahaha!

James, we've heard that you've got a secret girlfriend called Becci..
James: No way. I know of nobody named Becci.

Did you really once get your electricity cut off because you didn't pay the bill?
James: Yes, but that wasn't our fault. We've got people who are supposed to pay our bills for us. But they didn't, so we got cut off.
Mattie: We're on a meter system now.

What's the weirdest rumour you've heard about yourselves?
Mattie: That I was married with a kid.
Charlie: Like that's going to be true. The rumours about me snogging Kym Marsh were ridiculous too. I mean, we know Jack really well.

Have you started any rumours about yourselves?
Mattie: Only that James had a tattoo of a snake somewhere very private.
James: It was funny to start with but then everywhere I went people asked me about it, so I had to come clean. We once said that Charlie had pierced bits too, which has haunted him to this day.

The snogs

How many girls do you think you've snogged between you?
Mattie: Who could honestly say? It's hundreds. When I was 14 I used to go to parties and snog seven people in one night. I was a serial snogger. We've snogged 1,000 girls between us. Easily.

Blimey! Mattie, how did you feel when it came out in the papers that you were dating your TV Plugger, Holly?
Mattie: We've had some hassle over it, but I was OK about it. I was like, "So what? Who cares?".

Have you ever snogged a fan?
Charlie: No. None of us have.
James: Never say never.

What's the furthest a fan's ever gone to get close to you?
Mattie: This random girl walked into our dressing room when we were on tour. She just stood there so we asked her what she was doing and she said, "I don't really know".
James: Then she said she was looking for the toilet and she walked through a couple of wrong doors, straight into our dressing room.

Have you had any scary fan experiences?
James: When I was in Japan, someone got hold of my arm and was pulling me. I honestly thought it was going to get broken.
Mattie: Fans can be intimidating. It's nice if a couple come up to you, but if there are loads of them, it's scary.

Busted style

Reckon you've had any dodgy haircuts, boys?
Charlie: I hated my Year 3000 haircut.
Mattie: I hated mine too - it was too silver. But I did see loads of people with the same hair as me afterwards. Although, five weeks after I had mine done, David Beckham had his stripe down the middle, so I think it was probably more to do with people copying him than me.

Maybe Becks copied you?
Mattie: Hahaha! I doubt it.
James: Although there was a thing in the paper saying Brooklyn is a fan of Busted.

Do you think you've helped set any trends?
Mattie: In the beginning, I wore some terrible clothes, but I think people like our style now..
Charlie: Maybe in the beginning we set trends, with the school gear. It's an old look but we helped bring it back. We did see a lot of people around wearing school stuff again.

Have you got any pets?
Mattie: I've got a cross-breed alsatian called Max.
James: My dog is called Harry. We rescued him from Newquay dogs' home so he's got Cornish blood in him. That's why he can swim so well. We don't know what breed he is - we think he might be a sheepdog.

The future

Isn't there going to be a Busted film?
James: How did you know? We're meeting a producer to tell him what kind of film we want to make. He's going to make it happen.
Charlie: But we're not going to play Busted in it. We'll be Mattie, Charlie and James and we'll play different characters.
James: We don't want to make another Spice World. We want it to be a cool movie.

What does the future hold for Busted?
Charlie: We've got the 24-date arena tour coming up and we want to go to America. But we're not going to leave England - we'll do two weeks at a time.
Mattie: And I really want a dog. I might even get one at Christmas - maybe a pug.

What would you do if the band split up?
James: I'd move on to LA and carry on making music.
Charlie: I just want to do whatever makes me happy.
Mattie: I'd like to open a bar one day. I would love to have a really cool bar. I'd feel like a gangster.

How long do you think you'll stay together?
James: For as long as people keep buying our records. If the fans are still there, we'll still be here for them. People say that there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough, but that's crap. If you enjoy what you do and the fans love you, why stop?

What's going on here then?
Busted tell us the stories behind these weird paparazzi pictures..

(picture of Charlie with flowers)
Charlie: This was the first ever Busted 'pap' (paparazzi) photo. Everybody thought that the flowers were for a girl - they were actually for a female friend's mum's birthday. The mum is the key to the girl! Did I get to snog the girl? Well, yes I did.

(picture of Matt holding two melons)
Mattie: That is not the first time I've handled melons. I was given them by a fan outside a radio station. I think she just wanted to give me an original present. I left them in the car for ages and they went all mushy.

(picture of Charlie holding James up)
Mattie: Hahaha! James is enjoying that!
Charlie: This was at the Britney party. We were being really stupid. If you look closely you can see James's brother in the background. (note from Clazz - it's actually Tom from McFly) The whole Britney thing has become boring. I'm thinking, 'Whatever' now. Besides, she's getting a bit old anyway.

(picture of Charlie with Liz from Atomic Kitten)
Charlie: Obscene! That photo really annoys me. It was taken at the Britney Spears party. I was just having a friendly chat with Atomic Kitten. And then the papers go, 'Oooh! Charlie is seeing Liz!' But it's rubbish.
Mattie: They make the perfect couple, don't you think? You can tell that Chazwick isn't very happy here because he's chewing the inside of his mouth.