HUGE thanks to Tessie for typing this up!

They're one of Britain's biggest-selling guitar bands, responsible for encouraging tons of new players to pick up the guitar. Chief songwriter James Bourne talks to TG about starting out, getting signed, and what it's like being a multi-platinum pop star..

I love Total Guitar. When I was learning how to play I used to buy the magazine every time it came out. I had lessons for a while, but the only reason I wanted to play guitar was so I could perform and sing my favourite songs. I wish I had taken it more seriously now, but it doesn't stop me from having fun. I can still jam and play whatever I want.

When I started learning, Oasis and Blur were my main influences. It's a big deal when you first learn songs you can sing and play at the same time - and for me I did that with Michael Jackson songs. I always found songbooks helpful. I was stubborn and couldn't be arsed to read music. I could handle tab, but reading music was never really for me.

I'm not very good, considering how long I've been playing guitar. But I know enough to be able to do what I want. Of course, you always want to improve. I'm trying to get my lead guitar up to scratch, but I've never been a lead guitarist, I've always played rhythm. There are a few solos on the new album. Sometimes I'll write them and someone else, like Charlie [Simpson, frontman], will play them. They're not lead solos like The Darkness would play, no massive vibrato - it's more a riff-based lead, if you know what I mean.

Once I was going to play lead on Top Of The Pops, but I bottled it. I was like, 'I'm not used to this'. That was a bit nerve-racking experience. When we play live we have a couple of other people to help out. We have a keyboardist to kind of play any notes or chords we're not hitting on the guitar. And we have a third guitarist to do the extra riffs we can't play together. A lot of our songs have three guitar parts, because when we write we have the chords and a riff, then often we'll have another riff that harmonises with it. It's too much for two people.

I was actually in a band before Busted. We were called Sic Puppy. We played gigs in pubs. It's very different feeling, you have people who're half interested, sitting at the back, watching you half-heartedly. You get people wanting to slag you off and shout stuff. Now we're playing Wembley five nights in a row, 11,000 people every night. But your first gig is always special, no matter where it is.

I also did a music technology course, but I dropped out. Would I like to be a producer one day? Yeah, I would.

The way Busted got signed was by taking a huge short cut. There are two ways you can get into the business. You can play gigs and pray some A&R guy comes and sees you, or you can do what we did and just go into their offices and play acoustically. We wrote the songs acoustically, and we knew this management company who had good contacts. Our songs were good and word got around in the business. Luckily, we were able to meet some really important people.

The majority of our first album was written before we were signed. The worst half was written after, actually, because all of a sudden you have a deadline to meet and that puts pressure on. But Year 3000, You Said No - our first four singles really - were all written before we were signed. We got signed because our songs were good, I think. And we had faith, which made other people believe in us.

When the album first came out, it didn't do well. We were getting ready to look at other career options. Seriously. At first everyone was thinking about buying cars and then suddenly it was like, 'Well, maybe we should put that on hold, this album might not do as well as we think'. Because there was an element of hype about us when we came out initially, the album was expected to do well. And it didn't start out that way. At all. Year 3000 saved us. That song put the album at number two. Then that happened again with the next two singles. But at the beginning, there was doubt.

We've got kind of a relationship with Gibson. I go there occasionally to try out different guitars, and if I like them I get good prices ? and sometimes if they're in a good mood they'll give me a guitar. It's a very relaxed kind of arrangement.

I use Mesa/Boogie heads. Me and Charlie really like the Dual Rectifier. That's pretty much our favourite amp. I used to use Marshall. I started out on a Rocktec, like a £40 job, really tiny. Then I got the Marshall. But now I love Mesa/Boogie. We really want a deal with them, but apparently they're like, 'We're the best, so if you want us, you buy us'.

One day we'd like to be a stripped-down rock trio like Blink 182. The level of musicianship in that band is crazy - Travis is just the best drummer. It's weird. If you listen to our second album and compare it to a band like Good Charlotte, I actually think ours sounds heavier. And yet they'll be on Kerrang! TV, and we don't get a look in! But to be honest, we're happy with that. We don't turn up at the Kerrang! Awards saying, 'Please take us seriously as a rock act', because at the end of the day we like the music we play. If it means being marketed this way or that way, as long as we get to play music every day and earn a living from it, we're happy.

Are we 'manufactured'? It really used to cheese me off when people said that, but it doesn't anymore. You can't please everybody. There are always going to be people spreading negativity. But it does annoy me. I've got nothing against Nickelodeon or kids' TV or whatever, but when you turn up to those places and it's not geared up to do live stuff ? and you're prancing around miming with your guitar ? that's a lot to swallow. Once we were actually begging TOTP to let us play live and acoustic and they wouldn't let us, because Daniel Bedingfield was already playing acoustically. So we had to mime.

We get so many kids telling us they're learning guitar because of Busted. It's wicked. It's stuff like that makes all the bad stuff people say about you go out the window, because you look at people who have been inspired by what you do. It's like, we have a chance to change pop music. Because it's in a serious state at the moment, with the whole Pop Idol thing. The whole manufactured aspect should come to an end. Why can't pop music be the way it was in the 60s - when it was cool to be called a pop band?

A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS?
OFFICIAL: BUSTED WRITE THEIR OWN SONGS.. KINDA

You've always said you write your own songs, but on your first album your songwriting credits are shared with the producers. How does that work?
"That pissed us off because there's no way anyone could write our stuff before we were even signed. We did them a favour in that we said, 'You can produce the album.' And we didn't ask for producer credits. So why should we give someone else writing credits?"

So you're on bad terms with them?
"Yeah. It's a shame. The thing is, when they first produced What I Go To School For, they made it sound good. But in hindsight, other producers would've done the same, it's not better. It's just he was the only guy we knew, the only producer we had, so we didn't know any better. We were just happy it was sounding good. The demo we went around playing to record companies was basically [what became] the first half of our album, just not mixed properly. So it was harsh going back to it and finding eight-track tapes of the songs they took credits on, and they haven't changed.. but nobody wants to fall out."

On the second album you worked with The Matrix, who wrote Avril Lavigne's hits.
"I was sceptical about that because I was like, 'We write our own stuff, we can do it without The Matrix.' But I love the stuff they've done, and it's always interesting to work with people on your wavelength. There's a guy from McFly who's been writing with us. But the rest is all Busted."