BUSTED are back in the charts, celebrating the Top Two success of new album Half Way There and ready to entertain the York racegoers on Summer Music Saturday next weekend at the Knavesmire track.

First making their mark in 2000, the resurgent Southend-on-Sea pop-punk band are riding high again after Charlie Simpson rejoined Matt Willis and James Bourne in 2015 in the aftermath of the McBusted supergroup.

Here Matt Willis discusses Busted then and now, in the lead-up to June 29’s post-race day concert at York Racecourse.

What do you think makes it different for Busted this time around, Matt?

“I’d like to think we’re adults now. As a band we talk about everything and we let people know how we’re feeling,” he says. “I feel like Busted never have to break up ever again. We’re grown ups, if we want to go and do something else then we’ll go and do something else. We’ll talk about it, make sure it’s OK with everyone, and when we can do it.

“Busted is a priority in all of our lives but it is just half of our life; it’s not the entirety like it was back in the day. Back in 2003/2004 it was all encompassing; we had seven days off in two years.

“We were part of this weird money-making machine that no-one really wanted to jump off of until it was blowing up from the inside out and then it eventually did. Now it’s very different, we’ve all got other things that we like to do outside of work and we do those things, but we all come back to Busted.”

Does it feel better now that you have your own interests and you’re sharing it with your family?

“Having a work life balance is important for everybody. I love my job, I love my life way more, and my job is part of my life,” says Matt.

“I’m very lucky to be doing this; I would probably be doing this for free otherwise. I’m very lucky I get to do something I love everyday, and with every other aspect of my life I only do things that I enjoy, which is a good thing.”

Half Way There reverts back to an earlier Busted sound by comparison with 2016’s album, Night Driver. Was this a conscious decision or did it occur naturally in the studio?

“It took a while. If I’m honest, this was a really hard record to make. It was the most obvious decision staring at us in the face but it took a long time to get there,” says Matt.

“I actually thought Busted wouldn’t make this album and that we’d end up disagreeing about the direction of the band, which is what happened when we first started to make this album, since we all had very different ideas of what we wanted to do. We became quite problematic in the studio; the problems always stemmed from creativity.”

What happened next?

“We spent our entire album budget just on making demos, so. when we finished the demos. we had no budget left to make the album and we made nothing that we felt we could hang our hat to as the next Busted album,” says Matt.

“So we rented a tiny room in London and we wrote one song called , Nineties. Dougie, from McFly, and I wrote that riff a few years previously for another song we wrote together. So we had this riff and we loved it, so we just thought ‘let’s write a Busted album like what we think Busted is’. That’s what we did and it kind of worked.”

You have played racecourses before, both as Busted and McBusted. What keeps bringing you back to the track?

“It’s a really fun day out. We get there early and we start betting and have a really good day out. It’s a nice event, everyone’s in a good mood; they’ve had a good day, even if you haven’t won anything,” says Matt.

“I never win anything! I’ve never won anything from a racecourse in my life, but I’ve had such a great time. I love it; I can’t wait to go again. Some of us bring friends and family members with us and have a really great day out, everyone’s up for it.”

What can next Saturday’s crowd expect from your set?

“We want to play all the hits so everyone can have the best time possible,” says Matt. “However much we are proud of our new stuff and our new record, we do know we have a back catalogue that people love and we love it. We’re going to play a big set full of bangers and hopefully every song people will know.”

“ It’s our job to make sure everyone has a great time and I take that very seriously.”

York Races Summer Music Saturday, with Busted, York Racecourse, June 29. Gates open at11.15am; first race, 2.10pm; last race, 5.40pm. Busted perform post-racing. Tickets: 01904 620911 or at yorkracecourse.co.uk.