WHEN they announced their split in 2005, Busted's Matt Willis joked about a future reunion: “Never say never. If we’re all skint with seven kids when we’re 25, then maybe.”

Even more unlikely was the thought that Matt, Charlie Simpson and James Bourne would be closer than ever and actually reuniting to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary.

But I am thrilled to reveal that the Noughties favourites are back for a nationwide arena tour this September and a new album reimagining their greatest hits, accompanied by some of their favourite artists.

During a top secret trip to Bizarre HQ yesterday ahead of today’s announcement, James said: “It’s out of this world that we get to do this and we couldn’t be more excited about it. It’s going to be wicked.”

Asked if he could ever imagine a comeback when he quit the group 18 years ago, Charlie said: “No. On that day I didn’t. I’m glad that we split up at the time because it allowed us to do this and come back together.”

Matt continued: “People have asked me, ‘Do you regret splitting up?’ And I don’t. It was s**t towards the end of Busted.

“It was a really bad vibe in the camp and it felt like the right time to stop that.

“Now it feels like how it’s meant to feel. It’s like the very beginning again. Right now it feels like it’s barely even begun.”

After insisting he would never return to the Year 3000 band, Charlie shocked fans when they last reunited in 2015 — but having been on hiatus since 2019, they are now back for good.

On April 14 they will release a new version of their track Loser Kid, featuring Canadian rockers Simple Plan, and they have further collaborations on the cards with All Time Low and McFly, which will eventually all be included on an album.

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James said of the reworked songs: “They just feel fresh and like they were written yesterday.”

And Matt teased: “This has reinvigorated everything and suddenly we’re making lots of plans.”

Their 15-show arena tour will kick off in Plymouth on September 2, with support from Hanson and New Hope Club for the majority of dates.

But life on the road will be very different from the first time around, when they say it got so wild that they were turned away from a flight.

Chatting to his bandmates, James recalled: “Do you remember that time we went to Germany and missed our plane?

“I woke up in the morning and Matt and Charlie were nowhere to be seen. They were so hungover.

“I was trying to bang on the door to wake them up for the flight. We went into the room and there was puke in the suitcases.

“Charlie and Matt were in a zombie-like state. They were trying to pack their bags but they weren’t moving quick enough. Our tour manager and people that worked for the record company were throwing clothes into suitcases.”

Matt remembered with a cringe: “I had one shoe on, dragging my suitcase, which was dripping puke out of it at the airport, expecting to get on the plane. Funnily enough, they didn’t let us on.”

From 2002 to 2004 the trio scored a run of eight consecutive top three singles, with four No1s including You Said No and Crashed The Wedding.

Though reflecting on the music industry now, James said: “We got to establish our band at a time when people actually looked at what was happening in music and the charts. No one cares now.”

Charlie continued: “It was good being in a band when people bought music, too. I’m so grateful that I was able to experience that era.”

Their 20th anniversary was due to take place last year though what they called “a slight pandemic issue” meant it was pushed back.

Charlie joked: “We are going to ignore that elephant in the room.”

They received an over-whelming response when they teased on social media this week that Busted might return.

And now more than ever they know how lucky they are to have gained so many fans when they did.

Charlie explained: “If you look at the Busted fanbase it is incredibly strong. I just don’t know if you can build fan- bases any more because there’s no sense of belonging to an artist.

“With the playlist generation, how do you become emotionally attached to an artist? I don’t know. I feel like our fans are emotionally attached to us.”

They will be very glad to have Busted back.

• Tickets go on sale at 9am on March 31.

ROO AND WHO ELSE LOVES ‘EM

THE band have a load of celebrity superfans, not least Wayne Rooney, whose 18th birthday they partied at in 2003.

Matt recalled: “He came to loads of gigs. He gave me his shirt from                  his  first England goal.

“I went to his 18th birthday party. Me and James were dancing with his parents.”

James continued: “At Wayne’s party I had a dance-off with him in front of the whole England squad and we were dancing to Michael Jackson.

“Back in the day we did have some nice surprises when you got these people who were really cool that happened to show up to things.”

Ed Sheeran and Game Of Thrones’ Sophie Turner are fans, as are Adele and Niall Horan.

James added: “I met Adele at a One Direction show at Wembley Stadium. I went to see Niall backstage and he had two CDs he wanted signed. One of them was a Busted one and next to it was Adele’s
album.

“As I was signing the Busted album this woman walks in and it’s Adele. She was like, ‘Oh my God! I f***ing love Busted!’.

“It was so mental to be backstage at one of the biggest concerts of the year with the biggest-selling artist in the world and they both like Busted.

“I think we made an impression when we came out 20 years ago. We hit hard and there was a real impact there. We are still enjoying the aftershock of that impact.”

It’s not the only time Adele confessed her love for the band, either, as Matt said: “My wife (Emma Willis) was on the red carpet at some music event and Adele came up to her and said, ‘I love your husband’s band!’.”

More recently they have become pals with Lewis Capaldi, who fangirled over them on their most recent tour, before a hiatus, in early 2019.

Recalling being introduced following their gig in Glasgow, Matt said: “His first single was just becoming a smash. “My mate Ollie and Charlie went drinking with him and they were going to go to some hotel and he was like, ‘No, drinks are too expensive in that bar’. I was like, ‘Mate, you’re a smash’.

“He was No1 but he had no money so we had to go to this sty little sports bar place where we could buy drinks.”

Rhino mask didn't fool us

MASKED Singer champ Charlie kept his participation a secret from the band.

Matt told me: “Charlie took the show’s non disclosure agreement really seriously. My friends sent me a text of Rhino saying, ‘It’s Charlie right?’ And I was like, ‘Abso-f***ing-lutely’. I texted him a little rhino emoji and got nothing back. He never mentioned it. It was the rhino in the room.”

Dad-of-two Charlie, who was crowned the winner on the ITV 1 show last month, loved taking part.

He said: “A lot of people associate me with singing rock songs and not ballads.

“It was a nice opportunity to get that side across of me to a big audience and it was really fun. My kids loved it too.”

James to rock on

JAMES wants fans to be able to rock out on the road and has been having guitar lessons to get even better at his craft.

He has been playing since he was a kid, and enlisted a man who looks like he’s “straight out of Steel Panther” to give him extra classes.

James, who now lives in LA, said: “It’s like the street where Marty McFly’s house in Back To The Future is and I go into his garage and there’s posters of Eddie Van Halen everywhere and we just play scales.

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“I want to be able to really play guitar. I want to be really good.”

Matt added of the next record: “What you can expect is a shredding guitar solo on every track.”

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