James Bourne breaks silence in only interview after ill star quit Busted tour as he reveals musical 13 yrs in the making
JAMES Bourne is made of sterner stuff. The Busted rocker stepped back from the public eye in September after falling ill and ten weeks ago told his fans was awaiting major surgery to extend his life.
And now, James tells me he’s used his time to finish a project which has been 13 years in the offing – and on July 1 will release new album Murder At The Gates, which he created for a brand new musical with legendary American playwright Steven Sater.
“I didn’t want my health to stop me from promoting this project because I’ve put 13 years of my life into it,” James tells me from his home in the UK.
“There was a fear of not finishing it. But I knew I had to finish it and give this to the people. “There’s like a few people that have been waiting for it. There are hardcore fans who show to up for everything – and I have been speaking about this for a long time.
“It feels so good to now have this as a finished product. And it’s the first album I’ve ever produced. So I’m proud of it.”
James, who has racked up eight top ten singles including four No1s with Busted, pulled out of the McFly V Busted tour last September citing his health.
But rather than wallowing, James threw himself into the 13-track album – which features big name screen stars, including Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo, on vocals.
“This album definitely has a different feeling to all the others,” James explains.
“With everything going on with my health, I have been given the gift of time.
“I was given a lot of time back when I wasn’t touring. It was like turning a negative into a positive. It was such a shame to have to drop out from the tour, because I love touring so much.
“But you have to turn negative into positive. They’re the conversations I’ve had with my closest friends.
“I wanted to take the time I’d been given and deliver this album.”
James’s last musical, Loserville, earned an Olivier nomination back in 2013 and when he was tapped up by Steven, who earned a Grammy and a Tony award for his cult-hit musical Spring Awakening, he jumped at the chance to get involved.
“Musicals are a very difficult thing to do well and to do properly and to develop properly,” James explains.
“And this one’s been developed on the highest level with the most talented people.
“Steven was looking for a composer and that is when Loserville was in the West End.
“He invited me to his place and I knew immediately how I would do it.
“I’d never done a project where someone else did the words because he’s a lyricist.
“But as I was reading the lyrics, I could hear the music. And we partnered on the project.
“To work on this with someone on Steven’s level has been a dream.”
Of the score he’s created, James adds: “I knew I wanted it to be a very solid piano vocal score to begin with and I knew I wanted it to be orchestral but with a rock band at the heart of it.
“But I don’t think it is a rock musical in the way that rock musicals are presented.
“Rock musicals like We Will Rock You or Rock of Ages tend to veer more towards classic rock and this isn’t what Murder At The Gates is.
“I think a big part of what sold Steven’s show Spring Awakening so well was how contemporary the score was.
“The music is very customised. This is tailormade for Steven’s words and the world that he imagined and the characters that he imagined
“The score had to represent that world, you know.”
James adds: “We wrote about 50 songs for the show and whittled it down to 13.
“Some are old, some have been rewritten, some are completely new.
“It’s a long process that you can’t complete unless there’s a lot of passion involved.
“With songwriting in the pop world, you can blag it. Go into the room with a producer you’ve never met before and come out with something amazing.
“But if you don’t get anything great, you’ve not lost much. With a project like this, it’s a life commitment.”
James admits all of his spare time since 2013 has been dedicated to this project, with him missing dates on the McBusted tours with One Direction in 2014 and 2015 to get his teeth into it.
After stepping back from their tour last September, James was able to focus fully on getting the project finished – and spent time flying from his home in the US to New York to record the tracks.
“We’ve got amazing people like Gaten on board, he was definitely one of the top people on our list,” James explains.
“It was a total cherry picking situation. Steven has so much recognition from Spring Awakening – he’s like a rock star in his own right. He is a genius.
“All of the people who sang on it were busy, many of them were on Broadway so I would fly to New York for each vocal.”
And like all the best projects, James had kept his cards close to his chest – with not even his Busted bandmates Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson hearing the finished product.
“They might have heard something a very long time ago when we were doing promo for one of our tours,” James explains. “But apart from that, I haven’t played it for anyone.
“Even the actors who have done workshops with us over the past decade haven’t heard it.”
Once the record is released, Steven will get to work with James in getting the production green lit.
And James admits he is excited to see what comes of the project.
“We don’t have an opening night yet for the show but we’ve got the album and we’re saying, ‘This is a great representative of what the show is,’”James explains.
“There are still some bonus tracks to come later on. I’m just incredibly proud of it.
“When you do these projects, you strive to create things that can be timeless in a way.
“Classic musicals go on for years and years, and we’ve definitely been really striving to create something amazing.
“When I make albums with Busted, you’re making music for yourself to perform.
“With a project like this, you’re giving something to the community. This show is original, memorable and I don’t think there’s another show like it.
“I just can’t wait for people to hear it, then see it.”