Following the documentary’s huge success, Willis launched a podcast series called “On The Mend” in which he engages in conversations with those who have faced addiction struggles in the past themselves, and shares insights on recovery with practical advice, tools, and guidance from experts. The podcast has hosted notable figures such as Rylan Clark, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, and Dougie Poynter, and is currently in the works for another season.

In our interview, we speak about all things touring, new music, recovery approaches, and much more.

Jumper Dior / Trousers Stylist’s own / Socks London Sock Company / Shoes Grenson / Jewellery Matt’s own

Last year Busted toured for their 20th-anniversary celebration which is huge! What were some highlights and challenges you encountered during the tour?

I think I learned a lot from the last tour we did as to how to kind of approach a tour. First of all, it was a 20th anniversary. We didn’t expect it to go as big as it went. We kind of put 11 dates on sale and we were very nervous about 11 arenas and we ended up selling 27. So it was this bonkers thing that happened and we didn’t really expect it.  The last tour we did, before that, I was suddenly aware I wasn’t 20 anymore, and I was like, “Well, you gotta put some work in this time.” So I got a trainer called Rob Solly, who’s a friend of mine, and he also trains my wife [Emma Willis]. We basically set up a plan to get me as fit and healthy as possible. Like, I want to jump around and not be out of breath, and feel like I’m 20 years old again. And he was like, “Right, okay, we’ve got some work to do.” So, I was doing loads of cardio. Normally, I don’t really do much cardio. I like lifting weights. I don’t know anyone who really does cardio. Some people do, crazy people, but I don’t really like it. I was doing it every day and it was just like really trying to build up that cardiovascular fitness. I trained really hard for it and did a lot of plyometric kind of stuff because during the tour before I kept getting to the mic and I was out of breath. I was bummed out because you can’t sing well and that was six or eight shows and the anniversary tour was 27. But it paid off.

Jacket Mr P / Polo Shirt Brunello Cucinelli / Trousers Louis Vuitton / Sneakers Adidas / Jewellery Matt’s own

We worked hard at rehearsals and we really put a lot into the show. We kind of felt like it was as much a celebration for them as it was for us. These people have followed us for 20 years, they’re so important in our life, so we really respect them and we wanted to put on the best show possible. So we threw everything at it, it was an amazing experience. It’s quite sweet to see these people that you spent 20 years with and the age range was wild, like it was from 15 to 40. Even our management said it was so weird for them because every other band they’ve got, they can see their fan base is this, their fan base is that, whereas Busted’s could be anybody. And it kind of felt like that. It kind of felt like, “Wow, who are you people?” You know, “What are your lives like?” So it was really, really cool and I loved interacting with them. I had a really special time. It was amazing. It kind of bred this new life force into Busted, it gave us this new lease of life.

Denim Jacket and Jeans ISTO / Vest M&S / Neckerchief Stylist’s own / Socks London Sock Company / Shoes Grenson / Belt Awling / Sunglasses Oliver Goldsmith

That sounds incredible! You must obviously be used to performing by now but do you still get the same buzz even 20 years later?

Yeah, I’m nervous every night. I’m almost sick with nerves every night and I don’t know why. I’m worried about forgetting words or forgetting what to play or anything, I just get excited and it becomes a bit of a nervous energy. It’s weird, the three of us are so different, I get really pacey and weird, and James literally is just on his phone, it doesn’t seem to phase him whatsoever. And Charlie kind of gets into rockstar mode half an hour before the show. We all have our different ways of dealing with it. 

Haha, I think I would be more like you as well. I feel like I would be just as nervous.

I just want everything to go well. Our show has a lot of other moving parts, like screens and stuff. I hope it all works right, and luckily it did every night, so it was good. I didn’t have to worry about all that stuff, really.

Always works out in the end, doesn’t it? Busted was also announced for Download Festival, what can fans anticipate from your performance?

We’re kind of thinking about that now. It’s like, should we do a metal cover or something? But we don’t know. It just feels then that you’re trying to prove why you’re there, and I think we’re there because we’re Busted and I think we’re going to go on and put on a Busted show. We don’t really have to try and be anything else. We’re there because of who we are. We kind of feel confident enough in what we do to just give them the show that we do. But we got a couple of days specifically just for a rehearsal for that show because it’s out of our wheelhouse, Download is not our normal festival, so we’re gonna give it everything we got but I think it’s gonna be really fun. If you look at the lineup, it kind of fits in with some of the bands, like some of the bands were on the Guest Features edition of our album, and there’s a lot of our friends there and a lot of people that we respect and bands who I’ve idolised since I was a kid. It’s a daunting one in a way. Kind of feels like this unknown thing but I think that’s exciting. I love having a job to do. It’s like when we go abroad, sometimes we go places that people don’t necessarily know us as well as the UK. So we kind of feel like we’ve got a bit of work to do and I like that. I kind of like winning them over a bit.

Jacket Studio Nicholson / Shirt Dries Van Noten / Jeans ISTO / Belt Awling / Shoes Grenson

I noticed a while ago that you shared on IG that you were collaborating with Ed Drewitt, known for writing major hits, which seems exciting. Can you give us any insights into upcoming music projects generally?

I write with Ed quite a bit. He’s been a songwriter for the pop industry for years, I work with him on other things too, not necessarily always Busted. We’re just writing songs all the time, I’m constantly in the studio, constantly writing songs, for some of them I might go, “Oh, this might work for Busted,” or I might reach out to another band or someone else who needs it. I just like keeping in touch. I like being creative and I like making stuff, I like going in there with nothing and coming out with something. I love that. And Ed, he’s a really amazing pop songwriter and he loves Busted as well. We fit quite well together.

As for Busted, we’ve just done a bunch of songs in LA. We’ve got a bunch of songs, we’re trying to make the best album possible. So every time I walk in the studio, we’re trying to beat something, we’re trying to go, “Right, what else can we do?”, “What does the album need?” I’m really focused on Charlie’s voice. It is fucking unbelievable. So we’re trying to write songs that allow him to show that and not shy away from it. Busted songs are nursery rhyming in a way. I mean, we listened to Green Day and blink-182 and things like that when we were growing up so it’s very much influenced by that, but we’re trying to test Charlie really. We’re like, “Right, let’s hear you sing your fucking tits off, let’s really go for it” and he’s stepping up to the plate. He is finding his feet as a frontman. When he sings, that is different from what me and James sing, like it just transcends genre, and considering he is known for being in Busted and Fightstar, which is like a screaming metal band, he’s actually got this other soulful side to him, which I think is not really heard enough. We are trying new things. It’s been 20 years, well, 24 years with me and James, and we found out what we all do very well. Right now we work better than we’ve ever worked in our lives and songs can come from different things. It’s a really interesting process right now. We had a bunch of song titles, and we started writing to a title, which is something we’ve not really done before. It was quite interesting to have a title and a concept.

We had also been working with a guy called Jordan Fish, who was in Bring Me the Horizon, and he’s just the most fucking talented guy I’ve ever met in my life. He’s our little secret weapon. It’s been the most enjoyable writing experience I’ve ever had.

Shirt Studio Nicholson / Vest Uniqlo / Tracksuit Mr P / Slippers Manolo Blahnik

That sounds really exciting. It’s also always quite nice to collaborate with others just to see what you can create because it’s not something you would usually create by yourself, as you said. Let’s talk about your documentary, Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction, which was widely acclaimed for its candid portrayal of your struggles with addiction. How has sharing your story impacted you personally? Was it easy to open up considering you are a person who’s in the spotlight?

It’s strange to kind of go there, I always had to keep coming back to “why?.” It was a really important thing and also why I wanted to do it. I think we have a certain stigma attached to addiction that is not going away. It is starting to move right now. The dial is changing but it’s going to take more things like that to show people that this is something that can affect everybody, you know? It’s a bit cliche for someone in the music industry to make one. It’s like, “You fucking pop star,” you know, “blah, blah, blah.” I kind of wanted to show that it wasn’t that. I meet people every day in addiction and I talk to people every day from every walk of life. It affects everyone and the impact it has on families is huge, you can really destroy a family and rip people apart. It’s a really hard thing to deal with and to understand. People just think, “Just fucking stop,” and they’re right, just fucking stop. But unfortunately, it’s so hard, it’s so much more difficult than I think people understand. I think once you’re in, you’re in. I heard a term once that said, “If you were a gherkin, you can never be a cucumber ever again.” And that’s me. I am a gherkin, I can never be a cucumber ever again. I tried. I’ve tried many, many times and that’s okay because I now have ways to deal with it.

Shirt Dries Van Noten / Shorts Studio Nicholson / Socks Uniqlo / Sneakers Adidas

There are things that I do on a daily basis that help me a day at a time to stay clean and sober. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and there are ways to help people. I think the more we can get them out there, the more we can get people talking about them. The bravest thing you can do is say, “I’m fucking struggling, I need some help.” It’s not quitting. I was defeated. I was on my knees. I was powerless over addiction. And I needed help and I reached out and people gave it to me, I was met with empathy and love. I was really lucky to be able to get that. The shame that people hold from their addiction is so huge that they don’t really want to talk about it. I was like, “Right, for that to happen, I’ve got to go all the way and show people that I’m willing to bare my soul in a way and kind of go, ‘This is me, this is what happened, this is what I did to my family.’” And we’ve got through it and we’re kind of working to get through it. Emma’s contribution was massively important in [the documentary] because I think you got to see it from a different side.

Jacket Mr P / Polo Shirt Brunello Cucinelli / Trousers Louis Vuitton / Sneakers Adidas / Jewellery Matt’s own

But it was scary to put myself out there, I was the most terrified I’ve ever been in my life. It’s a very unknown thing, you don’t know how people are going to perceive it. But I mean, I just was like, “I need to do this.” And it’s only been beneficial for me in my life. On the podcast, Bryony Gordon told me a great saying, which was that “Shame fades when you show it to light”, and that’s been my truth. Whenever I hide and I’m secretive, it fucking eats away at me, but when I expose those things to light, it fades away and the power’s gone from it. It’s a big part of 12-step recovery as well. Step four is writing down all the shit that happened to you and step five is telling it to another person. I think that’s what that documentary was in a way. It’s kind of a step four and five. Other addicts will be able to resonate with that. There is hope. There is the possibility that there isn’t just a life of fucking shame. I keep working at it because I never want to go back there, you know? It’d be really great if you could take some magic pill and not be an addict anymore, but unfortunately,  we tried that and that’s what got us in trouble the first time. Maybe we test a new approach, which is extreme honesty, which is the hardest thing for an addict to do. It comes second nature to me now.

You only have to look at the way things are going with addiction in our country. It doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It seems to be getting worse and worse. Something has to change. I think the more people can share about that, the more people will listen, and hopefully, we’ll be able to help more people.

Shirt Studio Nicholson / Vest Uniqlo / Tracksuit Mr P / Slippers Manolo Blahnik

100 percent. Launching your podcast series, “On The Mend,” seems like a natural progression from your documentary. Was a podcast always planned following the documentary, or what was your decision-making for that?

It actually was something I wanted to do before the documentary. I listened to podcasts all the time, and I’ve been wanting to do one for years, but I was kind of like, “What do I have to offer?” But then I thought, I love these chats, I love finding out more about people and what they do to help themselves, what help they get, and what works and what doesn’t work. Just because it doesn’t work for someone, it doesn’t mean it won’t work for someone else. I think within the recovery space, we can become very dogmatic about approaches. Like, this is the only way. It works if you work it, and if you don’t, if it’s not working, you’re not working hard enough, which is not helpful. There are so many ways to help, and there are so many different things to try. And if this doesn’t work, try this. I suppose it’s about giving practical tips and also showing strength for others that can inspire other people to take that journey. For me personally, I get so much from the podcast. I learned so much from the people that I talk to and it’s sometimes really fun. I feel like we kind of get into this mindset that recovery is really kind of dull in fucking church halls but that’s not it for me. My life is better now than it’s ever been. Sometimes recovery is tough and sometimes it’s hard, but worth it because what I get at the end of it is a life that’s free from drugs and alcohol, and free from shit in my head that destroys me. Good therapy is really fucking important; I say good therapy because it’s very easy to say, “Oh just go to a therapist.” But what does that mean? You’ve got to find someone who you connect with and in some ways. “On the Mend” is that in a way. It’s hearing that open discussion, I want to talk to more people in that space at the moment. I’m kind of like, right, “What practical tools can we use?” If you’re struggling with this, if you’re struggling with that, it’s not just addiction-based, we’re moving into kind of everything. Because there are so many things. I learned so many tools from so many different things, like what I do now is very different from what I did 13 years ago. What I do now is very different from what I did 8 years ago, what I do in 2 years might be different from what I do now. And that’s okay. It is about finding what works. As long as it’s working, keep doing it. And when it’s not, maybe try something else.

With a second series of “On The Mend” in the works, what can fans expect from upcoming episodes?

Right now we’re organising diaries, which is the most difficult part. We’ve got about eight guests right now who are kind of locked in. Even though it is a podcast and you listen to it, people want to watch it so we’ve got to cater to those people too. I understand because I love putting a podcast on YouTube, I love watching something, I love watching people interact, and I love seeing their faces. We’re looking at ways that we can film the whole thing and get it edited. It is difficult, but I think we’ve got everything sorted now. So I think in the next few weeks, I’ll be starting season two.

Denim Jacket and Jeans ISTO / Vest M&S / Neckerchief Stylist’s own / Socks London Sock Company / Shoes Grenson / Belt Awling / Sunglasses Oliver Goldsmith

That is great news, and it’s going to keep helping so many people out there too! Lastly, you will be hosting the UK version of Love Is Blind with your wife Emma [Willis]. I’m a fan of the US series already, mainly because of the drama, but is there anything you can unveil for us?

Working with Emma is so great, because it’s easy, you know? I was really nervous about it because I’m not a TV presenter. She’s like, “Just be yourself.” I’m like, “How the fuck do I do that?” But I’ve got a safe pair of hands next to me, and she’s the fucking best at what she does. So I’m going to just tag along with her. I’ve been with her pretty much half my life. When work and kids and stuff get in the way, you kind of forget sometimes that “Oh, I really fucking still love you.” I mean, we love each other, but you forget, “Oh I really like you, I want to hang out with you more than I want to hang out with anyone else,” which is so fucking nice. I’ve dated a few times before her, the odd girlfriend here and there, but Emma was my first real relationship, so I don’t really know how the dating world works. Everything I hear about that world is fucking tough. In Love Is Blind UK, people are in that world and they are sick of it and they just want love. That’s a beautiful thing.

I love that. I can’t wait to eventually watch it. Thank you so much for your time!

Follow Matt

‘On The Mend with Matt Willis’ is available wherever you get your podcasts.