Two decades on from their debut, British boy band McFly have done it all - from becoming BRIT Award winners to stealing a Guinness World Record from The Beatles and starring in a Lindsay Lohan Hollywood film.
With all the excitement that comes with being pop-punk trailblazers, there are few job offers in the industry that really come as a surprise to the group - but being Lewis Capaldi's support act on tour was one of them.
Earlier this year, bassist Dougie Poynter coined it 'one of the most exciting things he'd heard in ages', and said: "We don't often do supporting slots because we don't get the right opportunities. This is an incredible opportunity."
But after the singer-songwriter's emotional performance at Glastonbury, Scottish star Lewis was forced to cancel all future work commitments to "spend much more time getting his mental and physical health in order".
"Playing for you every night is all I've ever dreamed of so this has been the most difficult decision of my life," the Someone You Loved hitmaker told his 7 million followers in an Instagram statement last month.
It meant that Dougie, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones and Harry Judd will no longer be performing alongside the Glaswegian in Belfast this September, but of course, there are no hard feelings. "He's got to look after himself and take some time out. It's good that he can do that and he's aware of it. I'm sure he'll have us back, fingers crossed," Danny told the Mirror.
Touching on the pressures of being thrown into the spotlight, Tom added: "We were really lucky that we were able to break pre-social media and all of the attention that comes with that." McFly are currently on tour around the country following the release of their new rock 'n' roll album, Power To Play, which is their most personal and passionate project to date.
"It's drastically different from our last album in every way, from recording to writing and performing it," Dougie explained. "It's our favourite album to play live, and it's really the first album we've done in a long time that is genuinely us."
Danny added: "We were all aligned and focused on what gets us excited. Instead of thinking about sales, we decided to just make an album for us. This is the first one we've made in our own studio, so that's exciting as well." A whole lot has changed since the band first released '5 Colours in Her Hair' and 'Obviously' nearly 20 years ago, and now they've learnt what really matters to them.
"I think it's more enjoyable now. We just make the most of it," Tom said. "That time when you're on stage is the most amazing feeling, and when we were younger, we didn't really appreciate it as much." Their newest track, 'Where Did All The Guitars Go?', is aimed at miniature rockers. As Tom said: "The whole point of this album is to inspire young kids to pick up instruments and play."
But aside from less pop and more rock, what else can we expect to see from McFly? There are few programmes they haven't been on, with Tom and Harry doing Strictly, Dougie winning I'm A Celeb and Danny on The Voice Kids.
"I think we'd pretty much say yes to all TV shows, apart from Naked Attraction," Tom chuckled. They agreed Dougie could give First We Feast's Hot Ones a go - which Lewis was on recently - and Amelia Dimoldenberg's Chicken Shop Date.
Dougie's the one that would definitely give ABBA-style holograms a whizz too, though Tom said: "We'd be up for trying them for interviews, but I'd still want to do the performing on stage." And there's no festival McFly would turn down. "Festivals are our favourite thing to do. We'd be up for any of them," Danny said, while Dougie agreed: "Coachella would be amazing. That's an incredible festival."
But if you want a one-to-one performance with the band, you can give their Amazon Prime Experience competition a shot. Dougie explained: "You can win an opportunity to meet us and we'll play a song for you."
McFly will give one lucky Prime customer and a friend the ultimate personalised meet and greet this Prime Day. Prime Members should check out Amazon Prime Experiences throughout 11th and 12th July to purchase.
