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McFly's Danny Jones on the embarrassing boyband audition that started it all off

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 20: Danny Jones of McFly performs live on stage at The O2 Arena on November 20, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Simone Joyner/Getty Images)
McFly's Danny Jones on stage at The O2 Arena in 2019 (Getty Images)

McFly's Danny Jones remembers turning up to a boyband audition looking like he was in an 'Oasis cover band' because he mis-read the advert.

Talking to Kate Thornton on White Wine Question Time, the 36-year-old singer and guitarist explained he had met his bandmate Tom Fletcher at the audition, who spotted straight away that he wasn't the right fit.

The other two members of the band, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd, joined after Jones and Fletcher held further auditions.

But that first audition is understandably one which sticks in Jones's mind, as he called it 'one of the best moments in his life'.

Jones, currently appearing on Celebrity Masterchef, told Thornton: "I turn up there, there's a queue. No one's got a guitar and it's a cold wintry grey day. And I'm like: 'Mum, what am I doing here?'"

WATCH: Danny Jones on the embarrassing boyband audition that changed his life

He described realising that everyone else there was expecting to dance, and admitted a mis-alignment on the printed advert he'd seen made him think they wanted guitarists, where in fact it said: 'No guitarists'.

"I was just about to go to college," he told Thornton. "Literally thinking I was Liam Gallagher, I had the Parka on, the long hair down the sides over my ears, the Paul Weller hair cut."

Though once his mum realised what was going on, he said she was in the corner 'laughing her head off' and 'on the floor' as he looked around at others in the room pulling their moves.

But he said his mum knew it was important to get in front of the managers and the big players in the industry, and she was right given that he met Fletcher there who was filming the audition, having been signed as a songwriter.

Listen to the full episode to hear Danny talk about embracing his love of food on Celebrity MasterChef, and his craziest stories from two decades in music, from embarrassing auditions, to dinner with Elton John

Jones said: "It just shows, you've just got to do things and get in front of people. And this was one of those examples of Tom seeing me and going: 'Mate, you're not right for this boy band.'"

His introduction to pop music came when he was asked if he knew any pop — and named The Jam frontman Paul Weller.

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 21: Tom Fletcher (L) and Danny Jones of McFly perform at The O2 Arena on November 21, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Baker/Getty Images)
Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones of McFly at The O2 Arena in November 2021 (Getty Images)

He said: "Everyone laughed because to me that's what pop was, a popular person. I didn't know what pop was."

Fletcher took him to one side and sang him a bit of the Backstreet Boy's song Tell Me Why and his response was: "Mate what is that? That's amazing."

Read more: McFly sought group therapy before making their comeback

Having been 'in his own world' he said he hadn't really taken the music in before then.

"Honestly that day I was just like: 'Okay, three minute pop songs are quite addictive."

Between him and Fletcher, he says the energy they have is amazing, but there are still differences: his idol is Bruce Springsteen whereas Fletcher's was Bryan Adams.

He remembered spending a summer living with Fletcher's parents: "I'll never forget that summer I spent down there.

"He had a video of him as a kid on a chair singing Bryan Adams and I had the identical video of me doing it to Springsteen."

WATCH: Danny Jones on McFly's rocky start, having dinner with Elton John, and embracing his love of food on MasterChef