THE WANTED

Make no mistake about it: The Wanted are having the time of their lives. Only a year on from their huge Number One debut single ‘All Time Low’ and they have already become one of Britain’s biggest, most brilliant pop bands, living a dream that has far surpassed even their most optimistic expectations and all with their best mates at their side. Hard working and quite plainly loving every single second, the band have already notched up four anthemic Top Five singles and two Number Ones, been viewed a staggering 30 million times on YouTube views and sold 400,000 copies of their eponymous debut album, which shook pop music to its core upon its release last October. A year on and The Wanted are now set to shake up the charts all over again with their feverishly- anticipated second album, a euphoric widescreen classic of epic-pop proportions. It comes at the end of simply phenomenal 2011, a year that has seen The Wanted become serious pop players. With their ferociously infectious tunes, rock solid friendship and laddish charms, they have stamped all over the typical boy band mould and brought a blast of much-needed fresh air to British pop music. The accolades have followed accordingly: The ‘Best British Single’ Brit Award nomination for ‘All Time Low’ in February. The sell-out nationwide ‘Behind Bars’ Tour in March/April. A deal with prestigious American label Def Jam in April. Slots at the iTunes and V festivals in July and August, with 15,000 hollering revellers packing out the Big Blue Tent at V for a set many agreed was a highlight of the festival. All this from a band who started out paying their dues performing in somewhat dodgy nightclubs and a school tour that took them across the whole of the UK. Most significantly of all, the five piece even found time over summer to move out of their two adjoining flats in South London – where they lived in ‘Friends’-style harmony with Jay’s pet lizard Neytiri – and now each live alone, ten minutes apart, while Max is currently house hunting with his new fiancée, Coronation Street’s Michelle Keegan. “Basically, we’ve just grown up,” smiles Max.