Back to the Busted court case everybody. As you'll remember, two founder members of the one time boy band, who were kicked out just before the band made it big, are suing their former band mates Matt Willis and James Bourne over allegations they are owed royalties for their contributions to some of the pop act's early hits. Ki McPhail and Owen Doyle have reached an out of court settlement with Busted's former management, who they claimed made them sign a dodgy agreement giving up their IP rights on departing the band, but the dispute with Willis and Bourne is ongoing.
McPhail took to the witness stand yesterday to discuss the Busted songwriting process in the early days, presumably to show that songs like 'Year 3000' and 'What I Go To School For' were written collaboratively by all four founder members, and not in isolation by Bourne and Willis. The discussion even involved McPhail getting his guitar out, possibly to show the jury he can play.
McPhail painted a rosy picture of the early days of the band, describing how the four members would pretend to be at the Brits and film themselves getting awards, but says that things turned bleak when he fell out with Willis, who the plaintiffs seem keen to paint as being the villain of the piece. McPhail again claimed to have had a long friendship with Willis before the falling out - a fact disputed by Willis in a formal court declaration, something which McPhail has used to accuse his former friend of perjury.
The case continues.