Harry Styles said he met one of his new band members in a pizza shop as he told of his plans to take the group on tour later this year.
The One Direction star described his current musical set-up as he released his debut self-titled album on Friday.
He joined breakfast shows on BBC Radio 1 and 2 to speak about life as a solo artist so far, marking the occasion with a loud white and red chequered suit that Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw compared to tea towels.
Talking to Radio 2's Chris Evans about his new backing band of five, he said: "I found my bandmate Mitch in a pizza shop.
"He had never been in a studio before but he was an absolute monster as a musician and now he is one of my best friends."
Describing the crew as "wonderful people," he said: "My favourite part about playing with this band is that I never really felt repressed, I never felt like I was faking it.
"I thought, 'I'm going to put this out and I'm going to say everything'. I wanted to be honest."
But he insisted there were no hard feelings between his previous One Direction bandmates, who have all pursued their own musical exploits since dispersing in 2015.
Making his mark as the second member to release a full solo album, following Zayn Malik, he told Evans: "I always listen to everyone's stuff as it goes out.
"It has been amazing listening to them explore and hearing them do well."
One Direction shot to fame when they competed in the 2010 series of X Factor, quickly signing with Simon Cowell's label SyCo.
Reminiscing about the old says, Styles said his favourite mementos included "beaten up" shoes from the group's early tours.
He said that former boss Cowell, on the other hand, had merely left him with the gift of "anxiety."
Meanwhile, Grimshaw quizzed Styles on his new tracks, asking if emotional tune Two Ghosts was written about his former partner, singer Taylor Swift.
Styles squirmed at the claim and tried to deflect it with the roundabout summary: "I think it's pretty self-explanatory."
He also spoke of his audition and five weeks filming for Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie Dunkirk, and promised Evans that he would continue to release music on a regular basis.
During his stint on Evans' show he met with musical legends Paul Weller and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, as well as King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword director Guy Ritchie.
Betraying an interest in taking his acting career further, Styles volunteered himself for a role in Ritchie's remake of classic Disney movie, Aladdin.
"My manager's outside if you want to have a word," he hinted.