20th Century Boys - The 1975 Interview

The calendar might say 2014, but this has still been quite a year for The 1975. Having topped the UK album charts with their self-titled debut last autumn, the Manchester indie foursome have been touring the world ever since.

“We’re really enjoying ourselves,” declares frontman Matt Healy. “We’re literally on the road all the time. We’re in a different city, if not country, every single day. I’m having a very, very intense period of my life, where it’s a balance between trying to come to terms with everything, but also striking while the iron’s hot.”
As he speaks to Hot Press, the 25-year-old singer is backstage at a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark. “We’re in the middle of a run of festivals,” he explains. “We just got back from Chicago, and were in Sydney before that. We played at Lollapalooza the other day and that was really amazing.”
But of all the big festivals and shows the band have played, nothing has yet quite topped the thrill of supporting the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park last summer.
“When we supported the Stones, we were in our dressing-room and heard what we thought was a Stones record being played next door,” he recalls. “We went outside and realised they’re in the next room rehearsing before they went on. They’ve been in a band for 50 years and they’re still rehearsing! There’s no way they’re rehearsing for any other reason than they fucking care. They really, really care about it. That was the main thing I took away from that Stones gig. Jagger was on the side of the stage dancing during ‘Chocolate’; that was a bit of a moment. It was an amazing day.”
Despite all their commercial success, The 1975 - they took their moniker from a handwritten inscription Healy found at the back of a tattered old volume of Beat poetry - have their detractors. The main charge against them is that their eclectic sound – a cacophonous blend of indie rock, R ‘n’ B, electronica, dance and synth pop - can’t easily be categorised or pigeonholed.
“It’s a very subconscious thing,” he says. “It’s the whole ‘we create in the way that we consume’ thing. Musically, we’re very informed by this generation; a generation that doesn’t listen to one type of music, that doesn’t have a stoic adherence to any genre. We’re a replication of that, and I think that, as a songwriter, I’m a composite of all of my favourite songwriters. We’re very much a melting pot of ideas and we’re kind of unhindered by the rules that have been dictated by people like the NME.”
Needless to say, the UK music weekly hasn’t always been kind to them. Healy declares himself unbothered by their critical sneers.
“I actually enjoy the backlash a bit,” he laughs. “Who doesn’t want their art to provoke people? It’s all subjective. You do something and, at the time, you’re a knobhead. Twenty years down the line, you’re a legend. You can't worry about how people are perceiving you because it’s all gonna happen retrospectively. All I need to do is be true to myself. If people like me, they like me; if they don’t like me, they don’t like me. I can’t be worried about things I don’t have control over.”
It was reported earlier this year that Healy had been writing songs in the studio with One Direction. Will anything come out of those sessions?
“Nothing happened, there’s not really anything to report. We’ve worked with a million artists, people are just so interested in One Direction and what they’re up to.”
Finally, are The 1975 looking forward to playing at Electric Picnic?
“Of course!” he enthuses. “It’s Ireland! Everyone knows that when you get to Ireland you’re at one with the Irish mentality. We did a small tour there earlier this year. There’s no other gigs that I’ve done where I’ve been demanded by the audience to down a full pint of Guinness on stage when I was just gonna have a sip!”

The 1975 play Electric Picnic on the Friday