Manchester’s The 1975 got our attention with their Facedown EP which is something to definitely get into, which we did, check it out here. We caught up with Matt to talk past, present and the future…
US: How did you form and where did you take your name from?
MATT:We met at school – smoking and queuing to use the one drum kit and guitar amp. The name comes from a page of scribblings I found in an old book that I acquired. I got it off an artist i met when i was travelling a few summers ago. On the back page there were loads of suicidal messages and it was dated ‘1st June, The 1975’. The use of the word ‘The’ preceding the date really stuck with me.
US: What influences you as a band and describe your own sound?
MATT: Love, Death, Life, Hopes, Fears, Good, Evil…. We are a band making alternative popular music.
US: Tell us about the EP?
MATT: The Facedown EP and Sex EP was recorded and produced mainly in my bedroom. We hit a studio for a week or so to get it perfect. It was a real labour of love. The videos were all directed by my friend James Booth. He is a wonderful director and has been with us since the beginning. The 1975 is a very tight crew.
US: What have you got coming up for the rest of the year?
MATT: We are about to start making a full length album and then we do our first headline tour in Dec. Come 2013 we will start touring and hopefully never stop.
US: What other bands are you listening to at the moment
MATT: We’re recording our album at the moment so it’s purely The 1975. We don’t want to taint what we’re doing with any subconscious influences we could pick up from our contemporaries. But in the studio at the moment – lot’s of 90’s R&B – Gospel – Jesus and Mary Chain – lots of Bowie etc. Culturally defining music. That’s what we’re about. And A$AP Rocky……Of course
On tour
Sun 2nd Dec Leeds Cockpit 3
Mon 3rd Dec Glasgow King Tuts
Tue 4th Dec Hull Fruit
Wed 5th Dec Manchester Sound Control
Thu 6th Dec London Barfly
Fri 7th Dec Southampton Joiners
Sat 8th Dec Birmingham Temple
Tue 11th Dec Dublin Academy 2
Wed 12th Dec Belfast Oh Yeah Center
Thus 13th Dec Newcastle Head Of Steam