British indie-pop phenomenon The 1975 truly made their mark on Australia when they were here for Splendour In The Grass earlier this year.
With the band to return down under in January, The 1975 are currently on tour through the UK and Europe, and vocalist/ guitarist Matt Healy says the band is looking forward to getting back to Australia. “So we’re bringing out a production that we haven’t brought [to Australia] yet and it’s going to be the last part of the tour that we’re doing. I think that our shows are quite dramatic and very visually based and there’s a lot of involvement — they’re quite fun.”
During their time here in July, Matt says it was amazing to see how much Australian support the band have. “Quite loud and very ‘in’ to the band it seems,” Matt says of their Australian fans. “I mean, the shows sold out very quickly … and it’s like all our really hardcore fans came out to see those shows, so it was nice to see that we have that in Australia.”
For anyone who couldn’t get enough of The 1975 at Splendour or missed out on their sold-out side shows, the January tour boasts a longer setlist. Australian demand for The 1975 is unprecedented to the point of hysteria: both Sydney and Melbourne shows have already sold-out, with second shows already announced in those cities. Meanwhile, their Brisbane show has been upgraded from The Tivoli to The Marquee (RNA Showgrounds). “I heard that one of them got moved up but I didn’t know it was the Brisbane show, that’s cool,” Matt says excitedly. “It’s quite a big show as well, like an hour-and-a-half show, so we’re really looking forward to it.”
“[NME] are a bunch of fucking idiots, if you want my opinion, they’re just childish. They’re a facetious publication, they’re obsolete in both format and opinion.”
After releasing their first EP in 2012 and their debut album just a year ago, success has come swiftly for the UK four-piece, and Matt says it is difficult even for him to understand what it is about The 1975 that makes them so damn popular. “To be honest with you, it’s something I am obviously struggling to try and figure out every day; it’s also not really my place to say because maybe I’d get it wrong.
“I think it’s because people understand our band and it makes a lot of sense to them: the ideas that we talk about and the way we look and the line-ups that we are and the ideas that we hold dear to us. There’s a lot of personality to our band and I think people engage with personalities, people like dynamic personalities and if you can find yourself, like a little bit of yourself, in a band or in their material then you’re going to fall in love with them.”
While dynamic personalities and relatable material can get you so far, it is The 1975’s non-traditional approach to producing and marketing both their songs and themselves that has really paved the way for such unbridled, and relatively instant success. “It’s probably because we had nothing to lose,” Matt says, “we had nothing to lose and we had all of that material and we were having just fun with that year. We literally recorded an EP in a week, then we’d release it a week later and we did that four times and it was really cool. By the time we got to the record we had created this amazing foundation for ourselves.” By streamlining their production and taking advantage of burgeoning digital distribution avenues, The 1975 have carved out a very prestigious claim in a music industry still dominated by major labels. “We produced all of our records on our own in my bedroom, so that made things easier and quicker and meant that we’re producers as well, that’s the main thing. It meant that we could learn that craft whilst also learning how to make a record and now we’re producing our next record and we’re producing records for other people, so it’s great.”
Clearly, The 1975 have played their cards strategically well and it seems there is nowhere but up for them to go. However, to paraphrase an old saying, it is the brightest flame that burns quickest and for every boom there is an inevitable bust. The 1975 are in a tenuous position where their continued popularity is very much contingent on the success of their impending sophomore album, yet Matt isn’t concerned about fame slipping from their grasp. “No, not really … because it just doesn’t feel like it’s going to happen.
“I’ve never thought about it to be honest, so maybe if the question is ‘do I worry about that?’ then no, not really. Could it happen? Very possibly, I’m not sure but I don’t think so. We’ve got such a hardcore fanbase, we’ve got so much music that’s out there at the moment already and we’re going to have another record out in 2016 so I’m not too worried about it.”
With multiple chart-topping singles, a platinum record barely a year old and legions of rabid fans, The 1975 are undoubtedly one of the most popular bands in the world today. Yet at this year’s NME Awards they were voted ‘The Worst Band of The Year’, a dubious honour previously bestowed upon the likes of One Direction and Miley Cyrus. Matt laughs-off the distinction: “Yeah! I didn’t really have that much of a response; it’s just a childish gag isn’t it?
“I wasn’t annoyed about the nomination, it’s just a bit of fun and if they really want to have a go at me, I mean, they can’t sell as many magazines in a year as I can sell albums in a week so it’s not really a competition.”
Matt goes on to say the award doesn’t say as much about the quality of The 1975 as a band than it does about how out-of-touch and stilted the NME has become as a music publication, a topic on which he has some decidedly strong opinions to express. “It’s just another tired representation of how out-of-date and fucking obsolete the NME is,” he says in an exasperated tone, “both in format and opinion and the way that they conduct themselves. They have this really archaic, ‘80s, ‘where’s-the-cocaine’ kind of attitude and it’s really pathetic and sad to watch it carry on.
“They’re a bunch of fucking idiots, if you want my opinion, they’re just childish. They’re a facetious publication, they’re obsolete in both format and opinion and they have no editorial continuity because they have no money, because nobody buys their magazines, so they get students to write their magazines and then they get their back up when they get accused of being a shit publication, but they are a shit publication and they’re just stuck in the ‘80s in the worst way.”
The 1975 Tour Dates
Sat 10th Jan - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)Sun 11th Jan - Festival Hall (Melbourne)
Thu 15th Jan - Festival Hall (Melbourne, sold out)
Fri 16th Jan - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney)
Sat 17th Jan - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney, sold out)
Sun 18th Jan - The Marquee (Brisbane)
