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The 1975 The 1975 are an English alternative/indie
rock band based in Manchester. The group consists of Matthew Healy , Adam Hann , George Daniel
, and Ross MacDonald . They have released four EPs: Facedown, Sex,
Music for Cars and IV. Their self-titled debut album was released on 2 September 2013 through
Dirty Hit/Polydor. The album debuted at No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart on 8 September 2013,
ahead of Nine Inch Nails' comeback album. History
Formation and band name Matthew Healy (son of Denise Welch and Tim
Healy), Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann and George Daniel met at Wilmslow High School near Manchester
as teenagers and began to play music in 2002. "There was this idealistic hippy council worker
who started to put on these gigs for kids, to form bands. I remember the guitarist came
up to me and said he wanted to play one of these shows. We started playing, doing covers
of punk songs and pop songs and just started out doing that. Then once we eventually wrote
a song, I decided, well, this is a lot better than going to work – or going to school,
for that matter. We started from then and we've been making music together since we
were about 15 – George was 14, actually, when we started," said Healy in an interview
with Gigwise. After Hann invited the members to form a band, they passed their early days
covering punk songs in a local club. Healy was originally the drummer, but took over
vocals after the previous singer left to start another band. Daniel was recruited as the
new drummer to complete the final line-up. Having previously performed and released material
under various guises including Talkhouse, The Slowdown, Bigsleep, and Drive Like I Do,
the band eventually settled on the name The 1975. Healy recounts that the name was inspired
by scribblings found in the back page of an old Beat poetry book dated "1 June, The 1975".
The band first appeared as The 1975 in January 2012, in the run up to the release of their
first EP and after signing to UK based Indie label Dirty Hit. They performed as The 1975
for the first time in February as a support act for General Fiasco on their nationwide
tour. EP releases (2012–2013)
The release of the band's first EP, entitled Facedown, in August 2012 saw the band's first
UK airplay on national radio with lead track "The City", which featured as part of a BBC
Introducing show with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1.
The 1975 once again garnered national radio attention in late 2012, with BBC Radio 1 DJ
Zane Lowe championing their single "Sex" from the Sex EP, which was released on 19 November
2012. They embarked on a tour of the UK and Ireland which extended in to early 2013, before
beginning a US tour in the spring. Upon the release of Music for Cars EP on 4
March 2013, The 1975 found mainstream chart success with single "Chocolate", which reached
number 19 in the UK singles chart. On 20 May 2013 the band released IV EP, which included
a new version of the song "The City". The track charted in UK and received airplay in
several other countries. The 1975 toured extensively to support the
releases and to build hype before releasing the debut album. The band supported Muse on
the second leg of The 2nd Law World Tour at the Emirates Stadium in London on 26 May 2013.
They also toured with The Neighbourhood in the US in June 2013, and supported The Rolling
Stones in Hyde Park on 13 July 2013. In August 2013, the band performed on the Festival Republic
Stage at 2013 Reading and Leeds Festivals. In a feature article about the band, Elliot
Mitchell of When the Gramophone Rings wrote that releasing a string EPs before the debut
album was "a move that he deemed necessary to provide context to the band’s broad sound,
rather than just building up with singles alone." Matthew Healy said, "We wouldn’t
have been able to release the album without putting out the EP’s first, as we wanted
to make sure we could express ourselves properly before dropping this long, ambitious debut
record on people." The 1975 (2013–present)
The 1975, the band's self-titled debut album, was released on 2 September 2013. It was co-produced
by Mike Crossey, who has previously worked with Arctic Monkeys and Foals. The lead single
promoting the album is a re-worked version of "Sex", which was released on 26 August
2013. The song premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 8 July 2013, and a music video
was released onto YouTube on 26 July 2013. The 1975 debuted at no. 1 on the UK Albums
Chart. The 1975 will tour in UK in September 2013,
among others performing in Kingston upon Hull as headliners at Freedom Festival, a celebration
of the city's shortlisting for 2017 UK City of Culture designation, and at iTunes Festival
on 8 September 2013 as an opening act for indie electronic quartet Bastille. A North
American tour is planned for October 2013, European for November 2013, and in January
2014 the band will perform in New Zealand and Australia.
Musical style Critics at Pitchfork Magazine have favourably
compared them to The Big Pink. Sex EP was described by Paste as "equal parts ethereal
and synth pop", with "haunting" and "smooth" vocals. Their "mellow", stripped down style
was praised for its lack of "attention-grabbing production theatrics". Though generally acknowledged
as an alternative rock group, they have been influenced by diverse genres including electro-pop,
electronic music, guitar pop, and R&B. Healy specifically cites Talking Heads, Prince,
My Bloody Valentine, Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, D'angelo and Sigur Rós
as musical influences; he states that his greatest influence is the oeuvre of filmmaker
John Hughes. Their "melancholic" black and white visual aesthetic is juxtaposed with
major keys and what the band calls "classic pop sensibilities". Lyrically, The 1975 explore
themes of discovery and novelty in the more specific context of sex, love, drugs, hope,
death, and fear, thus the basis of rock music. Band members
Matthew Healy – vocals, guitar (2002–present) Adam Hann – guitar (2002–present)
George Daniel – drums (2002–present) Ross MacDonald – bass guitar (2002–present)
Discography Singles
Remixes