Artists Profile - The 1975 Influences

The 1975 Influences

Band Basics

 "The dark and youthful themes of sex, love, and fear with ethereal alt-rock music."

The 1975 are an English rock band originating from Wilmslow, Cheshire.

The group consists of:
Matthew Healy (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)
Adam Hann (lead guitar)
Ross MacDonald (bass)
George Daniel (drums).

Their songs range from synth-pop and Nu Gaze to indie and alternative rock.
The band's origins trace to them attending Wilmslow High School and playing together as teenagers in 2002. Their gigs where organised by a council worker. Through the early years of their careers, The 1975's record label boss and manager Jamie Oborne revealed that the band were turned down by "every label in the UK." They eventually signed record deals after success with Dirty Hit, Polydor, Vagrant and Interscope. All of these record companies support Indie singers and bands, for example 'Troye Sivan'.

The 1975 created their name from taking inspiration from a Jack Kerouac Beat poetry book. Matty Healy discovered the band name in the back of a beat-era book given to him at a yard sale. He stated:
“In the back there were all these mental scribblings, it was almost suicidal, and it was dated at the bottom '1st June, The 1975'. The use of the word 'The' really stuck with me. It was the perfect band name.”
The band stated within an interview for Saturday Night Online that their main musical influences are: Michael Jackson, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Floyd, Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston.

The 1975 have a British music producer and mix engineer named Mike Crossey (born 1979). He helped The 1975 produce both of their albums. He also works with artists and bands within a similar genre for example, he produced Arctic Monkeys' debut single and their first two albums. He has also produced records for Foals, Keane, Jake Bugg and many others. Mike Crossey said in an interview when talking about The 1975: "I heard the 1975 demos, and I immediately loved the songs and vibe of the band. That combination of guitars and electronic elements that I was looking for was right there, they just needed someone to help them make their record.”



Matthew Healy 

Matthew (Matty) Healy aged 27, is the lead vocalist of the band 'The 1975'.

Healy was born in London on April 8th, 1989. Healy is a devout atheist, but loves religious iconography

He is the son of actress Denise Welch who is best known for playing the role of Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street and Steph Haydock in Waterloo Road. His father is Tim Healy who is best known for playing Dennis Patterson in the television series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Les/Lesley in the ITV comedy-drama series Benidorm.

In 2001, Healy met his bandmates at Wilmslow High School in Wilmslow. He grouped up with keyboardist Adam Hann, drummer and backing vocalist George Daniel, and bassist and backing vocalist Ross MacDonald. The band begun with punk-rock and pop covers before beginning to write their own music.
Healy was originally the drummer but took over vocals after the previous singer left to start another band.

Matty Healy, the lead vocalist name on twitter is: @truemanblack
he named himself Trueman from his inspiration by the author Truman Capote.
he stated in an interview:
“This dates back to like before nobody knew who I was. I chose Truman Black because I was reading In Cold Blood at the time and I think I was kind of just like slightly obsessed with Truman Capote…and that’s where the first name came from and I think that Black was quite obvious to me because of my style.”
The book which inspired him was called 'In Cold Blood' which is a non-fiction novel being the second-biggest-selling true crime book in publishing history.


About The 1975

Albums Released:
The 1975 (2013)
I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It (2016)

Everything within their first album was black-and-white. The videos, the art, the photoshoots. It was a very strict concept. Matthew Healy when describing the first 'The 1975' album sated in an interview: "The album, it's sort of like a soundtrack to  a John Hughes movie, that kind of the vibe of what we've gone for. I wouldn't wanna say that it's 80's influenced, but it is in the way that we want to have parallel with artists that were peaking at that time, like Michael Jackson, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel."
Their new album on the 1st of June 2015, where they relaunched their brand identity into colour.

The band's social media accounts were terminated, which caused intense speculation. A comic strip was posted on Matthew Healy's Twitter a day prior but is now on their manager's account, which suggested the band's break-up. The next day, the accounts were reinstated, but the cover images and profile photos were white and light pink, instead of the usual black and white, revealing it to be a publicity stunt. There had to be some explanation for the new image, and the band answered that question with identical Instagram posts stating “14 DAYS” in their new signature pink. On October 8th, they finally gave the fans an answer. “Love Me,” a new single under the latest image and of course, proudly displayed in pink light. As it turns out, the rebrand was somewhat necessary, they left their black and white tunes in the dust and have moved on to a brand new vibrant 80s vibe.

This grasped the attention of their target audience. With the stunt being on the social media platform twitter, this created a tending tweet which gained the attention of potential audience members who may not usually conform to the Indie rock genre. The comic strip was indicating a relaunch of their brand identity however it could also be interpreted as the band splitting up. Disappearance from social media has been a stunt many bands have done, for example, The Clash, who stated: "social networking is for lunatics obviously. We aren’t Twitter, but other people named as us are there.” More recently, Radiohead have vanished from social media. This is therefore indicating that rock/ alternative indie bands find other ways of putting their music across other than relying on the mainstream platforms on social media.


Brand Identity:
The rectangle does not have a proper “meaning”. Their friend Samüel created their artwork aswell as their logo font and they really liked how simple and minimalistic the box looked and how it reminded them of Chanel and the simplicity of one of their marketing campaigns. You know it’s all about the juxtaposition between how their music looks on screen and how it feels.

Musical Inspiration

With the band stating that their main musical influences are: Michael Jackson, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Floyd, Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston.
It becomes apparent that their musical inspiration comes mainly from the 60's through to the 80's. Their inspiration from these artists is clearly mirrored through their work. They adapt the old eras of music into a modernised, refreshing subgenre of all the artists stated. Elements of pop which has been influenced by the workings of Michael Jackson is seen through certain songs such as 'Girls' released in 2013. Whereas songs on their latest album are seen to be more Indie such as 'Somebody Else'. Every song within both of their albums reflect their musical influences.
With their inspiration varying from Psychedelic rock to Pop music it becomes apparent that their band identity does not categorise itself within any specific genre.

Matthew Healy mentioned that within the new album "I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It' that he bases the albums ideology with factors from the 80's era. The use of colour instead of their original back and white brand identity highlights their new appearance and makes their target audience aware that they are changing their whole musical outlook. The artists that the band have stated are those who have inspired them are ones who use vibrant colours within their ideology. The use of colour originated from the psychedelic era in the 1960's which links closely to the Indie genre.

When listening to the songs of Peter Gabriel, it becomes apparent in the song "Big Time" is one of their main influences. The 1975 have got a hold of certain sounds in the backing of the song and incorporated a similar sound throughout their album. This therefore helps target a wider audience, due to older members relating the similar melody to Peter Gabriel. This goes against the conventions of the Indie genre due to it normally being associated with a younger target audience.