History

2002-12: Formation

Matthew Healy (b. 8 April 1989), the son of actors Denise Welch and Tim Healy, grew up in Newcastle and Cheshire. He met Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann and George Daniel at Wilmslow High School. In Wilmslow, as teenagers they began to play music in 2002. The band formed when the local council worker organised a number of gigs for teenagers. Healy found Hann who "came up to and said he wanted to play one of these shows." The band began by playing a number of covers until they "eventually wrote a song," according to Healy. "We started from then and we've been making music together since we were about 15." 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. George Daniel was recruited as the new drummer to complete the final line-up.

Having previously performed and released material under various guises including Me and You Versus Them, Forever Enjoying Sex, 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 by Jack Kerouac dated "1 June, The 1975."

2012-14: Extended plays and The 1975

The release of the band's first EP, titled Facedown, in August 2012 saw the band's first UK airplay on national radio with lead track "The City," which was also 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 United Kingdom and Ireland which extended into 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 their 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 United States 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 of 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, 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 band were selling out shows even before the debut of their full length as Healy recalls in an interview with The AU review. 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 number one on the UK Albums Chart.

The 1975 toured in the 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. The band undertook a North American tour in October 2013, a European for November 2013, and in January 2014 the band performed in New Zealand and Australia. In September 2013, the band performed three sold out shows at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. In April 2014, the band performed for the first time in a major American music and arts festival, Coachella. The band played at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2014. In May 2014, the band's recorded output was made available digitally while they were touring North America. Healy noted that the band had recording scheduled in the first half of 2015.

2015-present: I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It

On 8 October 2015, the band announced their second studio album, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, released on 26 February 2016. They also premiered the first single of the album, "Love Me," while also scheduling a tour in support across Europe, North America, and Asia. They premiered the second single, "UGH!", on 10 December 2015 on Beats Radio 1. The album's third single, "The Sound," was debuted on Radio 1 on 14 January 2016. The 1975 debuted their song, "Somebody Else", from their upcoming album on 15 February 2016, on Beats Radio 1, before the full album was released on 26 February 2016. "A Change of Heart", although not a single, was premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 22 February 2016. The album was released, according to schedule, on 26 February 2016, and debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. The band recently released a free download of their song "How to Draw" on Twitter and only available through Target Exclusive.

Musical style

Scott Kerr of AllMusic wrote that the band combined "the dark and youthful themes of sex, love, and fear with ethereal alt-rock music." Healy specifically cites Talking Heads, My Bloody Valentine, and Michael Jackson as musical influences; he states that his greatest influence is the oeuvre of filmmaker John Hughes. For their second album, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, Healy cited D'Angelo, Roberta Flack, Boards of Canada and Sigur Rós as inspirations, saying "we're a post-modern pop band that references a million things. I don't even know what my band is half the time." Their "melancholic" black and white visual aesthetic is juxtaposed with major keys and what the band calls "classic pop sensibilities." Critics at Pitchfork 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." The sound of their debut album, The 1975, has been described as electropop, funk rock, indie pop, indie rock, pop, pop rock and rock. The 1975's second release, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, has been described as indie rock and pop.

Band members

Current members

• Matthew Healy - vocals, guitar (2002-present)
• Adam Hann - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (2002-present)
• George Daniel - drums, backing vocals (2002-present)
• Ross MacDonald - bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (2002-present)

Discography

Main article: The 1975 discography

Studio albums

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

[ Source: Wikipedia ]