We met Matty from The 1975 at their gig in Munich for an interview yesterday.
We gave some fans the chance to send their questions in, and here is the result.
Check out their new video to their single ‘Settle Down’ here.
‘Settle Down’ is taken from The 1975’s self-titled debut album which is out now.
If you could swap bodies with anyone on this earth, who would it be?
Oh that’s so difficult, today I’d like to be like Cristiano Ronaldo. I’d be like the best footballer in the world, I’d love to be that.. Oh no wait! I’d be like Rodney Mullen, like 20 years ago. He is like the best skateboarder ever, in my opinion. I’d love to be him.
What inspires your music and your style?
Everything, you know.. I’d probably say the romanticisation of relationships, the way that people do that. That is an idea, and cinema. Those are the two biggest influences on the way, that the style is dictated in music. It’s very cinematic, romanticised, all the ideas are kinda amplified.
I wouldn’t like to start saying particular artists or whatever, cause you know, we would be here for two days.
What was the craziest fan encounter?
Oh there is a lot.. there is a lot of crying, and we get a lot of amazing presents. A lot of amazing artistic kinda gifts. There is also a lot of underwear getting thrown on stage, that seems to happen a lot haha!
Lots of crazy stuff. Also, there are really famous fans, people from my favorite bands, like Courtney Taylor-Taylor from The Dandy Warhols, or there were The Killers at our show in Las Vegas, also like Taylor Swift and stuff, it’s quite funny.
Which song is currently stuck in your head?
It’s a My Bloody Valentine song, it’s called ‘She found now’, thats what’s in my head at the moment.
How do you feel about influencing young people that much with everything you do?
That’s a serious question.. It’s both, it’s like uncomfortable. I go from thinking about it a lot to not thinking about it. Cause the more I think about it, the less I want to think about it. It’s quite concerning, I mean the way the album works, there is a lot of kinda self deprecation, kind of fury towards myself in it. Thats not really a positive aspect of somebody’s personality, but that album was written before anybody knew who I was.
And people found out about it and then embraced it. And then I got turned into this figure like where is my heart on my sleeve. Because I didn’t really think about this before.
Kids can look up to me, because my band has done well, or they like my clothes or something like that, thats cool, thats fun.
But well it’s a record that spents when I was 17 till I was 24 years old, I don’t want kids to listen to that record and then just find their behavior by what I am talking about, you shouldn’t be doing lots of that stuff I’m talking about on records, and yeah.. I don’t know, it’s interesting.
What was your favorite song to write?
Girls! It’s so much fun, because we didn’t know whether we’ve written out best or worst song, cause it’s so poppy and so stupid and so much fun. It’s kind of a joke, it’s kinda cool.
The video, and the way the whole song is so bright, and the lyrics on, that was kinda the point of it.
And it was really fun to make that song.
It went over quite a long time, I only finished it 3 weeks before we finished the album. It wasn’t on the album first, the album was like 13 songs. And it didn’t have ‘Girls’, ‘Menswear’ and ‘Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You’, it didnt have all of that stuff on it, so we just put it on at the end.
Have any names for the second album has been discussed yet?
Yeah, it’s got a name… but I’m not gonna say it ha!
What can we expect from The 1975 next? Bigger Productions?
Yeah! When we gonna go to the next album, its gonna be lots of us. It’s gonna be sonically bigger, for sure.
Have you thought about any more on a clothing line?
Yeah..
..And?
Haha, I don’t know. We will see what happens. I’m really interested in it. I’ve spoken to people about it.. well, we will have to wait and see.
I’d love it.
Would you wear it?
Absolutely!
That’s cool.
If you could choose any artist to work with, who would it be?
Hm.. David Byrne, Fleetwood Mac.. That would be cool.
What’s your favorite accent?
On a girl? Hm, I really like southern Irish accent, I love italian accent. Well you go around and it changes all the time.. But yeah those two.
If you were given a book with the story of your life, would you read the end?
Wow.. No, no way. That’s a scary question. But a good one.
Which advice would you give to young artists who are just starting with music?
There is no rush. Don’t put music out when you’re a teenager. I dunno, I can’t give any advice, cause we fucked up so much ha, just make sure you fuck up behind closed doors. Don’t sign up to a record label when you’re 16, I’m telling you know, you’re not good enough when you’re 16. You’re not good enough when you’re 16, 17, 18.. either way..
What is the meaning and importance of having songs like the 1975 and 12 on the album?
It’s basically to make the record to listen to in a cinematic way, there are scence changes, but there is lots of reasons. I mean thats where we come from, the ambient music, thats kinda what we do. On the album it was such a collection on songs, and you have to let the album breathe. There will be a lot of that in future material, like it was on the EP.
Who was the most famous person you ever met?
I met lots of famous persons by now, Will Smith and Lindsay Lohan maybe? I met lots of people.
What’s your favorite flavour of hot chocolate?
I didn’t know there was other flavours of hot chocolate?! Just straight up, hot chocolate ha! Belgian hot chocolate, thats maybe what it is? Normal hot chocolate haha! I love a coffee anyway please.
What’s your favorite pancake filling?
Lemon and sugar. Straight up. I’m quite minimalist in kinda everything, so yeah, lemon and sugar.
