The 1975’s Matty Healy has spoken about what it means to be a ‘Manchester band’ in a new interview.
Speaking to Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe in a Dork exclusive clip you can check out below, he discussed how the band had previously had a “weird relationship” with the city, though that has changed in recent years.
“It wasn’t subversive to be a band from Manchester that sounded like a band from Manchester,” Matty explains. “Because this is the weird relationship we had with Manchester. Now, now we’re super embraced… now you go on the street, today it’s madness. So many people coming over.
“I love it in Manchester because people are so … There is this Manchester pride thing, but at the beginning, you had the Buzzcocks, you had the Smiths, you had Stone Roses, you had Happy Mondays, you had Oasis, you had Doves, you had whatever. The reason that those bands were massive is because they didn’t sound like anyone else. And they changed stuff. That’s why they were celebrated. So after the Oasis, the Manchester Sound had been so established that people walking around dressing like Ian Brown in a parka were looking for the next obviously recognizable thing. I was a bit like, “Well, nah, we are the next Manchester band because we’re as new as The Smiths were.”
To which Zane offers: “That’s true. People talk about following in the footsteps of giants or standing on the shoulder of them while we’re talking about Oasis. I think where there’s a confusion there is people feel like be influenced by that and embellish it ever so slightly. No, what it means is stand in their footsteps for a minute and then take footsteps of your own on that path.”
Matty’s response: “Don’t copy them. Don’t copy other bands.”
The 1975’s new album ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’ is set to drop this coming Friday, 14th October. You can read our 5-star review here.
Tune in to Apple Music 1 today at 18:00 BST for the full interview with Zane Lowe and Matt Healy. Listen in here.
