In the run-up to The Current’s Winter Warmup with the 1975 on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the Armory in Minneapolis, The Current’s Jill Riley connected with the 1975’s Matty Healy, the frontman and principal songwriter of the band.

Healy provides vital insight into his process as a songwriter and music producer, describing just how personal the process is to him. He also describes how he and bandmate George Daniel worked with superproducer Jack Antonoff on the latest record, Being Funny in a Foreign Language. And while some people like to use the word “visionary” to describe Healy’s approach, he’s quick to bring that conversation back down to earth.

Listen to the complete interview above, and read a transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Edited for clarity.

Jill Riley: You are listening to The Current. I'm Jill Riley. And I've got a special guest on The Current's morning show today. He's from the band, the 1975. Matty Healy. How are you?

Matty Healy: I'm fine. Thank you. How are you? 

Jill Riley: I'm doing great. I'm very excited to be talking about the new record, excited for you, excited for The Current fans to see you at the Minneapolis Armory. So the record is called Being Funny in a Foreign Language, and the tour that's coming through the Twin Cities is called the At Their Very Best tour. And it's also part of The Current Winter Warmup show coming Wednesday, December 14, at the Armory in Minneapolis. And we're gonna be having a lot of fun. So Matty, I think, let's just start with talking about the new record. Now, the first song that we played and that we heard here on The Current was the song, "Part of the Band." I remember hearing the song play. And I looked down at my song list, and it was marked as The 1975. And I thought to myself for one moment, is this mislabeled? I mean, this isn't The 1975 I know; it was such a different sound. But I wonder if we could just start with that song, in particular, "Part of the Band." When did you start work on it? And what was the sound that you really wanted to go for with that song?

Matty Healy: I really didn't know, I had written it as a kind of E Street Band, just rock song. And it was something that was totally forgotten about until we got to the studio. And the the interesting thing about the uninteresting song, that was the original "Part of the Band," was the way that I was performing the lyrics. And it was something that everyone kind of wanted to look into. So then we were playing around with different instruments, string instruments, modulators and stuff like that. And we thought, "You know what, let's take the rhythm out, let's take the drums out." And then we just made this thing out of strings and me kind of like stream-of-consciousness talking. I think that it's, it's maybe quite, like you said, you were quite alarmed when you when you heard it. I mean, being alarmed by a new 1975 song is not uncommon, but the way in which people are alarmed is normally in a kind of like maximalist sense, whether it be "People" from the last record, which was like a metal-infused song or like, "Give Yourself a Try" on the third record, which was very angular and kind of almost a difficult lesson. This was so the other way, that I think that, you know, that's what was kind of interesting about it to lead with. But the whole record is very intimate in that way.

Jill Riley: Yeah, I would say, I mean, this surprise was a very positive one. So I hope you take that as a compliment.

Matty Healy: Oh, of course. Yeah.

 Jill Riley: It's not that there's a certain thing you come to expect, but you know, a very traditional, perhaps pop structure. And then when you give something, somebody something so different, you know, with this record, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, you really do explore a lot of different territory. 

Matty Healy: Yeah, I mean, I think that the reason that my previous records are always so long is because I always think that I need to present, like, the whole of who I am, and people are so dynamic, you know, I always want to try and get all of those dynamics out. I think I've tried to do that in the most concise way possible. But yeah, of course, it covers as much; it covers the ground from where I'm at emotionally, like, earnestly, soppily, to where we are politically and socially and, you know, like, it is, in an essence, in some ways, a continuation from our third album, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, in the way that that subject matter is kind of my subject matter; you know, consumption of love, substances and content.

Jill Riley: I'm talking with Matty Healy from the 1975 here on The Current, and you know, that song we talked about, "Part of the Band," you brought in Jack Antonoff, as producer for this record. And I wonder with the way that you write, and the way that you really oversee the band's material, I mean, you know, that's just the way it is with how you create. Now when it comes to working with a producer and working with I mean, a really great producer, Jack Antonoff, what did you want his role to be?

Matty Healy: Yeah, well, I think the way that that he has approached it previously, is it has been writer and producer on a lot of records. So what happened with me and Jack and [Healy’s bandmate] George [Daniel], was that, like you said, we're producers and Jack's a producer. So why would you or how would you figure that out? We basically started talking about other people's records, then we became very good friends. And then we started talking about music, we started talking about our record. And I just got to the point where I knew what kind of record I wanted to make. I just didn't know exactly the best way to do it. And me and George were also tired by that point, because we spent a year of thinking and working, and Jack's incredibly enthusiastic and had become like a very good friend of ours. So we just said, "Let's take these conversations that we're doing right now, instead of wasting time just, like, talking, let's just do this in the studio, and then we can just react to it." You know, it's just like a co-production. I mean, a 1975 record wouldn't be a 1975 record if it wasn't done by me and George as the writers and the directors. But what happened with Jack is that we were fortunate enough to make a really close new friend who happened to be one of the best producers in the world. So it was like, well, why not just all do it together, you know?

Jill Riley: Talking to Matty Healy from the 1975. You know, you mentioned the word "studio." So I just want to jump into where you made the record: Electric Lady and Real World studios. And for anyone who doesn't know about Real World studios, that's Peter Gabriel's studio, right? 

Matty Healy: Yeah.

Jill Riley: Yeah. So I mean, those are pretty incredible spaces to be in. I mean, these days, you can make a record anywhere, right? What was really special about working in those two spaces? 

Matty Healy: Well, Jack works out of Electric Lady for a start. So any time we were in New York, we would work out of there. And those are my two favorite studios. I mean, Real World was like, somewhere that I dreamt of going when I was a kid; you know, like Real World is, if you're into music production, you know what Real World is — you know, it's the best looking and kind of sounding room that exists. So we kind of moved in there for, like, two months or something, and the record was done. Because we just went into a room, and we were like, "Listen, we've got instruments, we've been in the band for 20 years, anyone can make anything on a computer, let's go into a room and make a record with these instruments." And that'll actually be more fresh and transgressive than other stuff that's going on, do you know what I mean? Which is ironic, but it's true.

Jill Riley: Right, it's — "being fresh" is like getting back to the basics of, you know, actually playing the instruments, right? I mean...

Matty Healy: And with this record, in general, like, I think that it's important for like, bands to kind of like, understand who they are, at certain times in their career, do you know what I mean? And I don't really think about myself, like, where I'm at, in my career; I'm literally kind of quite self involved, and I just make music and do my thing. Genuinely, I'm not a rock star; I'm more like a nerd. But, so I just like do these things. But my point there was that, OK, the 1975 is lots of things, right? It's all of this electronic stuff, and this ambient stuff, and it's experimentation. But like, if you're walking past the 1975 at a festival, for example, and it's in your peripheral vision, what is it that's recognizable? It's kind of, it's black and white, or it's pink, and it's the memorable songs, you know, the big songs. So we thought, like, if we were going as the 1975 for Halloween, like, how would we do it? Like what would the 1975 campaign look like? What would the songs sound like? You know, and we didn't want to, like repeat ourselves. But we wanted to be like, "This is what it sounds like when the 1975 just be in a room." You know? This was the time to do that.

Jill Riley: You mentioned the word "visual." Visuals are a big component to the music, when it comes to the stage, when it comes to album art, even, I think, the visual presentation of the band. How did the music inform what you wanted people to see?

Matty Healy: So there's like "visionary" and "genius" — right? — tend to get put next to each other, right? So I've never called myself a genius. So I just want to take the word "visionary" out of the complimentary lexicon — right? — and let's just use it as an objective word. Some people, the way that they work, is, it's quite visual. I think it's trendy a lot of the time to say that you have like synesthesia, or you see colors or whatever. But the truth is, is that when I'm making stuff, what I'm really doing is sitting there and imagining things and then trying to — it's like when you wake up from a dream and you want to try and describe it, you know? So when I'm writing a song, the music video is just what's going on in my head. It's not that, like, I'm brilliant or genius. It's just that I have a vision, and like you say, you know, like with a vision, you should always let one person direct that. You know, the quote is "a camel is a horse designed by committee." You know, if I've got a horse in my head, and I give it to 11 people, I'm gonna get a camel back. And I'm not a control freak, but it's quite obvious that everything is from one place, you know, visually and lyrically and all those kinds of things, so it doesn't really stop, but like the music, the music is part of the whole — is part of the 1975.

Jill Riley: Matty Healy from the 1975 is with me here on The Current's Morning Show. We are looking forward to the At Their Very Best tour, The Current's Winter Warmup Wednesday, December 14, at the Armory. Matty, I just want to ask you about the title of the album, because, you know, as I've looked back at your other albums, it would seem that, not that album titles just, like, fall out of the sky, but I just think you've had a couple particular moments where either or you were really just being present or paying attention to your surroundings, or it does seem like something would just like land at the right time, whether it's something you saw, or maybe a thought that you had. So Being Funny in a Foreign Language, where did that come up for you?

Matty Healy: I mean, it's nice to keep the interpretive — I mean, I can give you my interpretation. When I've seen people do that, it's so sophisticated, and people being funny, it's the height of intelligence and empathy, you know? And if we all had the ability to do that, you know, with all the struggles that we have with culture wars, and globalization, and identity politics, and all these kinds of things, if we had the practical goal of getting so good in a language, that you could be funny in another language, you know, you could empathize with the culture to such an extent that you could reveal a truth, which is what comedy does, you know, that would be something that could like save the world, do you know what I mean? So it wasn't my call for revolution, but I just thought it was an idea that, like a lot of our titles tend to be, that is part of the kind of zeitgeist, you know? The last thing we want to do is hear our own voices. We want to hear the voices of other people, and hearing people is like truly empathizing, you know? The reason that you can't keep dolphins in concrete tanks because the reflection of their echo eventually drives them insane.

Jill Riley: And how it applies to humans and the same thing. We're looking forward to getting a bunch of humans in the same space and having you come to town, the 1975, Wednesday, December 14 at the Armory in Minneapolis, At Their Very Best tour. Matty. I've really enjoyed talking with you. I wish we could continue but all good things must come to a close. I need to let you go, but it's been great checking in and we look forward to the 1975 on the road.

Matty Healy: Thank you so much.

Jill Riley: All right, you are listening to The Current and here's the 1975, how about another song? This one's called "Happiness," and it's on The Current.

External Link

The 1975 - official site