The 1975: Seven revelations about the band of the moment

A week on from the BRITs, The 1975 are on a roll. Sales for their winning album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships are up 188% week-on-week as it pushes for a return to the Top 10.

The band have also got a gold record – OCC sales passed 100,000 following their televised performance and BRITs wins for British Group and British Album. The 1975 have since been confirmed as Radio 1 Big Weekend headliners, in addition to topping the bill at Reading & Leeds Festivals.

In the latest issue of Music Week, label boss and manager Jamie Oborne described it as a “victory for the whole culture of alternative music, which doesn’t happen very often”. Here, the All On Red/Dirty Hit founder opens up with more revelations about The 1975….

The band wanted to play Love It If We Made It on live TV…

A hard-hitting live favourite on their recent arena tour, Matthew Healy’s big songwriting statement was an obvious contender for a BRITs performance. But it wasn’t to be, according to Oborne: “We wanted to play Love It If We Made It but there were a number of complications that came with that, which included us not wanting to have the words changed and ITV not wanting Matthew shouting ‘fucking in a car’. You know what, I kind of get it, there could be kids watching.”

But it is on Radio 1’s playlist…

Already a Top 40 single last summer, Love It If We Made It is back in chart contention as the band have approved a radio edit – minus the swearing, heroin references and horrible Trump quote – that promptly ended up on the BBC Radio 1 playlist. “It’s had a bit of an edit for Radio 1, but I understand that,” says Oborne. “It’s more important that that amazing song is heard. We’re about to have a hit at alternative radio with Love It If We Made It in America, which is kind of amazing. We’ve been working that at radio for a few months now. Radio 1 added Love It If We Made It to the playlist, which is great. I feel like that song’s taking on a life of its own, so that’s our next single in the UK.”

Notes On A Conditional Form is still coming soon…

Despite the obvious commercial opportunity for The 1975 to stick with the current BRIT-winning album for several more months, Dirty Hit are adamant that the campaign will switch to the follow-up album in spring/summer 2019. Speaking to Beats 1, Healy suggested off the cuff that May 31 would be good timing for a brand new single.

“We’re going to stick with [the plan], it will be summer,” adds Oborne. “It’s more important to us that we just keep releasing music consistently of quality. It’s about achieving critical mass in a conversation. It makes perfect sense to release new music. The plan is solid, the theory behind the plan is true. We’re going to start releasing new music pretty soon. There’s some amazing music to come.”

The meaning behind Matthew Healy’s BRITs speeches…

Quoting from an article by journalist Laura Snapes after their first win, Healy clearly had a message for the music industry. “Credit to him, he’s never afraid to be the person who steps up,” says Oborne. “I think really for me what he was saying to a roomful of men was that we’ve got to fucking do better.” Sadly, Oborne didn’t register Healy’s later reference to the label boss being a “fifth member” of the band. “It was so noisy on my table I didn’t hear any of it,” he says.

Success at the BRITs was ‘surreal’…

The band and Dirty Hit celebrated the triumphant third album campaign at the Universal party after the ceremony – but they can still remember when no one cared. “It’s really surreal, you have to remember that we started the label because nobody wanted to sign them,” says Oborne. “It’s fucking weird. Because of our entry point [into the industry] we’re always going to feel a bit like outsiders. When Matthew was stressing about if I thought he would win or not, because obviously when you’re in that situation you actually do want it, I had to point out to him that he’d kind of already won. We were there for all the pariahs!”

It was also a big one for Dirty Hit: “I’m buzzing for the guys that work at the label. I never stop and look at what happened, it’s really hard to be in the moment. Things like [the BRITs] make you do that and that’s a beautiful thing.”

Plus it was a special night for label GM Ed Blow…

The 1975 still have some way to go until they achieve global domination…

“We have a whole plan for Europe,” says Oborne. “America is pretty strong for us, I’d say it’s on a par with the UK - the UK and America are neck and neck. We have lots of festivals in Europe, we have a big marketing push that’s underway at the moment.”

In the UK, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships has sales of 100,563, of which 34.6% is from streaming. “YouTube have been a really important partner as have Spotify and Apple Music, we’re really blessed,” says Oborne. “We’ve forged these really good relationships with lots of really good people, there are a lot of really collaborative partners, that’s what’s been really amazing about this campaign so far. I’m really excited about doing more of that stuff.”

Healy and drummer/producer George Daniel have ambitions outside The 1975…

Don’t panic, the band have signed to Dirty Hit for three more albums. But helming A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships themselves has given them a taste for producing other artists. “Yeah, it’s a certainty,” says Oborne. “They have a few dreams. What Matthew and George want to do most in the future, they want to do a soundtrack for a great movie – so if anyone’s got any great movie soundtracks get in touch. They also want to produce a huge pop artist, like a Rihanna, when we eventually have time to do something like that.”

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