‘I listen to a song I love and I copy it’ – The 1975’s Matty Healy on his writing technique, addiction and Arctic Monkeys

"I don't listen to rock bands"

Matty Healy, frontman of The 1975, has opened up about his songwriting techniques, why he doesn’t listen to rock bands, his problems with addiction and more in a new interview.

Speaking to The New York Times about the band’s forthcoming third album ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’, Healy revealed: “I don’t listen to rock bands… It’s been around for too long. It’s been done in so many good ways.

“The way that I write music is that I listen to a song I love and I copy it, and songs that I love are not songs by rock bands, unless they’re old classics.”

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Healy also said that he dislikes being compared to Arctic Monkeys in the USA, simply because they’re both British bands with guitars.

“People are like, ‘Also listen to the Arctic Monkeys,’” he said. “No! It has nothing to do — it’s not remotely … We have guitars, but you might as well call us a microphone band — we have those, as well.”

The musician has discussed in the past why he couldn’t make an album like  ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino‘. “I don’t know how to do that, that’s a skill I do not have,” he told NME last month in our Big Read.

Elsewhere in the New York Times interview he described The 1975 as a ‘Tumblr band’ thanks to their thematic approach: “Young girls, kind of an idealistic sense of romance, edgy but actually kind of beautiful, and you can play it in your mum’s car.”

In addition to his band, Healy described his battles with addiction, having previously sought treatment for his use of heroin. He explained that even though he has now recovered from addiction, it still influences his writing.

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“If my most recent memories are afflicted by addiction, it’s probably going to be a thing,” he said. “I didn’t lose everything. I scared the [expletive] out of everybody that I love, and that was enough for me.”

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