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15th Jun 2014

JOE meets The 1975

We talk to the lads about the World Cup, working with One Direction's Niall Horan, life on the road, crazy fans and the time they crashed a Snoop Dogg gig...

Joe Harrington

We talk to the lads about the World Cup, working with One Direction’s Niall Horan, life on the road, crazy fans and the time they crashed a Snoop Dogg gig…

JOE headed up to Antrim for Bushmills Live 2014 yesterday and we had an awesome time. The intimate festival of handcrafted whiskey and music took place at the Old Bushmills Distillery on Ireland’s north coast and it was attended by 700 music and whiskey fans from around the globe.

The artist line-up included Rubblebucket, Levity Breaks, Luke Sital-Singh, David C. Clements, Matthew and the Atlas, James Vincent McMorrow, Tired Pony and headliners The 1975.

 

Matt

JOE’s very own Joe Harrington caught with with The 1975’s Matt Healy and George Daniel in the beautiful surrounds of the Bushmills Distillery.

JOE: Hey lads, nice to meet you, I notice you’re drinking water in a whiskey distillery, that’s not very rock and roll?

Matt: (Laughs) I know but we’ve just come from Ibiza Rocks last night and we had Mallorca Rocks the night before so it’s been hectic. We had a mad party in Ibiza in the hotel where they filmed Wham’s Club Tropica, it was very decadent with lots of pretty people. There was fancy dress and lots of weird Andy Warhol-esque things so it was cool.

JOE: Sounds great and sounds pretty exhausting, how are the energy levels at the moment?

George: There pretty good at the moment and to be honest we’re not massive party animals. You simply can’t, if you’re playing six gigs a weeks all over the place and you were out all the time you’d fucking die. But Ibiza was a bit different because we’d some mates out there and we met them but it’s not party, party, party.

JOE: I know you play some many gigs in so many places but we saw you play in Cork a few months back, do you remember the show?

Matt: Oh wow yeah I remember that show, the venue was great because we were so close to the crowd, it was great to get down there. It was part of our first south of Ireland tour, we played in Limerick and Galway as well. It was really fun, we loved that tour actually.

JOE: One of the things we noticed at the gig in Cork was the amount of girls just screaming at you on stage. Stupid question alert, does that ever get old?

Matt: Well, America is pretty intense because they get a bit more physical than in Ireland and the UK. In the States, every morning we wake up there’s so many kids with phones standing outside the tour bus taking pictures of us, it’s a bit annoying but in general we love the fans and they are always great to us.

JOE: You mentioned phones, it’s one of our pet-hates at gigs when you see people watching it through their camera app, what’s it like looking out at that?

Matt: It’s so irritating, I’d rather see people’s eyes than an Apple logo for the whole gig. We sometimes have to ask the fans to put the cameras down and explain to them that they paid money to see us in the flesh, watch us in the flesh and not on your screen.

JOE: Have any of you ever been that guy at a gig watching it through the phone?

George: The only gig I recorded was when we did a stage invasion with Snoop Dogg… I’ll get my camera out for that with no shame (laughs).

Bushmills Live At The Old Bushmills Distillery

JOE: What’s the story with you working with Niall Horan and One Direction?

Matt: We’ve went in the studio with him but they’re so busy and we’re so busy it’s hard to get more time but I think we’re going to help them with the new album. He’s a talented lad and they seem up for proving themselves because people pre-judge them because they’ve come from X-Factor but he’s really shown his talent when we’ve hung out with him.

JOE: The first album is out almost a year now and your playing loads of gigs, how excited are you about getting a new album out there?

George: The thing about it is that the idea of playing new songs is absolutely terrifying and people always ask us if we’re sick of playing the current songs but we think we’re still not playing those songs well enough so we’re just trying to improve all the time. The new album is well on it’s way, we’ve done loads of writing and we’ve plenty of tracks on our computer, we’re hoping to get it out in September 2015.

JOE: You’ve got an incredibly busy summer ahead with festivals and you’re playing Glastonbury, how cool is it?

Matt: That’s going to be insane because we’re playing the Pyramid Stage and our slot is just before Dolly Parton, which is a bit surreal. We’re not going to change the show up or anything just because it’s Glastonbury. We were booked to do our thing and that’s what we plan on doing.

JOE: You guys are going home to Manchester for four shows in September, just the four shows…

Matt: (Laughs) Yeah just four this time around, it’s going to be amazing heading back home to play in front of all our family and friends. The first one sold-out in two minutes and the rest went so quickly as well, it’s insane how many tickets have been sold.

JOE: What you your buddies at home think of your success?

George: It’s still exactly the same as it was before things started to take off for us. It probably just as hard for them to be objective about the band as it is for us because they just know us as individuals while everyone else know us just as a band.

JOE: Since we’re speaking about old friends, did any of your mates leave the band before things started happening or anything?

Matt: Yes actually, our friend Owen left the band around seven years ago. He’s not really kicking himself either because he didn’t want to do it. It was totally cool and mutual so it was fine and the four of  us just went on with it.

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JOE: The World Cup started this week, how are you feeling about England’s chances in Brazil?

Matt: “Come on England” is turning into “Come on Tim”, it’s a bit embarrassing. I think everyone is thinking let’s take it fucking easy and if we do alright, great, but we’ve spent the last ten years over-hyping the England team.

George: I’m not looking forward to it, I think they are going to lose all of their group games.

JOE: Serious optimism guys… Who’s your tip to win it because you clearly think England don’t have a glimmer of hope…

Matt: I think Chile could do something special so keep and eye on them…

George: I’ve a feeling for Germany, on penalties. Maybe I’m just going for football cliches am I?

JOE: Lads thanks a millions for chatting to us today and we’ll see you soon…

The 1975: Cheers, can’t wait…

We spoke to The 1975 at Bushmills Live 2014, the intimate festival of handcrafted whiskey and music took place at the Old Bushmills Distillery on Ireland’s north coast.

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