Manchester, UK’s The 1975 have been one of alternative rock’s most elusive bands for roughly two and a half years. First under the name Drive Like I Do, followed by Bigsleep,The Slowdown, and Talkhouse before settling on The 1975, and with a handful of songs on YouTube, they were slowly but surely gathering a small but fervent fanbase that were waiting for something legitimate to be released (and for them to not be so difficult to find online anymore).
Then there was a Tumblr page under the name The 1975 that was posting lyrics, followed by a Twitter and, last but not least, a Facebook page. A video for their first single, “The City,” found its way to YouTube followed by a few teaser clips for their first EP, Facedown. In the two years that the band spent in hiding, they were busy perfecting their dance-rock sound, and it showed. Their next EP, Sex, had the title track played on BBC Radio 1 where they gained a ton of traction, selling out their UK headlining tour. Music for Cars is the band’s most recent effort, and the lead single “Chocolate” has gotten airtime on both BBC Radio 1 and Sirius XM Alt Nation. Both “Sex” and “Chocolate” were songs released under prior names, making it clear that the band has known what they’re doing for quite some time now. They played a string of dates at SXSW in Austin, TX, where they had a ton of buzz surrounding them and what they were doing, and as I’m sure the attendees of those shows found out — the best is yet to come.
The 1975 embarked on their first US headlining tour right after leaving SXSW, kicking off at the Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and continuing a few hours away the next night at Subterranean in Chicago, Illinois. Using the title track from their Facedown EP as their intro, the band came out on stage and immediately went into “The City.” Next up was the bonus track that occurs about 20 minutes after “You” ends on the Sex EP, a track titled “Milk.” One of the most rock tracks in their catalogue, guitarist Adam Hann played the slick riff flawlessly as drummer George Daniel and bassist Ross MacDonald kept the track incredibly energetic and danceable. From there the band played a slew of new tracks, presumably off of their full length to be released this summer. The tracks are much more like their single “Chocolate” or “Sex” than “Facedown,” showing the band doing what they’re best at; creating fantastic dance-rock tracks that will get stuck in your head for days on end.
“Robbers,” a track released when they were under the name Drive Like I Do, was one of the highlights of the night. You can feel the intensity in vocalist Matt Healy’s voice as the song reaches its peak, and the control he has over his voice was unmatched. Considering the amount of rock tracks they had played that evening, it was a welcome surprise that Matty played “Woman” from the Sex EP solo. He had said it was a romantic story about a prostitute he had met and fell in love with, so he wrote her this song. I certainly hope she hears it because it is one of my favorite tracks the band has released, and it’s clear the amount of emotion that the song holds for Healy when he performs it — another high point of the night. Before playing the last track of the night, “You,” Healy mentioned that the band will be back in US in June with fellow alt-rockers The Neighbourhood (who also garnered a ton of buzz at SXSW this year) which will definitely be a must-see summer tour.
Everyone I spoke with after the show was in awe of how great of a performance they put on, and they’ll be doing a few more dates in the northeast before returning back to the UK, so I would make it a priority to attend one of these shows. The 1975 are going to be making a definite impact on the alternative scene this year, so I’d check them out now rather than later so you can say that you knew them before everyone else! You can take a look at the rest of the dates over on their Facebook page.
Matt Vogel photographed both The Neighbourhood and The 1975 at SXSW this year and got some incredible shots, you can check them out here.
