The 1975 to perform at MOA Arena

The 1975 is set to perform their 2014 hit “Medicine,” among other songs, at MOA Arena on Jan. 24.

MANILA, Philippines—British quartet The 1975, composed of Matt Healy on vocals, Adam Hann on guitar, George Daniel on drums and Ross MacDonald on bass, held an intimate press conference at a hotel in Manila on Friday to promote the Philippine leg of their ongoing tour.

The 1975 is set to play at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 8 p.m. The concert is organized by MMI Live and Ovation Productions.

The band is known for its unique indie rock tang paired with brutally honest lyrics by vocalist Matt Healy. But perhaps unknown to many, the band is also simply honest about everything even when they’re not playing on stage.

Musical influences

“We don’t live in fear of acceptance or projecting in certain ways like staying true to our ‘pop’ sensibilities,” Healy said when asked why the band’s 2014 track “Medicine” sounded different from their usual records.

The members were also upfront enough to declare their group’s music did not necessarily reflect their musical influences.

“I could sit here and talk for hours about every band that inspired us, but we are a true amalgamation of all those certain styles … it doesn’t matter, song to song. It doesn’t have to be a direct correlation. You can make whatever music you want as long as you are the same person that will be embracing the same spectrum,” Healy said.

“The only thing I can promise is it’s gonna be very honest, if not more honest than the last. Honesty is the only thing that I have.”

On making records

Asked about the band’s music creation process, Healy said: “Making records is the one personal dynamic that we have left that nobody knows how it works, and we want to keep it like that.”

“I think it’s probably more mundane than anyone actually thinks,” Daniel said.

“I think everybody romanticizes it, but there’s a lot of working around, a lot of discussion, a lot of hotel rooms, a lot of debate,” Healy said, echoing Daniel’s comment. “It’s a very slow process, you know. We’ve got demos for our next record that go back to early 2013 but it’s still nowhere near finished.”

“The initial process is quick, but then the installation down to the final song is very long,” Hann said.

Touring

What are the band’s favorite moments? Daniel was quick to answer: “Some really good ships in Holland,” while Healy shared: “The thing is that … it’s funny. I don’t know what the best thing was because it’s all being a blur. I can’t pick out what happened in this year, what happened in 2013, what happened in 2014. I don’t really know anymore. I think that it’s not so much the moments you expected, it’s the moments that you don’t. It’s the moments where you’re on your own and you realize how far you’ve come, how different things are.”

“When you’re in an environment that you can see how far you’ve travelled, that’s when you get more retrospective, and more emotional,” Healy said.

Touring has helped them grow, Healy said. “It makes you grow as a person. You take on responsibilities that you didn’t think you’d have. You have shifts from ideological problems to real problems. You change your perspective on the world because the world becomes a lot smaller. We’ve traveled the world, all the way around a couple of times. Not that big, really. You can do it, it’s manageable. And it gives you a good perspective on the consistency between people.”

Asked about their fans, Healy said having thousands of people from all over the world like their music was both “very humbling and quite surreal.” advt