The moment Matty Healy met his hero, Brian Eno
Meeting your heroes is often a moment rife with trepidation, but Brian Eno proved to be an exception to the rule when he met The 1975 singer Matty Healy. The frontman has often spoken openly about the influence of Eno at length, even discussing the possibility of the ambient music master producing an album for The 1975, if the opportunity arose.
As a promotion tool for Notes On A Conditional Form, Healy held discussions with a selection of artists that he finds fascinating. The conversations were also published as a series of podcasts in The Face. Other participants alongside Eno included Stevie Nicks, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.
The generational gap between Healy and most of his guests helped to further illuminate the conversations. During his discussion with Eno, culture and the creative process were on the agenda. The chat took place in Eno’s recording studio in London, and at one point, the musician eye-opening explained how he creates masterpieces. “Picasso said something that I’ve always quoted and I’m never sure if I’ve got the quote exact, but I think he said, ’Inspiration does happen, but it has to catch you working,'” Eno recalled.
He continued: “The feeling that you’re not going to be producing works of great wisdom and brilliance every second of your life. A lot of the time, it’s just spent sharpening the pencils and tuning the instruments and getting ready to do something. I think of it like, you wouldn’t trust an athlete who said, ’I never really run except when there’s a race,’ which is kind of what a lot of young artists feel they should be doing. They think they should be always at their absolute genius best, but a lot of the time you’re just keeping the engines running, you’re keeping yourself fit in a way. You’re paying attention.”
Following the conversation, The 1975 frontman spoke lovingly about the afternoon in Eno’s company during an interview with Pitchfork. “Just recently me and George went and hung out with him in his studio. Just to be there and be able to just ask him stuff and get a seat at that table was really nice. We’ve talked about the possibility of him co-producing the next 1975 record,” he revealed.
Healy added: “Brian Eno’s a fucking genius, and I mean this with no arrogance, but we do produce our work now and we know what’s best for a lot of it. So the only people that we would want to work with are people who are conceptual designers like Brian or Rick Rubin. That’s almost like having a psychologist or a painter in the room. It’s somebody who’s just going to completely abstract your thoughts.”
Listen to the podcast in full below.
