Not the Band - The Final Version

Not the Band is an interesting song because in some ways it's one thing and in other ways it's another. On an overall feel somehow it feels kind of quite American. Kind of reminds me of Tom Petty or something like that. It's very American, but at the same time it's voice and cello which makes me think of Arthur Russell or somethinglike that. Or Lou Reed or, or,. or, or, or - I mean, you want to hear the demo before we start.

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In this episode, John is back at Spitfire Audio to reunite with Matty and George of The 1975, to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced the album ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’.

Digging into stems, demos and the musical moments that inspired their writing, Matty and George give us a full behind-the-scenes tour of their creative process, sharing stories of very last-minute album additions and the unreleased songs that might one day be on a 1975 record.

As well as tales from the studio working with producer Jack Antonoff, the pair reveal the tricks they used to create and record some of the most unique sounds and performances on the album, from constructing vast textures of only organic keyboard sounds to Googling the gear and instruments other people use.

Listen to find out how simply soloing individual parts can lead to breakthrough moments when writing, the one scale you need to learn to play any 1975 song, and why Matty has now fully embraced his northern accent when singing.

Tracks discussed: Part of the Band, The 1975, Happiness, When We Are Together

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Listen to ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’ here.