The 1975 are currently in the midst of a mammoth worldwide tour, so hats off to front man Matt Healy for taking the time to have a natter with us about his beloved Newcastle United.

“Girls”, the latest single to be taken from their eponymous number 1 debut album, will be released on November 11th – why, here it is…

Are you feeling more confident after the win at Cardiff City last time out?

We’ve been away so much over the last year that I’ve bee detached from everything, so I’ve not really kept up to date for the last six months.

Mainly to relieve myself from the stress of being a Newcastle United fan. It’s like we’ve got Jafar from Aladdin running the club! Being a Newcastle fan is exhausting.

It does seem to be one thing after the other. The appointment of Joe Kinnear must have felt like a slap in the face…

It was a slap in the face! As was renaming St James’s Park and everything else.

Newcastle United is a big part of people’s identities, so having a Cockney who has no idea what the club means to people swanning in like it’s some sort of cowboy business…it’s depressing.

How do you feel towards Alan Pardew?

I don’t really know. Part of me feels a bit sorry for him, but then part of me imagines him guffawing along with Mike Ashley in the gentlemen’s club, not really giving a f*ck.

We went down and then Chris Hughton brought us back up, which instilled some kind of passion again, and then a a couple of seasons later we finished 5th, beating Manchester United 3-0 with Ba and Cissé.

All of that really played with people’s feelings towards Mike Ashley, but now? We’ve got Wonga on our shirts. We used to have Newcastle Brown Ale.

Do you have any theories as to what might have happened to Papiss Cissé? He was dynamite when he first arrived.

You never know, do you? Maybe he lost his passion, or he feels he’s bigger than the club…god knows.

Newcastle always seems to be a stepping stone club. No one wants to stay at Newcastle, unless you’re a Geordie, and sometimes even they bugger off.

Before the band started to take off, did you manage to get to St James’s Park much?

Yeah, massively. I virtually grew up in the crèche at St James’s Park – because my dad was in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in the ’80s, so he was mates with Micky Quinn and all that lot.

He used to go on a night out, pick me up on the Saturday and we’d go to the training ground because that’s where all his mates would be.

Do you remember the first game you ever went to?

I don’t because when I was 2 or 3 I’d probably already been to about ten games – my dad had a season ticket so I was there all the time.

The first game that I really remember was probably against Sunderland around 1996…oh, actually I was one of the 4-3 Liverpool games, so it might be that.

One of the best games I remember is when we beat Man United 5-0 – I haven’t stopped talking about that for about fifteen years!

I also remember going to Wembley to see us get smashed in cup finals by Arsenal and Man United.

Finally, if you had to select a five-a-side team out of all the Newcastle players you’ve seen in your time as a fan, who would you pick?

Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer, Micky Quinn and David Ginola. Wait, those are just my favourite players – I need a goalkeeper and defence…

That team doesn’t need a goalkeeper or defence!

Just put Beardsley in nets, he’s pretty good in there!

Matt Healy, thank you.

Following on from their number 1 debut album, The 1975 will release their new single “Girls” on November 11th.

For a list of tour dates, please visit The 1975’s official website.