The 1975: That name again!

We know that Matty Healy christened his band after an obscure Beat reference. Now R&BG meets artist David Templeton, the man who gave him the source

DAVID Templeton is a successful British artist based in Mallorca, a painter of striking portraits and a creative force much influenced by various late twentieth-century movements including the Beat Generation itself, particularly some of the radical work that William Burroughs pursued in the cut-up and collage sphere from the late 1950s.

It was Templeton’s interests in matters Beat – he has a large library of volumes from that literary world – that would lead to a surprising yet highly productive liaison more than a decade ago when an aspiring rock musician called Matty Healy, out on a holiday walk on the glorious island, came across the artist’s studio.

The singer and the painter got talking. In fact Healy ended up spending hours there and, during their extended encounter, Templeton showed the younger man a book from his well-stocked shelves. The volume he handed over, simply called The Beats, carried a rough handwritten inscription, a date, and it was a strange reference to a year – ‘The 1975’ – that would give the musical performer the name of his group, today one of the biggest bands in the world.

We wrote recently about this encounter in the pages of Rock and the Beat Generation – we stated that the inscription was in a copy of On the Road, but that now seems an incorrect report – and when we had the chance to converse with the artist who had played a role in sealing this surprising outcome, we happily took it…

Where were you from originally, David, and how did you come to be in Mallorca?

I’ll try; very complex. After art college, mostly in Leeds from 1967 to 1970, studying for a Dip AD in Painting. I started at the Merrion Centre then, after a year, moved to the Polytechnic. Had a great time there.

I taught art principally at Comberton Village College, Cambridge . Then I moved abroad Europe and Asia for three years, then a while in Cadaquez – Salvador Dali was there – 1977/78. Arrived in Deià Feb ‘78. Still here!

Pictured above: A recent David Templeton creation Ravi and George 

What are your professional pursuits as an artist/singer? And what interest have you taken in the Beats? Please tell me more…

From an early age music, Simon, in all its forms have influenced me. I attended a very strict Roman Catholic School in the 1950s. I sang in the choir for some years and at the same time got into ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, The Dharma Bums, East of Eden, Marilyn, B.B. King, Dylan Thomas, etc.

At the age of 14, I started compiling collage scrap books of my influences visual ideas for pictures. It was these that Matt Healy saw. I have a large collection of Beat literature and re-read my favourites frequently.

Pictured above: Examples from David Templeton’s book collection

I played with Pa Amb Oli Band [who featured legendary rock guitarist Ollie Hassell among many others] for 40 years plus. Since lockdown I’ve changed tack, and now I’m putting together a set of  a cappella songs: Dylan, early rock and roll, John Lennon and more, with breaks of poetry in between.

Tell me more about the Matty Healy encounter, if you would, and what you have made of the subsequent developments regarding his band's name and their success. Are you still in touch, I wonder?

When he visited, Matt was with two girls, one his girlfriend. I just wrote to her to clarify things. She said I gave her and Matt two books as examples of my influences, one of which was The Beats, a paperback with a photo of Ginsberg on the front. Don’t remember the author. That’s the one with the inscription in the fly leaf . 

'You’re very eclectic,’ Matt said. I said: ‘Just scatty’. He then asked: ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ I talked about the influence that the Beats had had on musicians, for example Bob Dylan.

Pictured above: One of David Templeton’s early scrapbooks      

I then showed him a book called The Beat Generation and another one, a paperback called The Beats. I said that many of my ideas – like the tickertape method…Burroughs/Bowie – came from this era. He opened the book and in the flyleaf was printed in tiny biro: ‘SUMMER. THE 1975’. Matt responded, ‘That’s it, that’s the name of the band!’

We sang a few songs he’d just written and drank a little wine. A very engaging young man. 

His mother Denise [Welch] came to see me a few weeks ago. Nice lady. And Lincoln [Townley] her husband I met maybe seven years ago. I gave him some painting lessons and now he’s part of the London /LA art scene. He sells paintings of mine in his London gallery.

As for me, I haven’t left Mallorca in 15 years, so I don’t really know what going on out there!

Pictured above: David Templeton in a recent band performance

Note: We originally covered this story, ‘The 1975: Back to my old school’, on January 12th, 2023. Thank you to the writer David Holzer, whose thoughts on the Beats and music can be found in ‘Beat Soundtrack #27’ published by Rock and the Beat Generation on January 16th, 2023, for connecting us to David Templeton. You can see more of the artist’s work here: deiaartistsgallery.com