The Belair Lip Bombs have covered The 1975’s ‘Happiness‘, with the band’s vocalist and guitarist Maisie Everett describing it as “one of my favourite songs” and declaring The 1975 as their “favourite band.”
The Australian band performed the cover of The 1975 track, which appeared on the band’s 2022 fifth studio album, ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’, for the ‘Like A Version’ series.
In an interview about the song, Everett praised The 1975’s music saying, “I feel like these songs were made for me. Like this is exactly what my ears need.”
Everett continued: “They’re just so incredible live and it was super inspiring for me, especially a teenager like watching them and being like ‘that’s what I want to do.’
“It was the first single that came out of the latest record and I just like listened to it through like two years straight and I still do.”
The band’s Daniel Devlin added: “We had a lot of ideas for the…version and we were trying to find ones that Maisie felt really comfortable singing as well, and I think a lot of 1975 songs fit [her] vocal style quite well so that song really worked when we trying different songs.”
He described it as “a fun challenge” and added: “we were conscious of trying not to get other people involved to make it overblown and too big – we just tried to make sure we could do it as a four-piece.” Listen to the band’s cover of the song and interview below:
Elsewhere in the interview, the band said they had been listening to “non stop” to a cover of Kings of Leon’s ‘Sex on Fire’ by Folk Bitch Trio. “It’s honestly amazing. I feel like it’s a perfect example of covering another song and making it your own because it sounds like a Folk Bitch Trio Song…it was incredible.”
They also praised Tame Impala’s cover of Outkast’s ‘Prototype’ with Devlin adding: “I love that one…I still revisit that a fair bit.”
Meanwhile, the former NME cover stars spoke to us back in November about signing to Jack White’s Third Man Records label.
“They showed a genuine interest and love for our music from the start, and everyone who works there is incredibly passionate about their work and all the artists they sign,” Everett says of the label.
“I feel like there are songs that, if it was a couple years ago when we’d written it, we’d just probably have recorded it and put it out. Whereas this time I think we were like, ‘No, we can definitely do better than this, let’s keep chipping away at it,’” Everett added, about the change in their songwriting style since joining.
“All the songs on ‘Lush Life’ were just what came out of us at that time. Whereas I feel like these songs, we maybe just have a stronger sense of identity as a band.”
In a four star review of the last album, ‘Again’, NME said: “The band’s second album ‘Again’, despite its title, is not a once-more go-around of ‘Lush Life’.
“Instead, it looks at that LP’s already-versatile nature and maps out new terrain for the ambitious indie rockers to explore. Such boldness is present in lead single ‘Hey You’, which buzzes with urgency due to its hypnotic Rhodes loop and the pounding, persistent drumming of new drummer Daniel Devlin (formerly of Delivery). It, paired with the satisfying rock-out finale of ‘Don’t Let Them Tell You (It’s Fair)’, showcases the band in full flight – reminding listeners that the Lip Bombs are a rock band first, indie band second.”
Meanwhile, at the end of last year, The 1975’s frontman confirmed the band had been working on new music following their impressive headline set at Glastonbury 2025.
While Healey didn’t reveal much about the follow-up to 2022’s ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’, he did say it could be a double album that might be called ‘DOGS’. At the end of 2025, he said the next two years “look mental” for The 1975.
The 1975 haven’t announced any live plans for 2026 yet but they will be releasing a 10th anniversary vinyl reissue of ‘I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it‘ later this month.
