{"id":443616,"date":"2026-02-24T21:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/443616\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T21:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:15:12","slug":"music-therapy-changes-and-saves-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/443616\/","title":{"rendered":"Music therapy changes and saves lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1975<\/a> bassist Ross MacDonald has spoken to NME about his upcoming 1,000 mile charity bike ride, cycling the length of the UK from Land\u2019s End to John O\u2019Groats to raise money for music therapy charity, Nordoff & Robbins.<\/p>\n

Taking place this April, the challenge will see Ross along with PVRIS<\/a> bassist Brian MacDonald and two friends, Matt and Darren, taking on the iconic Land\u2019s End to John O\u2019Groats across the course of 16 days. Fans can head here<\/a> to donate.<\/p>\n

Since 1958, Nordoff & Robbins<\/a> have offered creative music therapy for people with psychological, physical, and\/or developmental disabilities. MacDonald has discovered first-hand how it \u201cchanges and saves lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving been in therapy and various states of mental health myself, and having been around various people who have also experienced that, what I\u2019ve learned about music therapy is that it\u2019s such a viable way of administering treatment and helping people with real problems,\u201d Ross MacDonald told NME.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we decided to do this ride, it was a real no-brainer to do it for those guys\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 1975\u2019s Ross MacDonald performing at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

After attending their fundraising Silver Clef Awards in 2024 where The 1975 won Best Group, he met Ruby who told him about how music therapy has helped her mental health and finding a safe space to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was there recently and met Ruby, who\u2019s in her late teens,\u201d MacDonald recalled. \u201cShe\u2019s got autism and ADHD and she\u2019s been going to Nordoff & Robbins since she was 14. She\u2019d been sectioned, held in a psychiatric hospital, was suicidal and having a really hard time of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cNordoff & Robbins came in and introduced her to playing the bass guitar. Since then, she\u2019s flourished. I was talking to her mum a little bit after the session and she was saying how this has genuinely saved her life on numerous occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, she\u2019s incredible. Everyone should spend time with her because she\u2019s really engaging, confident and funny. She really ripped me apart for a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saying what exactly?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust that I was old! She didn\u2019t know if I had the internet when I was learning how to play the bass. I was allowed on for half an hour a night as long as no one needed to use the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 1975\u2019s Ross MacDonald visits Nordoff & Robbins. Credit: Jeremy Banks<\/p>\n

At Ruby\u2019s request, MacDonald helped teach her a personal favourite bassline of his: \u2018Bombtrack\u2019 by Rage Against The Machine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that song, so I took her through it,\u201d he said. \u201cHer therapist was there as well and had put together a chord progression and a riff. It\u2019s just about engaging them in a practice and a formula where it\u2019s really focussed and all that they can think about for the session. It\u2019s why I still play football, even though my knees are creaking and I\u2019m too old to do anything. For that hour, it\u2019s that moment where you\u2019re not thinking about everything else and you can focus on one thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bassist said that the need for a charity like Nordoff & Robbins was now greater than ever, especially with the increasing mental health pressures put upon young people by a digital lifestyle pulling their attention in so many different directions. That\u2019s why he\u2019s doing this to raise awareness, as well as raise much-needed money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere they would like to develop is recognition among the wider community and having music therapy become part of fundamental mental health treatment,\u201d said MacDonald. \u201cAt the moment, I think it\u2019s seen as a little bit of a privilege and fun on top of the treatments that are already there, but there are a lot of people who are of the belief that it can be a great way of treating these things just on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

After COVID, the charity lost two-years of funding from not being able to host their Silver Clef awards ceremony \u2013 losing around \u00a35million. MacDonald added: \u201cEvery charity is struggling for money in this climate, but I want to help make music therapy more of a recognised treatment as it\u2019s been so successful in the cases I\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 1975\u2019s Matty Healy and Ross MacDonald performing at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

For now, MacDonald said that he needs to get to grips with the intimidating task of training and building up his stamina.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s between 140-160km per day and ends up being around 1,000 miles,\u201d he said, fearfully. \u201cTrainingwise, I\u2019m probably a little bit behind where I want to be, but that\u2019s life. My stamina is not necessarily the problem at this point, it\u2019s getting a bike to fit so that I\u2019m not in pain after a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got my bike on this virtual trainer in the living room so I just stick the TV on and pedal. The longest I\u2019ve done so far is 50k in for a couple of hours, and now I\u2019ve got to do three times that every day for two weeks. We\u2019re a way off yet, but we\u2019ve got a couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThere are four of us doing it and the other three are well-versed in bikes and have been doing it for a really long time. I struggle to blow the tyres up, so there\u2019s a gulf in class of where I\u2019m up to both in terms of knowledge and ability. They\u2019ll hopefully keep me right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans may be wondering what\u2019ll be on his playlist for the challenge, with MacDonald revealing that he tends to opt for podcasts, movies or football matches while training \u2013 or a mix of \u201c\u201870s, country and Americana swampy stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have that 110BPM pattern to just power through it,\u201d he went on. \u201cIt\u2019s an intense time on a bike, so the podcasts help with conversation more than music \u2013 but if I need it then I whack on \u2018Eye Of The Tiger\u2019. Glassjaw<\/a> is going to creep in there at some point, plus me and a friend I\u2019m doing it with are big fans of Hundred Reasons<\/a>. I hope we can get a four-way playlist going so we can all feel the impact of the tunes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Asked why he wasn\u2019t able to rope The 1975 frontman Matty Healy<\/a> into the challenge, MacDonald replied: \u201cI can\u2019t remember when the last time I saw him on a bike was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s more martial arts and gym-going at the moment than intense cardio,\u201d he continued. \u201cI played football with him a few years ago, but that will probably be the first and last time he\u2019ll do that in his life! He\u2019s quite a thin person so him doing anything to burn calories he doesn\u2019t have is probably ill-advised.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1975 have been hiding away working on new material since their huge Glastonbury 2025 headline performance<\/a>, with two albums in the works<\/a> \u2013 and one reportedly titled \u2018DOGS<\/a>\u2018 \u2013 as fans eagerly await news of the follow-up to 2022\u2019s \u2018Being Funny In A Foreign Language<\/a>\u2018.<\/p>\n

Quizzed about the band\u2019s activity, MacDonald revealed: \u201cEveryone has stuff going on outside of The 1975 at the moment. We\u2019re obviously working towards getting an album ready, but George [Daniel, drummer] is doing a bunch of stuff with his label DH2<\/a>, plus Adam [Hann, guitarist] and I are doing stuff outside of the band. It\u2019s always a juggling act with being in the band, working towards where we need to be and the rest of life, but we\u2019re well-versed in that now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 1975 performing at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

And what about these reports of two albums incoming?<\/p>\n

\u201cMate, if I knew!,\u201d the bassist replied. \u201cWe lay out a foundation for stuff and we see how it goes, so we\u2019ll put something out at some point. There will be music.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, MacDonald is getting back to his exercise bike to get his daily miles up \u2013 but more expeditions could be coming in the years ahead. \u201cGetting to the end of this ride will dictate if I never want to see a bike again or if we do another expedition,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBring it on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe The 1975 could be like Kraftwerk<\/a> and cycle everywhere on their next tour?<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d ended MacDonald. \u201cI don\u2019t know if Matty, George and Adam would be up for getting on a bike with me. Maybe I\u2019ll get one of those trailers for babies and stick Matty in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian MacDonald of PVRIS added: \u201cThe motivation to fundraise for Nordoff and Robbins came from a WhatsApp from Ross. I was on tour and he messaged me saying, \u2018do you want to do a big cycle ride? I know you cycle.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018barely, but, yeah!\u2019 He explained about Nordoff and Robbins and then I did my own research, and, I just fell right into it and saw how amazing the music therapy work they do is. I\u2019m grateful to be playing a small part in fundraising for this great cause. I\u2019m going to be doing it for the people that will benefit so much from what we can get in terms of donations. That\u2019s going to fuel me more than all the electrolytes, gels and carbs combined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross MacDonald will be cycling from Lands\u2019 End to John O\u2019Groats from April 5-21, 2026 in support of Nordoff & Robbins. Visit here<\/a> to donate and to keep track of progress. Visit here for more information on Nordoff & Robbins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, The 1975 release the 10th anniversary vinyl reissue of \u2018I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it<\/a>\u2019 this Friday (February 27).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 1975 bassist Ross MacDonald has spoken to NME about his upcoming 1,000 mile charity bike ride, cycling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,78468,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-443616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-lets-talk-mental-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}