The Maccabees Interview by Crowdsurfer

April 19. 2009
A couple of weeks back we caught up with Orlando Weeks, front man for The Maccabees. We asked questions, He spoke words and eventually we typed them up for youto read. This is how it went…

Hello! How are you?

I’m very well thank you.

Tonight’s show is sold out. That must feel good right?

It’s a weight off for sure. It probably sounds a bit cliche' but we would play the same if it was ten people…or 2 people..Might be a little harder with 2 people, with 10 people you might be able to trick yourself but with 2 people there’s definitely only two people.

You are about a week into this tour which consists of 19 dates over 3 months. Are you having to pace yourselves?

I think there was lots of circumstance that intervened with how the tour all panned out. I couldn’t tell you why we are doing it like that. Everyone seems to be getting the hump but we were pretty hardened to it by the end of the last record. There’s no master plan.

This is a headline tour, obviously in the past you have supported other acts. Apart from more stage time what are the biggest differences between supporting and headlining?

You are playing to win people over which means you play a bit differently and you definitely feel like you are in someone else’s house all the time. Its more difficult because you are playing to people that haven’t come to see you and they are perfectly within their rights to switch off and not have a listen. You slightly try to over cook it because you want people to take heed. Other than that its just stupid stuff like a smaller rider, less help loading in and out.

A lot of what read about you highlighted the US tour with Bloc Party. What is touring the US like compared to the UK?

Massive distances! and under seat heating. Which they (USA) seem to be really chuffed with. They put it under everything.

Tonight you are here in my hometown of Liverpool but this isn’t your first time here working is it?

No. We recorded here for 2 and a half weeks at Elevator studios just down the road. Marcus Dravs knows the studio really well because he lives here. What’s the bit where the footballers live in Liverpool? The Wirral? He lives out there with the footballers because he’s a record producer.

Music talk! Your last (Kind of) single was “No Kind Words”

Yeah it was a single in a sense that it was a song presented on its own. If you were aware of the fact that we were recording and if you cared enough about the band to check the myspace then you got the opportunity to get it for free. I think it served its job being a thank you for the people that have been patient.

The Video for “No Kind Words” features Matt Horne. Is he a fan?

A friend, Ive known him for about 3 years. We met at an Interpol gig and just been friends ever since. For this we needed an actor and he can act AND he knew other people who could act…we got some good deals. In the video there are obvious influences such as the smith and Jones talking heads. That was us trying to think up a way to have a conversation that didn’t involve subtitles or speech bubble or hand signals. There was a time when I thought we could have the sign language people at the bottom of the screen. When you see the 2 talking heads there’s always that space in the middle and that’s the consistent thing. It doesn’t matter who the 2 talking heads are as long as they have got white on a black background its going to be Smith & Jones. We tried to fill that blank space with something so you could either watch the conversation or you could watch the animation in the middle.

Your next single “Love you better” is out 27th April. Tell us a bit about it.

For me I think it’s the best song that the Maccabees have written and I’m not just saying that because it’s a single because a lot of our singles aren’t my favorite songs. I think it shows daring and it has some instrumentation that we are really proud of. Things like brass and samplers, we were tentative about using those but it works really well and shows everyone to their strengths. Its different to “No Kind Words” so I hope people will see that we are trying to be diverse but still keep it spirited.

Lets talk about you as people. 2 brothers in the band, do they ever argue being siblings?

They are both pretty depromantic actually. They are easy going. The only thing any of us ever argue about are things you are supposed to argue about. When you feel passionate about something you stand your ground.

Whats up with your drummer Robert? Has he left?

Rob isn’t drumming on this record, no. Sam has. Rob hasn’t left hes just been unable to drum on this record.

How did you all come to play music together?

Just through being the only people around Clapham Common that wanted to. If we had been wanted to do covers of garage tunes then we would have had a broader spectrum of people to choose from but at the time it felt like we were the only people that weren’t in bands already and wanted to play music like we do.

Tell us about the new album “Wall Of Arms”. Many are saying its darker than your previous album but what else can you tell us?

I don’t think its darker than the first record particularly. I think what connects it to the first record is the spirited-ness…oh, I wish I was better at English *laughs* .. the spirit with which. It (hopefully) sounds more complete as a record. The songwriting should be better. Our ability as musicians, if we dare to call ourselves that, is more accomplished. Other than that I think it’s a Maccabees record that sounds like a step up.

You usually design the bands art work but for this new album Boo Ritson took over. Do you like what she came up with?

She’s an amazing artist. Id saved a magazine that her work had been in for 2 years and had dreamt about the possibility of her working with us. Quite often when I’m doing artwork for the band I do it with my design partner Matthew Deyoung. Trying to have the rest of the bands involvement with their vision and trying to find that middle ground can be quite tricky. This (magazine) was the first thing that id shown to the boys and said “we should try and get this lady”. We tried to get hold of her through like her managers friends, mates, dog walker and she wasn’t interested. Another band had asked her but I decided I wasn’t going to take it lying down so I went round after we had finished the record just going on saying “oh we tried to get this woman..” but then it turned out that a girl Id gone to university with had just started doing one day a week at her gallery. We got in touch with her (boo) and sent her some of the songs. When se heard the songs she was up for it and wanted to be involved! In a way that’s better than anything. That it wasn’t done on reputation or persuasion or money it was done because she liked our music and we liked her artwork. She did it for the love of it and that makes it feel better.

I want to talk about the internet. How often do you google yourself?

I think I have never honestly googled myself. I have been on our myspace to check things but it would be a very odd thing to go on and do. I will read an online review now and then but only because its emailed to me from someone else. On the internet all I do is check my emails and go on youtube. I go on other bands myspace and see if any of their friends share my music taste.

If we checked your browser history at home what would we find?

BBC Iplayer. That’s the best thing about the internet. And this country. We pay for it out of our taxes and we reap the rewards. We never miss anything. I love wildlife programs and cooking programs and I cant do without it. When we were in Paris what I missed the most was being able to watch British television. The BBC does the programs I watch the best. So yeah, Iplayer. Oh and the porn obviously! *laughs*.

You have your own website, a myspace, a facebook, youtube, twitter. Do you maintain these yourself?

No. a very good friend of ours called Eliot does all of that for us. Mainly because A. I wouldn’t know how to do it if I tried and B. I think for people who use all those sorts of things its important to them and I respect that but personally I find it a bit peculiar. It says a lot more about how people live nowadays. Everyone works at a computer so you can do that but if I want to talk to my friends id sooner pick up the phone.

Almost finished. Lets look to the future for a second. What can we expect from The Maccabees in the next 2 years?

I should think we will just be playing a lot. No master plan. Im not very good at master plans. Even today theres no plan. Tomorrows the day off though so what happens to tonight, Who knows!

Apart from you lot obviously, who should we all be listening to in 2009?

I honestly think the “Hatcham Social” album is great. The new “Grizzly Bear” album. I went to hear it be played in a bar because I’m that sad. I think its going to be incredible. I’ve just been listening to “Animal Collective”. They played here recently didn’t they? I’m so jealous you got to see them, I keep missing them.

On a side note, I was speaking to someone earlier today who met you in Stoke and wants to know more about your tattoo.

Oh I met them! They had made TShirts. They were sweethearts. They had 3 dots on their Tshirt and it was just an odd co incidence that I’ve got a tattoo that looks exactly the same. It was one of those genius moments I had with some mates “oh lets all get the same tattoo but get one that no one will really notice”. They just look like freckles really. There are loads of embarrassing things you do when you spend too much time with your mates! If we were American we might have a handshake or something cool. But no.

Right, That’s it. We are finished with you sir, Thank you!

You are very welcome! I’m so glad we ended with a cool handshake!

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