Born To Be Wild
After 10 years of being indie also-rans, The Maccabees have just produced a bona fide Britrock classic. Ed Power discovers how it all went right.
Ed Power, 10 Feb 2012
The Maccabees have made what is sure to be one of 2012’s outstanding rock albums, an epic, dreamy, profoundly irresistible suite of guitar anthems in waiting. Those with previous knowledge of the Brighton quintet may need to read that sentence again, this time from a comfortable seated position.
If the formerly scrappy crew’s emergence as indie’s great new hope has caught audiences by surprise, imagine how the band themselves must feel. For the bulk of their ten-year career they’ve been written off as posh boys – there are a Rupert, Orlando and Felix in the ranks – who, at their best, managed to sound like a genteel Libertines. Now, with new record Given To The Wild, they are being trumpeted as saviors of alternative rock. Confusing doesn’t begin to describe their state of mind. Shellshocked might be more accurate.
“A lot of people are telling us the record was written for bigger spaces, to work in arenas – blah blah blah,” says guitarist Felix White. “We just wanted to do the best we could. When you’re writing an album, there are moments you think, ‘Oh God, is this going to work at all?’ The idea we could consciously sit down to write a record that sounded like a certain thing is absurd. We aren’t capable of being as methodical as that. The bottom line is we were trying to make something that wasn’t rubbish. Lots of the songs were recorded in lo-fi settings. They certainly weren’t designed for stadia!”
Such was the hype preceding the album’s release, it began to look as if Given To The Wild might have an outside chance of debuting at number one in the UK. In the end, the record went to number four while, for shame, only grazing the top 40 here. At a time when pop completely owns the charts, it was undoubtedly an impressive achievement. But, after all the chatter, you might forgive the band for being disappointed at not going all the way to the top.
“We were delighted,” Felix insists. “A week before the charts were announced going to number one hadn’t even crossed our minds. It was amazing to go in at number four. We started this band ten years ago as mates looking for something to do. Events like these are little stamps of ‘wow’ – as in can you believe we did it?.”
Page 1/3 <Previous 1 2 3 Next>
©Hot Press 2011. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy