Wild in the country (From The Northern Echo)

Wild in the country

2:13pm Thursday 12th January 2012 in Features & Interviews

Maccabees frontman Orlando Weeks tells Andy Welch how Given To The Wild turned out to be the record they’d been longing to make.

IT’S a bit early to start crowing about the best album of 2012.

Just over a week into the New Year, The Maccabees have unveiled an album that will almost certainly dominate endof- year polls in 11 months’ time.

“We always joke that we start with a break,” frontman Orlando Weeks says of the creative process that has produced their third album, Given To The Wild.

“Each rehearsal, we turn up, then have a cup of tea and a fag and a chat, and it’s an-hour-and-a-half before we do anything. Releasing the album just after the Christmas break is the same.

We’ve shut down for a few weeks, now we’re about to get busier than ever.”

It’s almost five years since the London five-piece released their debut album Colour It In – a spiky, angular set of songs, heavily influenced by the likes of XTC, Magazine and early Blur. It was charming in its naivety and perfectly enjoyable, but while many bands sound at their most exciting on their debut, The Maccabees seemed as if they were being held back.

The follow-up Wall Of Arms arrived two years later and delivered on so much of that early promise. It was produced by Markus Dravs, who had previously worked with Bjork, Coldplay and Arcade Fire, and was a real step up.

“With the new one, it definitely feels like we’ve achieved some of the things Wall Of Arms was pointing at.

It’s to do with being more articulate," says Weeks.

“And we’re so much more confident now, we can get closer to the thing that we envisage. When we started, we’d say things like ‘We want it to sound watery, but with a bit more punch to it’, to a producer. Now, instead of saying that, we can ask for certain reverbs or delays, or accurately describe a mood. We’ve got our heads around production, basically, and have the confidence to finally sound how we want to.”

Given To The Wild was partly recorded in the band’s own studio, and partly at Rockfield, in Monmouth, the legendary venue where the likes of Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, The Stone Roses and Paul Weller made some of the Nineties’ best albums, and also where Queen recorded Bohemian Rhapsody.

“It’s not nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be,” says Weeks.

“But it’s a very special place, incredible.

“We loved it there, exploring the old barns and stables and things.”

Weeks couldn’t be happier. “We’re rehearsing for the UK tour because we haven’t worked out how to play some of the songs on Given To The Wild yet. We didn’t want to concern ourselves with that when we were recording them. We’re going to be busy, but nice busy.

“We’ll get rehearsals done, finish the tour then go on to Australia, Europe and then play another set of dates in UK. After that, who knows?”

TOUR DATES: January 29, Newcastle Academy. March 7, Middlesbrough Town Hall and Crypt.

• The Maccabees release their third album, Given To The Wild, this week