It’s not for the cock, it’s for a Weekly chat

by It’s not for the cock on Mon, 2009/09/28 - 10:01am Post to Twitter

I recently did a phone interview with Orlando Weeks from The Maccabees and while he literally couldn’t have been nicer, it was slightly frustrating to see the interview printed in The Nottingham Evening Post as a very edited, fragmented and watered down version of the original. So here is the interview with him in all its original, more music geeky form. It is pretty Nottingham-centric but suck it up and deal if you’re not from the lovely city Robin Hood and Brian Clough and other such duckehs.

Firstly, let’s talk about the new(ish) album “Wall Of Arms”. Your first album “Colour it In” received a lot of praise and gained you a lot of fans so it seemed you could have easily suffered difficult second album syndrome. “Wall of Arms” was a great success though, how do you think you avoided the pressure and managed to make such a great album?

Orlando: ‘Oh, thank you very much. Well, all of us were a bit older and had the opportunity to play our instruments a lot and- particularly the other boys have got so competent… and not just competent- they really get it. They really know how to play their guitars and stuff so well. So maybe that’s it, everyone’s just got a bit better with experience.

The album has a much fuller and ambitious sound, was this a pretty conscious thing or more of a natural progression?

Orlando: I think we definitely wanted to push it in that direction and the ethos of that first record (‘Colour It In’) was almost to get the best and tightest live sounding thing possible, you know? With the first album we were writing songs just so we had something to play to people. But with ‘Wall of Arms’, we knew it was going to be a record and were aware it was being written to be recorded so we knew there would be an opportunity to double track stuff and fill it out and have guitars that we wouldn’t have live necessarily and have brass we didn’t know if we’d have live. We were just sort of able to push it a bit and fill it out.

As you just mention, “Wall of Arms” features some brass parts, will you be bringing these to the live shows?

Orlando: Yeah, we’ve managed to get that into the budget. So- there will be brass!

When you played Nottingham about two years ago, it seemed as if you’d deservedly graduated to such a big venue-Rock City- do you think it’s been easy to remain at that level or have you had to build back up to it a bit?

Orlando: I’m not sure, I guess …I mean, I think you just play to as many people and as full a place because it means that the atmosphere is great. I’m not sure what the next sized venue up is in Nottingham but maybe if it was real big it would feel empty and that would change the atmosphere which wouldn’t be helpful. We’ve always felt that we’ve thrived on things being a bit tight in wherever we play and having that sort of hubbub, you know? It doesn’t really bother us so much where we play- I’d just rather it was full of people who enjoy it. 

How do you find playing Nottingham? You always seem to get a great reaction, do you enjoy playing here?

Orlando: Yeah, 100%. We’ve always been received very graciously by people there and I feel people in Nottingham always put up a stand for us, you know? We also have good nights out as well- it’s a really good town.

If/when you get a chance, where do you like to hang out in Nottingham?

Orlando: Well I think one year I became a member of the Riley’s Snooker Hall and that’s pretty good there man! They do a pretty mean BLT. I was there a bit and snooker’s pretty good for when you’re on tour as it kind of relaxes you. Especially if you’re feeling a bit nervous or whatever, go and play a game of snooker and just remember that you’re particularly shit at a sport and everything else pales in comparison! And quite often we get invited down to The Social and go down there. We always have a great time in Nottingham, it’s a good party down there.

You’re friends with Nottingham actor Matt Horne. How do you know him?

Oralndo: Erm, I think we met him about three years ago when he came to see us. Well he came to see Interpol and we were playing with Interpol and we met him after then and we’ve been friends ever since.

He seems a big fan of yours, are you fans of his TV work?

Orlando: Yeah absolutely. I think he’s a very, very clever actor. He’s one of the last gentlemen, 100%.

He was in the video for your single ‘No Kind Words’ as well, how did that come about?

Orlando: We needed someone to act and we knew him and he said he’d be up for doing it and I really think it worked. I knew I wanted to do something that sort of echoed the Smith and Jones talking heads thing and it just kind of made sense to do it with him (Matt Horne). He was available and up for doing it and because he was a mate…he did it cheap! We got a really good actor and he kind of did a favour, so we owe him but I don’t know how he’d ever get that back.

 What kind of music do you like listening to?

Orlando: Well, when I was walking down to the café I’m at now- I haven’t listened to The Band for a while, so I listened to that. You know when you haven’t listened to a band for six months or something? Then your eye kind of catches it and you think ‘yeah, I can deal with that now’. And you listen to it and it’s great! But now I kind of have that little dread that I’ll listen to it so much that it means that after a week, it’ll have to be another six months. But I guess that’s how it works otherwise you’d just listen to the same thing over and over again. And after that, I’ll go to something else.

Are there any new bands that you’re into at the moment?

Orlando: I can’t wait to hear the Mumford and Sons record. A couple of the boys have copies of that but I haven’t and I’m jealous. I really like the Bombay Bicycle Club album- it sounds beautiful and it’s pretty brave. I dunno apart from that, I feel like I should have more! Well, the Peggy Sue album must be coming out soon which is pretty exciting.

You’ve got this Autumn tour coming up, what’s the plan after that?

Orlando: Then we go away to Europe with The Editors for six weeks until Christmas. Then we’ll come back and I guess it’ll then depend on what happens but we’ll start thinking about what we do next. But at the moment we’re just really thinking up until Christmas.

Have you started writing or jamming any ideas for new songs?

Orlando: Well, it’s been a pretty hectic summer- I think we’ve done twenty something festivals- and because of the way we write all together and everything, it doesn’t really lend itself to writing on tour. But I know everyone’s got bits recorded separately on their computers and stuff.

You mentioned playing a lot of festivals, which have been your favourite to play this summer?

Orlando: For me, I really enjoyed Lowlands. Kind of mainly because I went there as a punter when I was about 20, 22 and it was just kind of nostalgic. You know, I saw Snoop Dogg and Peaches and stuff like that. I always feel like if you go to a festival and see loads of stuff you’ve never seen before then you’re ticking boxes.

I saw you at Glastonbury this year and remember a massive crowd that knew all the words and we’re really into it even though it was quite an early slot.

Orlando: Yeah, it was a bit of a shocker for us! Yeah, I think we were as shocked as maybe you were or as anyone. It felt real good man. It felt real nice.

The Maccabees start the tour on Wednesday and all dates can be found here.

The Maccabees- ‘Young Lions’ (XFM Session)