Maccabees hoping to debut new material at Reading And Leeds Festivals

The Maccabees' Felix White has said that he is hoping his band will be able to debut new material at the Reading And Leeds Festivals this summer.

The group are set to play on the Main Stage at the event, which takes place on August 27-29.

White said the five-piece were about to embark on writing sessions for their third album, and are hoping to have some songs completed in time for the big shows.

"Maybe there'll be a new song in there too, as we're just writing the record," he told NME.COM. "We'd hope so, that's our goal. It'll only be one or two maximum."

White added that The Maccabees originally did not plan to play the festival until the offer of a slot on the Main Stage came up. They played the NME/Radio 1 Stage last year.

"We kind of decided while we write our record, it was so good last time we can't really better that," he said. "We decided we maybe weren't going to play at all. Then that offer came in, that is the only way we could possibly beat last year."

He added: "The Reading Main Stage is almost the promised land. You think of that as the unreachable goal and now we're playing it. Wherever you are at the festival you can hear the band on the Main Stage. Even if you're not watching them you've got an opinion on them. It's surreal to know it'll be us."

The Maccabees to debut new songs at Reading And Leeds Festivals

The Maccabees are set to debut a new song at Reading And Leeds Festivals this weekend (August 27-29).

Speaking about their Main Stage performances at Reading today and Leeds tomorrow, the band's guitarist Felix White told NME they are currently debating whether to play one or two new tracks.

"There's one called 'Child' and there's another one we haven't got a name for yet, but it's shaping up as a kind of David Bowie 'Heroes'-type song," he told NME.

He added: "Every time we've done Reading and Leeds it's been a benchmark moment."

The Maccabees debut new material in front of huge crowd at Reading Festival

The Maccabees played to a huge Main Stage crowd at Reading Festival this afternoon (August 28), debuting a new song during their set.

The track, which is currently untitled, was introduced by frontman Orlando Weeks, who originally joked that the band would play a cover instead.

"We couldn't decide between doing a cover and a new song," he teased, before leading the band into the song, which seemed more epic than The Maccabees' previous output.

Drawing one of the biggest crowds of the weekend so far, the band also admitted that it has been their aim to play a Main Stage slot at Reading Festival for some time.

"So the plan worked," Weeks said at one point.

The band were also joined by a three-person horn section, with each member wearing either a mask of an owl, frog or tiger.

The Maccabees played:

'William Powers'
'One Hand Holding'
'Wall Of Arms'
'Young Lions'
'Can You Give It'
'Toothpaste Kisses'
(New song, currently untitled)
'Precious Time'
'First Love'
'X-Ray'
'No Kind Words'
'Bag Of Bones'
'Love You Better'

The Maccabees: 'We'll hit the studio before the end of the year' - video

The Maccabees have six songs ready for a new album they hope to record this year.

The band spoke to NME, in a video interview you can watch below now, about working on the follow-up to last year's 'Wall Of Arms'.

"We have so many ideas but we decided that six of them are going to get finished first," Felix White explained of the band's approach to the record. "So we're getting there, we'll be recording at the end of the year."

The band included one untitled new song in their sets at the Reading And Leeds Festivals over the weekend (August 27-29).

"Felix had this thing that sounded like the precursor to a gun fight in the wild west, a spaghetti western," Orlando Weeks explained. "The song hasn't got a name yet."

Watch the full interview now.

Video: The Maccabees at Reading Festival 2010

Maccabees have 'six properly finished songs' for new album



The Maccabees have said that they have around 12 songs written for their third album.

Singer Orlando Weeks, speaking in the new issue of NME, said that they have "six properly finished songs, and the same number again in various states of construction and disrepair".

It's still early days for the band’s follow up to 2009's ‘Wall Of Arms’, but it is likely that 'Forever I've Known', a track premiered during the band's appearances at the Reading And Leeds Festivals last August, will be on the finished record.

Guitarist Felix White said of the song: "We've never done anything that went from being so sparse to so heavy and we’ve never been brave enough to write five-minute songs before."

The Maccabees on new album: 'We're finding the names hard' - video

Video: The Maccabees - 'Our New Songs Don't Even Have Names'

The Maccabees have admitted that many of the songs on their forthcoming album don't have titles yet.

Speaking to NME at Bestival the band said that, although they were close to the end point with the record, they didn't know what the name some of the tracks. The Brighton indie band, who have spent the last year working on the follow-up to their 2009 second album 'Wall Of Arms'.

In the interview, which can be viewed above, Hugo White said: "Some of them don't have names, we're finding the names really difficult. You should never leave the names to last (minute) you should do that early otherwise you get stuck! "

Speaking about what stage the recording was in, he said: "We're trying to finish mixing the record at the moment, it's at the final stage so it's all go."

Bandmate Orlando Weeks added: "One song is finished, we'd happily play it anybody but the other 11 are in various states of... undress."

When asked about the sound of the album, Weeks only said: "I think this is a really different record, it's taken us nearly two years to get together," before adding: "I don't know how to describe it."

The Maccabees announce new album title, tracklisting and release date



The Maccabees have announced their new album is titled 'Given To The Wild' and will be released in January.

The London band worked on the 12-track album, their third, at Rockfield Studios with Tim Goldsworthy and Bruno Ellingham (LCD Soundsystem, Massive Attack) over the past 12 months.

They also worked on large parts of the record at their rehearsal space in the capital's Elephant And Castle district, before decamping to Suffolk to finish the record.

The band have said they took inspiration from "disparate musical peers" such as The Stone Roses, Kate Bush and David Bowie during the recording of the LP, which is the follow-up to 2009's 'Wall Of Arms'.

Speaking about the title of the album, singer Orlando Weeks told NME:


The tracklisting of the album, which is scheduled to be released on January 9, is:

'Child'
'Pelican'
'Feel To Follow'
'Ayla'
'Glimmer'
'Forever I've Known'
'Heave'
'Go'
'Unknow'
'Went Away'
'Slowly One'
'Grew Up At Midnight'

The Maccabees are also set to hit the road to showcase new material on a UK tour later this month – the jaunt is due to kick off at Gloucester Guildhall on October 21.

The Maccabees: ''Given To The Wild' is the first time we've sounded like we want to on record'

The Maccabees have said that their new LP 'Given To The Wild' is the first record they've made that captures what they "really wanted The Maccabees to sound like".

The London band had previously said that the album, which is the follow-up to 2009's 'Wall Of Arms' and will be released on January 9 next year, was influenced by "disparate musical peers" such as The Stone Roses, Kate Bush and David Bowie.

Guitarist Felix White said:


The Maccabees have also announced a UK tour for January 12. The trek will feature five shows, which kick off in Glasgow at Queen Margaret's Union on January 23 and run until January 28, when the band will play Manchester's HMV Ritz.

The Maccabees will play:

Glasgow Queen Margaret's Union (January 23)
Newcastle O2 Academy (24)
London O2 Academy Brixton (26)
HMV Birmingham Institute (27)
Manchester HMV Ritz (28)

The Maccabees: 'Our new album proves people who slagged us off wrong'

The Maccabees have revealed that they feel their new album 'Given To The Wild' will prove the people who "slagged" them off wrong.

The Brighton-based band release the LP, which is their third studio effort, on January 9, and in an interview with Fake DIY, they said that they believed they had started to repay the faith shown to them by their fans.

Talking about the new record, guitarist Felix White said:


He went on to reveal that the band had changed their approach in the recording studio, adding: "It's definitely an ambitious album. With the last record, while we were writing it, we'd look to play a few songs to people, just sort of gauge it.

"And with this one we didn't do that, we just ploughed through and concentrated on it, but with enough of a view to how it would translate."

Last week, The Maccabees unveiled their new single 'Pelican', which is the first track to be taken from 'Given To The Wild'. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen.

The Maccabees will tour the UK in January in support of the album, playing five shows, these kick off in Glasgow at Queen Margaret's Union on January 23 and run until January 28, when the band will play Manchester's HMV Ritz.

The Maccabees release new video for 'Feel To Follow'



As a Christmas treat for NME readers, The Maccabees have given us an exclusive first look at the new video for their next single 'Feel To Follow'. You can watch it now by clicking on the player above.

The track is taken from the band's third studio album ‘Given To The Wild’, which is set to be released on January 9. The record has been co-produced by DFA Records' Tim Goldsworthy.

Speaking with NME about the video, the band's frontman Orlando Weeks said:


The singer also revealed that 'Feel To Follow' is his favourite song on his band's forthcoming album.

You can read more about The Maccabees' new album in this week's special Christmas double issue of NME, where Orlando reveals the story behind this song. He said: "A cab driver said to me, 'You never know it's too late until it's too late.' I tried to get it into songs over and over again but it never felt right, until this one. He was a very deep cab driver. We had a real moment."

The Maccabees are set to hit the road to showcase new material on a UK tour in March, kicking off at Edinburgh's HMV Picture House.

The Maccabees reveal new album 'Given To The Wild' has a 'cinematic' feel

The Maccabees have revealed that their forthcoming new album 'Given To The Wild' has a "cinematic" feel.

The band, who are set to release the LP on January 9, explained that they wanted to ensure it had a "soundtrack quality" and have spoken of the "bold move" of making the album an hour long.

"For the first time we weren't thrashing it out in a rehearsal room, we were writing on our own, at home or in our studio," singer Orlando Weeks told The Sun. "I think that is why the record sounds so cinematic, because it's constructed from different pieces of music we had written."

Speaking about the band's ambitions for the album, guitarist Felix White added: