I was getting really angsty before this one, due to the fact the photographer was running 20 minutes late and there wasn't much time available...
Words - Suzy Sims
Editor - Rob Ball
First published on mintsouth.com in May 2009
(c) mintsouth
ORLANDO WEEKS (THE MACCABEES) @ THE GREAT ESCAPE
Five minutes and counting. Team mINtSOUTH are sat in a Brighton café facing The Maccabees’ lead singer Orlando Weeks. He’s recovering after a late night and is wearing a patterned cap and a sleepy yet friendly smile. The interview cards are at the ready. Time to see if we can do this before we’re interrupted by the soundcheck. Go!
Quirky indie poppers The Maccabees played last night in the Corn Exchange, and in a few hours time are set to play in the Pavilion Theatre, a matinee show for competition winners. Recent single ‘Love You Better’ has been all over the airwaves and the band has been touring the UK over the past few weeks, so Orlando is probably welcoming the chance for a quick sit down.
How’s the Great Escape Festival going so far?
“I saw The Week That Was yesterday and that was really good, and I really enjoyed The Agitator as well. I’ve got to head home after we’ve played this afternoon. We played [The Great Escape] maybe two years ago and I came last year. It always seems to do that thing where it doesn’t rain properly, it just makes everything damp and so the whole time you feel slightly sticky. It’s a sticky festival.”
Do you get much time to watch bands at festivals?
“Yeah, that’s kind of the massive privilege of it all is that you go and see bands free and you see bands that you haven’t seen for ages because everyone’s touring or everyone’s been writing records and you all meet up at festivals.”
Have you got any plans for the rest of the year?
“Just going to be playing loads and loads and loads. At the end of this tour we’ve got like seven days or something, and then go to Europe for a bit, go to America, come back and do the festivals, and do another tour in autumn around England again and Europe. There is rest, it’s just like at unusual times.
“I’m quite excited to see Fleet Foxes at Glastonbury and we’re playing Haldern Pop Festival in Germany with Grizzly Bear. Their new record comes out Monday so I’ll have enough time to get my head round that and then I’ll be able to see them for real. I can’t wait.”
If you could have a great escape, where would you escape to? “Right now?” He has a think. “I’d go to Cornwall.”
As we’re currently not in Cornwall, we mention Brighton. “I’m from London, I’m from Clapham but I lived here for four years whilst I was doing a degree. Illustration.”
Do you know many bands in the area? “Yeah I think that part of the charm of Brighton is that because it’s so close knit, you kind of end up knowing everyone, so it’s nice.”
And from the city itself on to funfair rides: "I used to really like the one that’s on the end of the pier, where you’re on the end of an arm that goes like that (does swinging motion) and I can’t go on it anymore because I read that someone was on one once and a seagull went in their head and killed them. If you want to get made up so it looks like you’ve been shot or have an arrow through your head, my father would say that it wasn’t a good idea because it would be tempting fate. So in general anything that risks life and limb unnecessarily, I think I’ve inherited that from him, I don’t see the point. Seagulls are evil birds,” he adds, quite rightly.
The Maccabees’ second album ‘Wall Of Arms’ came out earlier this month on Polydor. Has Orlando got any messages for people who haven’t bought it yet but who really should? “I wouldn’t say buy it. Just borrow someone’s, see what you think.”
How’s it going down, are you getting quite good feedback?“Yeah, so far so good. The people that have borrowed it have liked it,” he says with a smile.
Finally we see if Orlando has any advice for the new bands all trying to make it big at this year’s festival.“I’m not really one for giving advice really, I don’t really feel like I’ve earned that privilege,” he says modestly. “All we did was just play as much as possible and rehearse as much as we could and be really self-critical. I don’t think that’s advice, I just think that’s how we went about it.”
Time to let Orlando whizz off and get soundcheck out the way. There’s just enough time to grab a quick photograph where Team mINtSOUTH pretend to be his bandmates. “You have to look moodily into the distance,” Orlando advises. Instead we grin like berks. The Maccabees’ singer may not like giving advice, but it’s for everyone’s benefit.
http://www.themaccabees.co.uk
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