The Maccabees

The Maccabees emerged in 2004 as a South London-based ensemble of kinetic indie rockers centered on vocalist Orlando Weeks together with guitarists Hugo and Felix White, bassist Rupert Jarvis, and drummer Robert Dylan Thomas. Their debut release, the single “X-Ray,” appeared via Promise Records in November 2005; heavy rotation on XFM subsequently secured support slots on an Arctic Monkeys tour. Fierce Panda then issued the follow-up single “Latchmere” during spring 2006, after which Fiction Records put out the band’s first album, Colour It In, in 2007. When Robert Dylan Thomas departed the following year, Sam Doyle took over on drums. Working with producer Markus Dravs—known for his work with the Arcade Fire—the group delivered its sophomore effort, Wall of Arms, in 2009 and soon earned main-stage appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. A two-year hiatus for writing and recording preceded the early-2012 arrival of Given to the Wild and its lead single “Pelican.” The album reached the U.K. Top Five and earned a Mercury Award nomination for Album of the Year. Recording sessions for a fourth album began in 2013, yet difficulties finalizing a production approach delayed new output until the May 2015 single “Marks to Prove It.” Seeking a sound more aligned with their live shows than earlier studio work, the band issued the album Marks to Prove It at the end of July 2015. On 8 August 2016, after releasing four albums across more than a decade together, the Maccabees declared their dissolution.