Orlando Weeks on The Maccabees’ split: “It was a difficult time, but it was what we needed to do”

The five-piece bowed out in 2017

Orlando Weeks has reflected on The Maccabees‘ 2017 split in a new interview, saying that the decision to put an end to the band “was what we needed to do”.

The five-piece bowed out in 2017 following a farewell tour that culminated with an emotional final gig at Alexandra Palace in London.

Speaking to The Independent, Weeks reflected on how the Maccabees’ split came about.

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“It felt like we’d made such good strides with [2012 album] ‘Given to the Wild’ and that maybe we had not moved on as far again with ‘Marks to Prove It’ [2015], and we’d been doing it for a very, very, very long time,” he said.

Weeks added that even if the band had been “next in line” for major festival headline slots, he does not think it “would’ve been a reason to carry on.”

Asked if it was his decision to break up the band, Weeks replied: “It was everyone knowing that that was what was going to happen. We’d had a difficult time making that final record and we’d reached the end of the line. It just ran out of steam a bit.”

The Maccabees
The Maccabees in 2015 (Picture: Pooneh Ghana/Press)

The former frontman added that “it was just a difficult thing to do. When you’ve been in each other’s company and worked on everything together for so long, it’s complicated. It was a difficult time, but it was what we needed to do.”

Asked if he’d fully processed the band’s split yet, Weeks replied: “Maybe not. I also think it’s kind of our thing. In some ways we were lucky it never ‘took off’.

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“There was enough momentum for us to have enough freedom to be experimental and try and move ourselves along, and at the same time not being bound by one song or one record that defined us.”

Weeks will release his debut solo album ‘A Quickening’ on Friday (June 12), and he previewed the release with the single ‘Milk Breath’ last month.

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