The Maccabees star Rupert Jarvis feels sorry for new bands.
The indie rock group formed in London back in 2004, and Rupert acknowledges that new bands face even bigger challenges these days.
Speaking to The Independent, he explained: "It’s so much more expensive to just be a new band. Back when we first started, we’d chuck in a fiver each to go and spend four hours rehearsing, [but] that doesn’t get you anywhere nowadays.
"I feel very sorry for the new bands because of that, and there’s a lot less new bands. You really notice that – there are fewer venues, fewer nights out, fewer things going on for bands to form a scene."
Orlando Weeks admits that there was a "DIY-ness" to the band, and their look, in the early years.
He reflected: "There was still so much DIY-ness about it all. There was more of a look, a cohesiveness of aesthetic."
Felix White also feels that the band's sound evolved over time.
The 40-year-old star believes the group have gone through some distinct eras in their history.
He said: "As a Maccabee through the ages, I think you can really hear that in the music: you can hear that we’re 19, you can hear that we’re 24 and so on. And the gigs used to feel like that, like when we were first playing, and there used to be people hanging from the ceiling and shoes flying everywhere and all that kind of thing. And then, as we got older, it changed into something more introspective."
The Maccabees announced plans to disband in 2016, before performing a series of farewell gigs the following year.
And even though they reunited in 2024, Felix still has vivid memories of their farewell shows.
He shared: "There was a real sense when those last Maccabee shows happened that everyone had been, was a particular age, and it became sort of symbolic for saying goodbye to a certain part of your life – sort of early thirties.
"That idea of real adulthood was upon everyone, that you’re definitively ending a stage of your life – and it felt like it was inside all of the rooms when we played those shows. It felt like everyone was pouring their own collective sense of goodbye into it, whatever that might be – relationships, being young, people that couldn’t be there, all that kind of stuff. So it felt very heavy."
