Busy buzz of The Maccabees; Music.

Byline: Jade Wright

SOME bands plug away for years, dreaming of success. Not so The Maccabees. You could say it fell into their laps. And deservedly so.

When the quirky Brighton popsters released 1,000 copies of first single X-Ray in the public domain the response was overwhelming.

After releasing live favourite Latchmere - written about their local swimming pool - on in die label Fierce Panda, offers of album deals started beckoning.

And then, in a hat trick of success, debut album Colour It In won rave reviews.

They quickly became the new darlings of XFM and MTV2, and earned themselves support slots with Arctic Monkeys, Maximo Park and Ben Folds.

Now the quintet of musical romantics are on their way to Liverpool again.

Drummer Rob Dylan Thomas says: "We're looking forward to coming.

The crowds are always really good and that makes a big difference - it completely changed the night."

They've just finished work on their new album, provisionally entitled Wall Of Arms, and are keen to get it out on the road.

"The day we started recording, Obama won the election and the last week we finished mixing was his inauguration, so the process had a nice symmetry to it," says guitarist FelixWhite.

"In honesty it was a testing year-and-a-half, or even two, writing and recording it but it was all for the cause of what we have on our CD players now.

"We knew that all we wanted to do was make something that we'd all enjoy and want to listen to past its creation, and I really think we've achieved that."

A new sound started to evolve as the band teamed up with producer Marcus Dravs (Bjork, Coldplay, Arcade Fire) for recording sessions in the UK and Paris.

The results are stunning, as befits a band of true English eccentrics whose vision sets them apart, and beyond the confines of indiedom.

As a taster, they're giving away a blinding new track, No Kind Words, hot from the studio.

"We're full of excitement for the touring that lies ahead," says Felix. "I've really missed the live side of being in a band - and I think that's partly down to the kind of people that we've been used to having at our gigs."

The Maccabees chose their name by flicking through books. The biggest in the house was The Bible. They came across the story of The Maccabees, rebels who fought against the Greeks and established their independence. But it's only a name. They're not a religious band.

They relocated from London to Brighton as singer Orlando Weeks chose to study illustration at Brighton University, and it was here that the popularity of the band started to rise.

Helpfully, Orlando - the starting point for most of the band's songs - fell in and out of love at the right time. The band got some good songs out of it, although it didn't help Orlando.

The Maccabees play the O2 Academy on March 28, 08444 77 1000. Second album Wall of Arms is out in May. No Kind Words is free from themaccabees.co.uk

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INDIE GODS: The Maccabees are to return to the O2 Academy