Maybeshewill
is an instrumental rock band from Leicester, United Kingdom whose music is characterised by the use of programmed electronic elements alongside more traditional 'rock' instrumentation. From their inception the band have been recognised for their use of monologues and film samples as well as references to popular culture in their song titles.
The musicians which make up Maybeshewill have changed a number of times, with only guitarists Robin Southby
and John Helps
appearing on every release. However, current drummer James Collins
has been with the band since their first tour. This revolving door of musicians was the inspiration behind the title of their debut LP Not For Want Of Trying
.
According to press releases, the name Maybeshewill is simply a string of pleasant sounding syllables which have no intrinsic meaning - hence it's being spelt as a single word without spaces.
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MAYBESHEWILL TICKETS
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History
Maybeshewill was formed by guitarists Robin Southby and John Helps whilst the pair were studying together at university in 2005. They released their first record
Japanese Spy Transcript
on the band's own label,
Robot Needs Home Records in 2006 with Tanya Byrne on bass guitar and Lawrie Malen on drums. The 4 track
EP was well received by the press and attracted the attention of Nottingham's
Field Records (also home to
Public Relations Exercise) who released "The Paris Hilton Sex Tape" (taken from the record) as part of a split 7" single with
Ann Arbor later that year.
In August 2006 a re-mastered version of
Japanese Spy Transcript
was released in
Japan on the XTAL label (also home to
Yndi halda) which was set up specifically for the release by The
Media Factory Group. In October the band were joined by Kris Tearse on drums and guitarist Scott West (formerly of
TEAM), but the pair left in January to begin work on
deATH of LONdon. At this point the band also parted company with Tanya Byrne.
In May 2007, John and Robin began working with drummer James Collins (formerly a member of
Fight Fire With Water) and bassist Andrew Jackson, along with a number of guest vocalists and musicians on an album entitled
Not for Want of Trying
. The record was released on Monday 12 May 2008 through Field Records, and was chosen by
BBC Radio 1 DJ
Huw Stephens as his album of the week in its release week. 'The Paris Hilton Sex Tape' also featured on the cover CD of June's edition of
Rock Sound magazine.
Thirteen months later on 7 June 2009 the band released their second LP
Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony
through Field Records, with Victoria Sztuka taking Andrew Jacksons place on bass guitar. This was a much shorter, heavier record which saw them continue to try to break away from the
post-rock tag with which they are often labelled. The record was received well by both press and fans alike, but did recieve some criticism for failing to depart from the bands established sound substantially enough.
After the release of Sing The Word Hope, The band returned to the three-piece line-up of James Collins, John Helps and Robin Southby. Since then a number of friends of the band have filled in on live bass guitar duties, including Matt Daly from Leicester based
post-hardcore band
Buenos Aires
.
As of August 2009 the band are known to be working on an album or mini-album for release in early 2010. The band have joked about a number of ideas for dramatic direction changes through their
twitter feed (claiming that they will be emulating
Dimmu Borgir For example), but have yet to reveal anything about the actual form the record will take.
Performing their material live is important for Maybeshewill, and consequently the band tour the UK regularly. This has seen them pair up with
Fight Fire With Water,
worriedaboutsatan,
And So I Watch You From Afar,
Death Of London and
Cats & Cats & Cats on their many excursions. They also toured Japan in 2009 with
Ovum. Although the band have yet to appear at many mainstream festivals, 2008 and 2009 saw them play The
Summer Sundae Weekender twice,
Truck Festival,
Brainwash Festival and
Dot To Dot in various cities around the UK.
Ethics and Ethos
The band have stated in a number of interviews that they are concerned about the state of the mainstream music industry and as such continue to work with 'DIY' label Field Records and release a lot of their music themselves through
Robot Needs Home, and are learning to do the jobs that would normally be performed by managers and booking agents themselves.
All of Maybeshewill's musical output so far has been recorded by the band themselves at no cost. The band have claimed in interviews that they wanted to prove that it's possible to make music without spending any money. In the liner notes of
Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony
they published a brief guide to the approach that they take, as well as information on how they go about recording everything themselves.
Discography
Albums / EPs
- Japanese Spy Transcript
(EP) (XTAL JP) (August 2006)
- Not For Want of Trying
(Field Records UK & EU, XTAL JP) (May 2008)
- Sing the Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony
(Field Records UK & EU, XTAL JP) (June 2009)
- Not For Want of Trying + 4
(Field Records UK & EU) (Due October 2009)
- Untitled
(TBC) (Due 2010)
Singles and Minor Releases
- Ann Arbor / Maybeshewill Split
(7" Single) (Field Records) (July 2006)
- Seraphim & Cherubim / Heartflusters
(CD-R Single) (Robot Needs Home) (September 2007)
- Anti-Semantics: The Remixes Vol. 1
(CD-R EP) (Robot Needs Home) (May 2008)
- Amateur Grammatics: The Remixes Vol. 2
(CD-R EP) (Robot Needs Home) (October 2008)
- Maybeshewill / Her Name is Calla Split
(12" Single) (Field Records) (November 2008)
Compilations
- Kill All Humans
(CD-R Compilation) (Robot Needs Home) (September 2007)
- Notes 1
(Mini CD-R and Art Compilation) (Notes) (Unknown 2009)
- Tellison - Contact! Contact! Remixed
(Remix Compilation) (Drums Don't Kill Records) (January 2009)
- White Noise One
(CD-R Compilation) (Robot Needs Home) (May 2009}
References