86TVs: “I’ve always been obsessed with the mythology of guitar music”

Farewell tours, cricket podcasts, and bestselling books: seven years since The Maccabees left us, the White brothers are back, and they’ve brought reinforcements. Meet 86TVs, your favourite band’s new favourite band.

Words: Ali Shutler.
Photos: Derek Bremner.

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“There’s this whole generation of British indie kids, me included, whose coming of age in the 00s and 2010s was defined by The Maccabees,” Chess Club Records up-and-comer SOFY tells Dork, with the band soundtracking first loves, first gigs, and even inspiring her to dive into her first mosh pit. “They were a truly wicked live band and remain timeless storytellers,” she continues. “If I can have half the legacy they have, I’ll be happy.”

It’s a sentiment shared by plenty of other Dork faves, with IDLES’ Joe Talbot telling fans The Maccabees even inspired the way he dressed as a teenager. “They were the first band that I followed, loved and believed in as more than music, but part of a scene that moved people forwards creatively,” he shared ahead of a support slot with the band.

The Maccabees were a staple of the 00s indie scene, with that band conjuring a swaggering, playful collection of festival-ready anthems that offered heart as well as hedonism. A decade after they burst onto the scene in an explosion of colour, and shortly after headlining Latitude and releasing the chart-topping ‘Marks To Prove It’, they surprised everyone by announcing they’d be breaking up after a short farewell tour. “We are very proud to be able to go out on our own terms [and] at our creative peak,” said a joint statement that also squashed any whisperings of a falling out between the band.

That’s not where the story ends, though. Felix White, fellow Maccabee Hugo, their brother Will and Stereophonics drummer Jamie Morrison are now back with their new band 86TVs, ready to add something fresh to that ever-evolving mythology of guitar music.

Today, there’s a whole lot of confidence in the band’s euphoric indie, but that wasn’t always the case. “I really didn’t know if I was ever going to be in a band again after The Maccabees, because it ended so perfectly,” Felix admits. Earlier this month, 86TVs finally released their gorgeous, twisting self-titled debut album. “It feels miraculous,” he says. “It’s been quite the journey,” adds Jamie.

The Maccabees played their final shows in the summer of 2017, and despite their statement promising new music from band members, neither Felix nor Hugo had any real plans for what would come next. With six months left on their tenancy at Elephants Studio, aka Maccabees HQ, the pair would often find themselves just hanging out in the south London space with their brother Will. “There was a lot of muddling around, wondering what to do next and making a lot of instrumental music that none of us were brave enough to sing on,” offers Felix. For pretty much their entire lives, the three musicians had been asked when they’d start a band of their own, but the siblings had never once had that conversation. “It was never a given,” he promises. Even when the trio were actually making music together post-Maccabees, it was never meant to be something that would be shared with the wider world.

Still, the brothers were enjoying themselves so much that they started inviting friends to join them in the studio, including Jamie, who’d first met them when he was drumming in The Noisettes. They’d toured North America together in 2007 alongside Bloc Party and had reconnected after both Stereophonics and Maccabees played Later With… Jools Holland together in 2015.

“We’ve ended up with an album that sounds like the music we fell in love with when we were 17”

Felix White

“He was this legendary, mythical drummer of the scene,” says Felix, with Jamie saying it’s felt like he’s always known the brothers. He was an obvious choice to get involved with the still-just-for-fun project, but thirty seconds into their first musical playdate, Jamie put down his drumsticks and asked everyone else to stop. “He then gave this speech about how positive he felt about the situation and how much he liked the way everyone was communicating, which was surprising because we really hadn’t been playing long enough for there to be anything positive about it,” grins Felix. “But it sparked something within all of us.” Ever since, Jamie has been all in, buoying the same level of enthusiasm and ambition from the White brothers.

Despite a full-on day job with the Stereophonics, Jamie says his decision to commit himself to a band that still hadn’t had a conversation about commitment was instinctual. “It was a heart thing, a love thing… and that will make you do anything,” he says. “Every time I went to that studio to make music with them, I was fizzing with excitement. I loved making music with them, and I just wanted more.”

Six years later, the band have just released ‘86TVs’, which is full of that same fizzing excitement. “There was a lot of fear in the beginning, though,” says Felix. “I was aware of what The Maccabees had meant to me and other people, and I didn’t want to pop that balloon. I was very conscious of coming back a year after we left things and feeling underwhelmed.”

So alongside tentative writing sessions, Felix threw himself into indie label Yala! Records, releasing music from the likes of The Magic Gang, Willie J Healey and Egyptian Blue. “There’s an admin side to running a label, which was definitely a shock to the system because it feels like real work,” he offers. “But the idea for Yala! was to be in service of good music. Being involved in helping music reach people was really special,” he continues. Despite a decade of success in the studio, he would never step in to offer advice on the actual music that was being made though. “I was always in awe of what those bands were doing. I’d kinda forgotten that I could do a similar thing,” he admits. “There was a sense of liberation when I rediscovered that with 86TVs.”

86TVs spent a couple of years on fear and procrastination while more time was spent making sense of the vast amount of music being brought into the studio. “Really, we only needed to write a few songs each to make an album,” shrugs Felix, but the shared inspiration wasn’t slowing down. “It was never going to be a quick process,” says Jamie, as the band needed to find their own identity.

While there were nerves about living up to the legacy of what had come before, the mood in the studio was one of collaboration and freedom. “This band has always had this attitude of ‘bring it on and let’s see what happens’,” says Jamie. “There was always this inkling that there was something more out there, and no stone was left unturned in pursuit of that.”

“The studio has always been this warm, open environment where anything goes. It’s a safe space for the craziest ideas,” he continues. Living up to that ethos, the band spent a decent chunk of time playing around with a Spanish-language verse for no other reason than it felt like an idea worth exploring. Eventually, the democracy that is 86TVs decided to scrap the bilingual banger. “If you only care about your ideas, be a solo artist,” explains Jamie. “Bands are at their most potent when they listen to everyone involved. I guarantee you’ll always exceed your own expectations that way because you’ve got four chefs instead of one.”

“This feels like a band that’s going to be around for a while”

Felix White

Years into the process, that band realised if they all sung together,  it created a unique energy that felt very them. “It gave everything this unifying power, and it just made sense,” says Felix. “From that point on, it was about getting the music in front of people and turning this band into a real thing. You can kid yourself all you like, but releasing music and playing gigs is where the real buzz is.”

Easier said than done though, especially since most new bands learn their songs on the stage. They typically write something together in a practice space, try it out live, then go back and finetune things. 86TVs did things the other way around. “We built twenty songs without any outside influence,” says Jamie. “Every track got so much love.” Which is why the album feels so rich. It did mean the band got a bit of a shock when they eventually went out on their first tour in 2022, supporting Jamie T around the UK. “That first show in Glasgow might be the hardest gig I’ve ever played in my life,” admits Felix.

“It took a lot of balls to do those shows but as soon as we played that first gig, we realised we needed to go back into the studio,” adds Jamie.

“When you’re playing rooms of that size, and nobody knows who you are because you haven’t actually released any music yet, it turns into this confrontational situation. It’s you versus the world, almost,” says Felix. It reminded him of when he first started out playing gigs, and 86TVs quickly set to work turning their carefully curated songs into something a little more defiant and scrappy. That energy gives the entire record a sense of glorious, unbridled liberation.

For the first time in a decade, the members of 86TVs weren’t pushing back against what had come before. “In other projects, we’d sometimes be editing our ideas or veering away from what felt the most natural in the search for something new,” says Felix. “With 86TVs, though, whatever happened, happened. We’ve ended up with an album that sounds like the music we fell in love with when we were 17,” he continues. “There’s just this freedom to it, mixed with the energy of rediscovery and the more esoteric influences we picked up later in life.” With every member of the band on vocal duties, the whole project has this twisting, emotional depth, driven by an excitable urgency. “That harmony and tension rattling along together gives this music its magic,” Felix offers.

It’s reflected in the lyrics as well. Across the record, the band wrestle to find a jubilant lust for life in a mire of anxiety, uncertainty, loss and sadness, while the whole thing ends with a haunting, existential nursery rhyme that’s somehow resolutely optimistic. “Living is a drag and dying is so sad. Carry on, carry on, with life.”

“The album has euphoria because it’s how we felt when we were making it, but there’s perseverance as well,” Jamie offers. “It’s important there’s both, because that’s how people’s lives are right now. It’s a little bit of everything… It’s a full meal, basically.”

“I’ve always got something to prove; that’s why I keep making music”

Felix White

For an album that starts talking about how modern life is a bit rubbish, ‘86TVs’ refuses to let cynicism win. “There is a lot of melancholy, but it’s always delivered alongside this uplifting music,” says Felix. “We talked a lot about the music feeling joyous,” continues Jamie. “It’s about creating that communal, joyous feeling.”

“It’s what bands used to make us feel,” says Felix, tapping into the legend of guitar music and how it affected him as a teenager. “I’ve always just been obsessed with the mythology of guitar music. You’d go to a gig, exercise a feeling and come out feeling changed.” He believes that cathartic, hopeful togetherness has been dwindling in the indie music scene in recent years, which is perhaps why The Last Dinner Party have become so celebrated and why this summer has been dominated by giddy pop anthems from the likes of Charli xcx, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter.

“Everything is so complex at the moment, and there are so many different things happening at once that it’s created this collective mess of different emotions” Felix continues, with the band offering something of a way through. “There’s absolutely nothing complicated about a gig, though. All those different lives coming together to share in music is incredibly simple but special.”

“The way the world is designed means you constantly feel a bit manic and unsettled. I’m never sure I’m where I’m supposed to be,” Felix continues. That idea of trying to find a sense of peace and belonging comes up in songs like ‘Higher Love’ and ‘Someone Else’s Dream’. “It’s funny because playing those songs live has come with the realisation that being onstage with this band is exactly where I’m supposed to be,” he adds.

Rather than a stopgap before an inevitable anniversary tour like so many post-break-up projects before them, 86TVs is a full-hearted expression of passion and belief. Their debut album is constantly exciting but refuses to lean on past glories. “This feels like a band that’s going to be around for a while,” says Felix., readying himself for another go at guitar mythology. “It feels like there’s a lot of road left for us to travel. “

“Rejoice! Good things come to those who wait. It’s a rare and welcome gift to have artists return with such vitality,” Joe Talbot tells Dork. “86TVs has a beautiful sense of peace and vigour. Just what I needed!”

After so much success in their other bands, 86TVs’ ambitions are straightforward. “With bands, I’ve always believed that it doesn’t matter how many people you reach. If you can be somebody’s favourite thing, then that’s the best feeling in the world,” Felix offers. “The rest of it is hoping for divine intervention in terms of how far it actually goes,” with the band more then ready to take on whatever comes their way. “All I really want is for this record to mean something to somebody though.”

“I’ve never understood musicians who say they don’t have anything to prove, though,” Felix continues, aware of The Maccabees’ legacy that still hangs over him. “I feel like I’ve always got something to prove, and that’s why I keep making music. The latest thing is always the most important, because that’s what your legacy really rests upon.” ■

Taken from the September 2024 issue of Dork. 86TVs’ self-titled debut album is out now.