MAZES

Mazes (comprising of Jack Cooper on vocals and guitar, Neil Robinson on drums, Jarin Tabata on guitars and Conan Roberts on bass) formed in early 2009 in Manchester and began their life touring with Pens and Wavves before going on to play shows and tour with bands such as Deerhunter, Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps, Box Elders, Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles. Their belief in recording live and very quickly to tape has meant that they already have a significant back catalogue, releasing their first two singles (the second a split with Spectrals) on Brighton’s Sex is Disgusting and a third on Suffering Jukebox to critical acclaim from blogs and the wider press. Jack Cooper states that they ‘don’t work on anything too much due to circumstance and a quest for spontaneity.’ This approach is most exemplified by the mix tape that Mazes produced for Italian Beach Babes, which, in the grand tradition of Sebadohs ‘The Freed Weed’ and the series of Fucked Up mix tapes, contained 30 tracks of sketched out ideas, acoustic versions, alternative takes and samples. Mazes are a band that couldn’t be accused of overthinking anything, instead relying on a sharp instinct for a pop hook that had a critic comparing them earnestly to ‘the holy heights of The Clean, The Vaselines and Television Personalities’, whilst Marc Riley, on their recent BBC 6 music session called them a ‘ sort of really garagey Kinks.’

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