Notorious divide ? What divide !
The ease with which Liverpool band charm a Manchester crowd is not dissimilar to the way in which The Beatles enchanted Hamburg in 1961, before exploding onto the world. Is there a similar fate destined for The Maybes ? if tonight's performance is anything to go by, there seems no er... maybes about it.

Liverpool is currently enjoying its greatest degree of musical prominence since Mersey beat (not the cop show the swinging sixties music scene). But The Maybes don't attach themselves to this scene, at least to a verbal extent. They have supported Liverpool bands The Bandits and Shack, the latter of which they describe as one of the best gigs they've done. But lead singer Nick Ellis pinpoints a 'cliquey' element to this movement, which they actually sound nothing like. It's certainly not animosity towards this scene, but The Maybes are a rock 'n' roll band rather than a stoner/psychedelic band like much of Liverpool's recent output, but this doesn't bother the band.

"It's all music, that's all we wanna do really, play to people and get people moving", says Ellis. The whole band hail from either the Anfield or Kensington areas of the city. Not picture perfect suburbs, and this is reflected in the music. This is inner city rock 'n' roll containing tough guitar riffs akin to a Manc buoyancy with just a drop of Liverpudlian wit. Just like The Who and The Rolling Stones, this is not music to sit down to. This is music to "Get people moving".
Timo Tierney, Nick Oteagu and Lee "The Lamb" Smith (a nickname acquired courtesy of his side-burns) add excellent vocal harmonies which seem to reflect perhaps a Beach Boys or Stone Roses influence. the band is made up by Graham Lycett, who hits the skins.
indeed vocal harmonies aren't the only thing The Maybes share with The Stone Roses,
Ian Brown and co were famous for suspects for the high level of graffiti of their band name around Manchester's streets in the mid-80's, which earned them notorious
local publicity before the group had broke through. The words "The Maybes" can also be found scribed around Manchester and Liverpool, something the band deny doing.

However The Maybes aren't trying to counterfeit the Roses or imitate the Liverpool scene, or copy anyone for that matter. "There's too many fucking Zombies walking about, Moshers and Scallies. They shouldn't associate themselves with anything, they should just be themselves". Something The Maybes clearly do.

"You can't beat it, but you can't bullshit it" says Nick Orteagu "You're not gonna do anything by not putting in the effort", which The Maybes have definitely done with 87 gigs under their belt in 2003 alone. including some pretty high profile support slots. "Fuck that one gig a month shit" Nick concludes. It will not be long before The Maybes are playing big venues through their own reputation.

While they're wealthy in confidence and stage presence, fortunately they're paupers in terms of pretension, which explains why they bridge the scouse/manc divide with such ease. they describe Manchester as a "bigger pond". Which is obviously true and there are currently no big fish like this swimming round the city.

Perhaps not only Manchester but the wider world, could benefit from
something like this right now.

Taken form the "Earsoles" magazine
Issue three May-June 2004