“None of this will matter when I’m 38”: The Manatees on Submarine, playing live, and ‘Without You’

In the last few years, Southampton-based band The Manatees have steadily built a reputation in the indie rock scene, selling out shows at London’s The Camden Assembly, embarking on a headline tour, and even performing on Made in Chelsea. Now, the five-piece – consisting of Jay, Tyler, Miller, Issy, and Joe – are back with a new single, ‘Without You’, a bold, urgent, and unapologetically yearning rock track filled with punchy drums, groovy vocals, and a soaring, arena-worthy chorus, all inspired by the 2010 coming-of-age drama Submarine.

“I only watched [Submarine] about a year-and-a-half ago,” lead singer Jay Harris says. “I was just absolutely fascinated with it.” The film, famously soundtracked by Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, follows the trials and tribulations of the main character and his infatuation with his classmate. However, it was a particular line in the film that inspired Jay to write the track: “None of this will matter when I’m 38.”

“It just resonates so much ‘cause I’m such an over-worrier about things, and I kind of over-analyse everything. That was almost a motto to live by. If it’s not gonna matter next year, even tomorrow or next week, then it’s probably not something to be getting myself stressed about today,” Jay explains. 

This motto inspired the rest of the song, and “none of this will matter when I’m 38” soon solidified itself as a lyric. “It was kind of a happy accident,” he chuckles, before apologising for the pun. “But it was definitely that singular line that just really struck a chord in me.”

One of my life ambitions is to release an album

Tyler, the manatees

And while The Manatees are yet to have one of their own songs soundtrack a film, this doesn’t mean they haven’t spent time putting their tracks over bits of films for fun. “I think [‘Without You’] could be used in a moment where someone has to let go of something in a kind of ‘I can’t live without you’ scenario,” guitarist Tyler says. And with the song’s verses composed of a lovestruck, borderline obsessive narrator’s musings, the song would undoubtedly fit a fair few films. “I’m in love with the idea of it, chew me up and spit me out / I would run, I would fight, I would bleed,” Jay sings, his voice raspy over rising guitars.  

But ‘Without You’ is just the latest milestone in their growing list of achievements. Over the summer, they played Truck festival in a packed-out tent. “For those festivals, it’s always hard. You know there’s people there, but whether or not they’ll show up to your gig is another question,” Tyler says, reminiscing on the show.

Equally, a big moment for the band was when their music was played on BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music. “The first time it happened… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to replicate that feeling and that buzz,” Jay notes. “I was on the train at the time, and I’ll never forget where I was or how it felt knowing that we were going to get a spin on Radio 1.”

“If you had told me five years ago a bunch of the stuff we’ve managed to achieve so far, I would’ve probably, like, broken,” Tyler adds, also reflecting in awe. 

However, the band’s future goals lie beyond this. “One of my life ambitions is to release an album,” Tyler says. “I know that sounds like kind of a low bar for a band, but I do think nowadays, there’s a lot of work that needs to be put in it.”

“You don’t know everything when you first start out, and we most certainly still don’t know everything now”

Jay, the manatees

While ‘Without You’ fits nicely into their current indie-rock sound, there are still directions the band are keen to explore. “I think we always wanted to go slightly heavier, and we have done that since our first EP,” Jay says. And while ‘Without You’ is hardly heavy metal, it certainly has a grungy grit when compared to their earlier work. Take ‘Milan’, their earliest song on Spotify, for example, which is a fun, singsongy acoustic ballad. It’s a great song, but noticeably lacks the edge of their current output. 

Building on how they’ve evolved as a band, Jay adds, “I think one of the things we’ve discovered over the last couple of years is that we are a live band, and that’s when our audience can really get on board with us.” This can then translate to their studio recordings, with the band striving to make them less polished, hectic, and raw. “As if you were watching it live,” Jay explains.

Arguably, however, the band’s journey has made them who they are today. Looking back at their early days, Jay says, “I think there’d be a fair few things we could probably let our past selves know to fast-track the process,” he says, laughing. “But that’s part of the beauty of it. You don’t know everything when you first start out, and we most certainly still don’t know everything now.” 

Even as they refine their sound, navigating the music industry comes with its own set of challenges. Indeed, being an artist nowadays isn’t easy. From the constant closures of small venues to the lack of funding available to many more nationwide issues, there seems to be no shortage of complications. But the two big struggles that stand out? “Money and time,” Tyler chuckles. “I think they’re the two things that everybody struggles with, no matter who you are or no matter what industry you’re in,” he continues. “I just don’t think artists are funded as much as they were like in the past, and I think that makes it really difficult to record tracks and to get in the studio, to get tracks mixed and mastered, and to do photo shoots and video shoots. It all costs money.”

On the flip side, being an artist today also has its advantages. With help from technology and the Internet, it has become much easier for anyone to make music and post it online. “I could literally record a song in my bedroom in the next five minutes and put it up on Spotify tomorrow if I really wanted to,” Jay says before reflecting. “At the same time, it means all the streaming sites are more saturated than ever, so I guess cutting through has become more difficult.”

I think there’s always a way to do things cheaply and try not to compromise your art as much as possible

Jay

But cutting through the noise isn’t the only challenge. With everyone from photographers to mix engineers to mastering engineers needing a cut of the profits, there’s “no guaranteed time to money equation,” Tyler explains. “It’s very much, ‘Well, you’re the band, you just get what’s left,’ which usually is negative.”

But The Manatees have been doing what they do for five years and making it work. “You can pull in favours; you can do things in your bedroom,” Jay elaborates. “I think there’s always a way to do things cheaply and try not to compromise your art as much as possible. It would just be nice to have unlimited budgets.”

And if they’ve been doing what they’ve been doing thus far with great success, nothing is stopping them from getting even bigger in the future. The band have an upcoming UK tour this autumn, and if their enthusiasm is anything to go by, there will be plenty of new music in the future. Some, like ‘Without You’, might be inspired by films or, as Jay teases, by Greek mythology, pop culture, and beyond. One thing is for sure, though: ‘Without You’ is just the beginning. The Manatees aren’t going anywhere – and if their trajectory continues, they won’t have to wonder if it still matters when they’re 38.

Words: Sophie Flint Vázquez