the maccabees' debut single, 'x-ray', was released on the promise record label on 28 november 2005. it was played a little in the evenings on london radio station xfm london. the band got very attentiong until six months later, when they released their second single, 'latchmere'. the song was about the wave machine at the band's local latchmere leisure centre in battersea, south london. it was released on fierce panda records in april 2006. this song was talked about by radio 1 dj steve lamacqu and was played on mtv2. the video, directed by hugh frost and samuel bebbington, also became a hit after it was put on youtube.