Viva la Maximo Park

Armed with a unique blend of stunning ‘art-pop’ melodies and pertinent lyrics, when Maximo Park formed in Newcastle a few years back they made it their sole aim to convey their sound to the wider public. A self-recorded and released “slab” of 7-inch caught pioneering label Warp records’ eye, and after being swiftly snapped up, the fivesome haven’t looked back. Now, having exploded into the whole nation’s psyche with the chart-cracking and searingly brilliant single ‘Apply Some Pressure’, excitement is rapidly growing over the band. Armed with an ever better follow-up single, ‘Graffiti’, a debut album ‘A Certain Trigger’ in the pipeline, and a clutch of brilliant live shows under their belts, it seems that great things are beckoning from Maximo Park. On the eve of the band’s biggest-tour-yet Gigwise caught up with the rather emaciated-looking but thoroughly affable frontman Paul Smith.

When new bands surface from regions that are emanating with hot groups, usually journalists lazily group these bands together and in effect tarnish them with the same brush. Having met at University and hailing from a multitude of places including Derby, Wigan, Huddersfield and, erm, Billingham, Maximo Park aren’t even technically native to the North-East. However, this hasn’t stopped some corners comparing them to The Futureheads in particular. Immediately, Smith is quick to quash such allusions: “We’re quite a bit different from them. We share the same producer (Paul Epworth) and I’d say there’s an energy that we both share, but apart from that we’re very different. But The Futureheads’ four part harmonies are far more complicated than anything I could do on my own!”

Instead Smith prides Maximo Park on their appetite for buoyant, seamless melodies and thoughtful song content. He admits: “We’re an emotional band and our lyrics are an extremely important aspect of the band. People can dance in a nightclub to the music, but I’d like to think people can take the music home and listen to the music as well.” Indeed, Smith sees Maximo Park’s output as material that challenges pigeonholing, as he adds: “There’s no excess, it’s driven energetic music that’s been carefully crafted… we aim to make music that transcends genres and there’s definitely a classic song writing element to it.”

Key to moulding this unadulterated sound, Smith cites that his band do not consciously draw from any artists before them: “We try not to have any influences. The band are influenced by whatever they consume, painting, films all contribute in the subconscious.” Without any benchmarks, Smith feels Maximo Park are technically free to produce their sound: “Recording for us was a question of a blank canvas with individual aims rather than listing who we want to sound like. Obviously as a band we’ve introduced each other to other types of music.”

And this eagerness to collate ideas is something that’s synonymous with the very essence of Maximo Park. Linked to this, Smith happily explains that the band took their name from a park in Havana, Cuba which was named after the legendary revolutionary Maximo Gomez. He elucidates: “The actual inspiration came from Duncan (the band’s guitarist) saw a documentary on the TV about it (Maximo Park). It had loads of old people sitting in the park talking about life and giving their opinions. Duncan was in a band at that time that had a really egotistical lead singer, so when he was in a new band he wanted everyone to have an equal say, so Maximo Park reflected that.”

A homogenous unit, seemingly free of any domestic friction, Gigwise puts it to Smith whether the band have felt any added strain due to receiving considerable adulation from the press. Again, he is keen to dispel any such qualms: “The only pressure was the ones we put on ourselves. I mean we recorded our first seven inch ourselves and that’s how we got signed. It was very important for us to record the best album that we could possibly make. These very high personal pressures brought the best out of us… External pressures you can’t really do anything about.”

It seems then that Maximo Park were at the top of their game when recording ‘A Certain Trigger’. If the two preceding singles are anything to go by, the album promises to be something special indeed. Recorded with Paul Epworth (of The Streets, Bloc Party and Babyshambles fame), Smith explains why they wanted to work with him; “He was young, enthusiastic and had a fresh way of approaching things.”

Explaining the album’s content, Smith sees it as quite a mixed-bag: “We started recording with simple templates… there are plenty of pop and two minute songs on there, and the direction does change. There’s a song called ‘Acrobat’ on there which is ambitious and four minutes long, it took a lot of thought before we decided we should put it on there but we went with it in the end. Again, melodies are an important part of our songs – they’re a way to get to people.”