Maxïmo Park - A Whole New Park Life
Maxïmo Park decided to give band democracy a go when writing their new album. Paul Smith tells Rob Boffard why
It’s early 2008, and Maxïmo Park are in trouble.
A year on from their second album, Our Earthly Pleasures, the band has hit a creative block. Pleasures had sold well, but hadn’t been a critical success, and now suddenly things aren’t sounding as they should. The music they were making for their next record just isn’t good enough.
“We’d never really spoken about the songs,” recounts lead singer Paul Smith. “It was easy for us on the first two records. We enjoyed the music we were making and there was no flaw in the writing process. But on this one, there was something not quite right about any of the songs. [But] we felt they were strong and worth persevering with.”
Holed up in a warehouse on a Newcastle industrial estate with a bunch of studio equipment, the band knew it was time to get serious. Smith says they had to refine things quite severely.
“It was a bit weird. We had a big chat with each other and said [what we liked and didn’t like about each song] and there were some hard home truths in that process. It was probably because we didn’t want to offend anybody; we’re all good friends and things had gone so well for us in terms of songwriting before last year. And then to find yourself stumbling and you’re not sure why. It was difficult for us but the songs that we’re best at are songs with hooks, choruses, they’re pop songs, the lyrics are about everyday life and how amazing and dramatic it can be.”
It would have been extremely interesting to have spoken to the band around that time – one senses Smith would have been a bit more pricklier than he is now. He’s with his bandmates Duncan Lloyd (guitar), Archis Tiku (bass), Lukas Wooller (keyboard) and Tom English (drums) in Newcastle, just before the second night at the city’s 02 Academy. He’s strumming guitar just before he gets on the phone, and although he is often painted as pretentious and grandiose, he seems fairly affable, if a little wordy. He’s certainly sounding a lot more relaxed now that the album which gave him and his bandmates so much trouble, Quicken the Heart, is out in the open.
The album, he says, reaffirmed both his and his bandmates’ desire to keep doing what they do (“I wouldn’t make music if I didn’t think it was very good!” he laughs). For the album, Maxïmo Park got their rough ideas down on record, then headed for L.A. There, in a place which surely must be the polar opposite to Newcastle, producer Nick Launay - he of Nick Cave, Kate Bush and the Arcade Fire - gave the record a rigorous shine – and Smith says he’s extremely grateful for it.
Whether it’s worked or not is a question which hasn’t been answered yet. The album has been reviewed in the press extensively, with several critics (including ours) delivering mixed reviews. Does this bother the band?
“There’s an emotional root to each of the songs,” says Smith. “It’s always a bit weird listening to other people’s responses, which is often completely opposite to your intentions and what you see as the final outcome.” One of the songs for which the 2008 band meeting unquestionably yielded good results is the track ‘Roller Disco Dream’. It’s a different beast from anything the band have made previously – a lot more emotional, for one, with the stormy relationship between two people getting the full workover.
“There was the line, ‘Under the fireworks in Brixton’,” Smith remembers, “and I kind of thought, that’s a pretty good image, [having] the emotions within the protagonists of the song. It really chimed with the music. And then, the next line, ‘Two carousel hearts spinning again’…I just sort of thought, what is our band? If nothing else, we have a romantic world view. The view that the things we go through and the relationships we have with other people are kind of amazing.”
Smith is known for being, as we’ve noted, one of the more flamboyant frontmen on stage. We ask him how his bandmates feel about his being very much the public face of the band.
He laughs. “Everybody understands it. It was always going to be the case, especially since I don’t play an instrument…I wander around the stage acting on impulse. The guys have always said, do what you want, express yourself, it’s continued along and it’s got bigger and bigger in terms of how…forthright I am. I think offstage we all have an equal share in the decisions – even stuff like the naming of the songs! Quite a few arguments like, I wrote the words, can I not name the song as well? You realise when everyone takes a step back that we’ve all got our role in the band but ultimately it’s all our band.”
The last time we saw Maxïmo Park live was in 2007, supporting the Police at Twickenham. They played early in the day, to a largely empty arena. There was no question of the effort they put in, even though it went largely unappreciated. How do you rock a show like that?
“You just play. I think it’s the same for all of our gigs. If you think it’s going to be great, if you relax for a moment, you’d just be disappointing people…You get that initial, ‘wow, this is a massive place, not many people know who we are, or everyone knows who we are and expect something’. In both of those scenarios, the songs have to guide you.”
And what about the gig last night at the Academy? After all, this is a hometown crowd we’re talking here…
“Last night was brilliant,” exclaims Smith. “There’s always a kind of expectation that builds up with a hometown show. Most of the time it’s fulfilled and you feel good to be amongst your friends in the audience. Everyone who comes to see you feels like they have a connection with the band due to the geography of the event. Sometimes these things don’t live up to expectations, but last night was brilliant. I really enjoyed myself.”
