Their Velocity: Maxïmo Park on 'Stream of Life' and Staying True to Themselves
Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Written by Jack Butler-Terry
Photo: Moja
“Every year that we release a new record, we’re further and further away from being the hot new thing,” Maxïmo Park vocalist Paul Smith says with a laugh. Almost 20 years on from their debut, the Newcastle indie-rockers can reflect on becoming one of UK’s most consistent and recognisable bands, even if they have to work for it each and every day. “There are more and more new bands,” Smith continues. “Unless we do something controversial to go viral in some way, we’ll always be battling as an independent band to be heard. It keeps you on your toes.”
Their recently-released eighth LP ‘Stream of Life’ is another sharp-tongued rebuke to the idea of irrelevance. While it doesn’t entirely subvert expectations, it does what each Maxïmo Park record has done by offering a refinement, pushing into new territories while embracing different approaches. It’s this restlessness that has prevented them from going stale.
“It’s very unusual that we do what we do,” Smith muses. “Not many people are in bands and making a living out of it. Not many bands travel the world and they certainly don’t all do eight records over 20 years. Having the footage and documentation of our younger selves, we do reckon with that on a regular basis.
“The early songs are still part of our set but we do try to freshen it up — if something feels old, we will rest it and rejuvenate it further down the line. When we put setlists together, we fit something in from each record so, on a nightly basis, we are going back to some of those feelings we were feeling. Certainly, as the singer, I can’t help but do that because my job is to kind of embody the songs and occupy them fully.”
But while the record’s singles Favourite Songs and The End Can Be As Good As The Start appeared to signal business as usual from Smith, guitarist Duncan Lloyd and drummer Tom English — sounding as though they would fit right in alongside classic cuts such as Apply Some Pressure, Books From Boxes and Our Velocity — behind the scenes the story is more complex and, crucially, varied.
“We definitely allow ourselves to do other things,” Smith says. “I put together a record with Rachel Unthank last year. Duncan plays in another band with Tom called Nano Kino and does his own solo stuff. We also played a show at a co-operative in Newcastle called the Star and Shadow, which is this great little cinema, with a music venue and a cafe. We played a show there for the volunteers and raised money for a food bank, which actually let us test out new material as well. It’s all kept the band super fresh and really invigorated each time we come back round. But you know, all those things and family commitments just means it takes a little bit more time to get back into the Maxïmo Park groove.”
Last year they found that rhythm once more and started writing ‘Stream of Life’ in earnest. Smith shipped himself off to a writing retreat in Edinburgh and, over the course of five days, things came together. “Last time we had 40 songs and whittled it down to 12,” Smith observes. “This time, we certainly didn’t think I’d be writing loads of songs. It was more about understanding what the record would be about and to coalesce ideas, but I ended up writing the album. Meanwhile, Duncan was looking through his hard drive to find riffs [as] starting points for new material.”
When it came to recording, the band regrouped with ‘Nature Always Wins’ producer Ben Allen, presenting him with some 30 demos before a hastily-arranged session in Atlanta, which also allowed for a spin around the indie proving ground of Athens, Georgia. Tapping into the city’s history — R.E.M. and The B-52s are among the bands to have emerged from its febrile scene — they even managed to snag Pylon vocalist Vanessa Briscoe Hay for a guest spot on Dormant ‘Til Explosion.
“We ended up sending Ben a load of stuff and saying, ‘Which of these should go on the record?’” Smith says. “We’d had a chat with him about what kind of record we wanted to wait to make, and he said, ‘Let’s just rock out’. It didn't turn out like that, but that was the kind of intention that we went with. But then we threw other songs in like Armchair View which we felt would really create a more textured record.”
Accordingly, ‘Stream of Life’ is another entry into a discography that, despite riding the indie wave of the mid-noughties until its last breath, has never sounded trapped in its era. Play ‘A Certain Trigger’ today and the only clue that it’s nearly 20 years old will be the memories associated with some of its best known tracks. It could have come out last year. Equally, they haven’t crushed its vibrancy by returning to the same well over and over again.
“We’ve been friends and colleagues for over 20 years now, since we started writing songs together, so we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Smith says. “We’ve expanded and we’re not as hard on ourselves. If someone wanted to do a guitar solo, I’d have been like, “No, no solos”, and it would never have got into the studio. Whereas now, we love a guitar solo, but we’re mindful not to be one of those bands that do loads of them.”
After a quarter of a century, Smith and his bandmates have become even more mindful of being authentic. In an age of social media being a primary tool for breaking bands (“We’d done more video snippets for this album than we’d done for any of our other albums,” he says) or legacy bands going for the big bucks, Maxïmo Park are very much still marching to the beat of their own drum.
And, sometimes, that means deliberately pushing yourself to the brink. Maybe by booking an autumn tour to support a record you haven’t finished yet, for example. “We’ve never done that before and it’s a silly thing to do in one way,” Smith admits. “But, in the end, it got us over the line because we had to be lean and economical. It’s good to be flexible, but everyone needs that time where your killer instinct comes in.”
Maxïmo Park’s ‘Stream of Life’ is out now through Lower Third.
Maxïmo Park Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue October 08 2024 - DUBLIN Academy
Wed October 09 2024 - BELFAST Limelight 2
Fri October 11 2024 - EDINBURGH Queen's Hall
Sat October 12 2024 - MANCHESTER New Century
Sun October 13 2024 - MANCHESTER New Century
Tue October 15 2024 - LEEDS Leeds Beckett Students Union
Wed October 16 2024 - NORWICH Waterfront
Fri October 18 2024 - LONDON Islington Assembly Hall
Sat October 19 2024 - LONDON Islington Assembly Hall
Sun October 20 2024 - BRIGHTON Concorde 2
Tue October 22 2024 - BRISTOL Trinity Centre
Wed October 23 2024 - BIRMINGHAM Birmingham Town Hall
Thu October 24 2024 - SHEFFIELD Leadmill
Sat October 26 2024 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Boiler Shop
Sun October 27 2024 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Boiler Shop
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