UK alternative rock icons Maxïmo Park are making their long-awaited return to Australia, for the first time since 2009! And they’re bringing a celebration two decades in the making. We had a quick chat with them ahead of their Australian tour.
Paul, it’s been nearly two decades since you last toured Australia. What does it feel like to finally return at such a milestone moment in the band’s history?
It feels like a case of now or never! Apparently, our last time in Australia was 14 years ago, which is far too long. We will slip some songs into the set from the albums we have made in the interim years.
A Certain Trigger turns 20 this year — when you revisit those songs, what memories or emotions hit you the hardest?
Well, the songs are bursting with emotions, so there’s a lot to deal with on stage each night! Thankfully, it’s relatively easy to inhabit the same feelings that the songs were invested with in the first place. With the extra time that has passed, they become quite poignant, and I end up thinking of the person that I was back then. We were young people dealing with a fairly unusual situation, so there were frequent highs and lows. I think about our time on the road, and the people we met along the way. I also have distinct memories of making the record in London with Paul Epworth, which was a voyage of discovery in itself.
The album was Mercury Prize‑nominated and produced some of your most iconic singles. Why do you think Apply Some Pressure, Graffiti, and Going Missing still resonate so strongly with fans today?
We hoped the songs were both a document of their time and also timeless in some way. Time has thankfully proved that to be the case! I think there’s something very direct and urgent about the songs, both lyrically and melodically, but they also have reflective, thoughtful undertones. Of course, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and we were lucky that the music was deemed acceptable by the mainstream media despite its eccentricities. For some reason, the Zeitgeist was on our side! I think many of our other songs have the same potential for making a deep impact on people, but we have no control over how the music is disseminated, ultimately.
Paul you mentioned that compiling the anniversary reissue felt like stepping into a time machine. What surprised you most when diving back into the archives?
I think it surprised me how much of the archival material, especially the songs, felt so fresh, like they were made yesterday. It’s quite an unusual feeling to not remember a lot of what went on (due to the 20-year timespan) when other things feel so present.
You’ve described the anniversary tour as both thrilling and a bit scary. What aspects of revisiting your early work feel the most vulnerable or revealing?
Some of the lyrics are extremely angst-ridden, but I’ve come to terms with it, feeling that it was okay to be like that in your early adulthood. It’s not as if our songs have become less emotionally-driven, but there are perhaps more textures at play these days.
Maxïmo Park has always balanced punk urgency, pop precision, and literary flair. How has that creative identity evolved across eight albums and twenty years?
Thanks – you’ve summed us up very well! I guess that’s the blueprint for our music, even now, although we’ve tried to evolve with each record. Sometimes the shifts in our music have been subtle; at other times, they’ve been more extreme. We entered the public consciousness fully formed, to some extent, after working away up here in Newcastle before getting signed to Warp Records. Each album has its own character, but it builds on that original blueprint. Hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and push ourselves a little bit further out each time.
This tour promises a mix of nostalgia and fresh cuts. How do you approach building a setlist that honours the past while still showcasing who you are today?
Our drummer, Tom, is in charge of the set list, which he then presents to us for any minor tweaks. I think we always try to find a balance between the well-known songs and a few curveballs that keep both us and the audience on our toes! We’ve always seen ourselves as a pop band at heart, and we want to please the audience by playing songs that they want to hear, but we also think pop music is art and therefore we need to express ourselves and play in a way that excites us, too.
Playing live has always been central to Maxïmo Park. How has your relationship with performing changed since those early, explosive years?
it’s not as purely hell-for-leather as it once was, but we tend to write songs full of energy, so we’ve made a rod for our own backs! We still see it as the best opportunity to connect with people because there’s something unique about the communal experience of a live concert.
Paul you said the band still feels the same exhilaration stepping on stage as in the beginning, what fuels that energy after two decades together?
The music itself! Having a real love for what you do is the best fuel for a performance. We do different things outside of the band and that’s always kept it special and fresh. We really appreciate our audience, especially after two decades of people turning up again and again to see us live and continuing to buy our records.
Australian fans have waited a long time for your return. What do you hope they take away from this anniversary celebration when the final song rings out?
Quite simply, I hope they take away a feeling of joy from the experience!
