Maxïmo Park are an indie rock band, signed to Warp Records, who formed in Newcastle, North East England in April 2003. They consist of Paul 'Scooby' Smith (vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitar), Archis Tiku (bass guitar), Lukas Wooller (keyboards) and Tom English (drums). Drawing comparisons to Pulp and Franz Ferdinand, Maxïmo Park were, along with cohorts The Futureheads, North-East England's response to the post-punk revival of the 2000s. Drummer Tom English is also in the band Field Music. In July 2005 their debut album, A Certain Trigger, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. They also contributed a song to the War Child compilation Help: A Day in the Life.
Listening to Maximo Park seems to give that sense of trying to bust out of the confines of familiar surroundings. There is a lot of energy under these tracks. It reminds me of that point iin your life where you absolutely must get away from school, parents, girlfriend/boyfriend for fear of being smothered. There are a lot of influences in here, most of them brittish. Jam, Wire, Stone roses, Stranglers, kinks, etc. But it feels playful and for the most part is not redundant.
Maximo Park hails from Newcastle Upon Tyne, where ever the hell that is. Usually when you get brittish frontmen, their otherwise unintelligable accent seems to all but disappear once they start crooning away. Not so here. Singer Paul Smith's UK pronunciation of words, feels somehow authentic. He is who is, and fuck trying to pronounce words grammatically correct.
On the down side, Maximo park feels obligated like so many other bands in the same style, to wear those fucking suit combinations. The look is old.
Here is the video for tMaximo Park's first single, Graffiti.
The Maximo Park Website
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