Maxïmo Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Maxïmo Park-(Left to right) Paul, Duncan, Lukas, Tom, Archis
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
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| Genre(s) | Indie rock Post-punk revival |
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| Years active | 2000–present | |
| Label(s) | Warp Records | |
| Website | http://www.maximopark.com/ | |
| Members | ||
| Paul Smith Duncan Lloyd Archis Tiku Lukas Wooller Tom English |
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Maxïmo Park are an English indie rock band, signed to Warp Records, who formed in 2000. 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.
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[edit] History
Maxïmo Park formed in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear in 2000, their name adapted from Maximo Gomez Park, a Havana meeting place for Cuban revolutionaries. Initially, the four founding members played only a few small shows, with Archis Tiku on vocals, frequently switching instruments. On the verge of splitting up, they instead decided to look for somebody to provide more of a focus – on stage and lyrically. Singer Paul Smith was discovered by the then-girlfriend of drummer Tom English in a pub while he was singing along to a Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". Having found someone with a stage presence, they started to write their first songs together, all despite the fact that the frontman never imagined himself as a frontman of a band. He'd never sung on stage beforehand, so it was a touch of luck that he turned out to be as well-suited to the role that he has grown into over the past few years.
Around March 2004, a friend funded 300 copies of a 7" red vinyl single 'Graffiti' and later released a vinyl of their tracks ("The Coast Is Always Changing"/"The Night I Lost My Head") that they’d recorded in their house in Fenham. After some time of doing gigs around their home town, Steve Beckett of the dance-electronic label Warp Records got hold of one of these records and decided to sign Maxïmo Park.
In 2005, they swiftly rose to indie fame with their debut album, A Certain Trigger, which was produced by Paul Epworth (Babyshambles, Bloc Party) [1] and hailed by some critics as one of the best releases of the year, leading to an increasingly devoted fanbase in the United Kingdom. The success of the album was reinforced by a series of increasingly large tours and a support slot to the Kaiser Chiefs on the NME Rock & Roll Riot Tour. In July 2005, their debut album was nominated for the Mercury Prize.
The band played the Glastonbury Festival and the Brixton Academy as part of Xfm's 2005 Winter Wonderland show [2], which sold out in ten minutes, and were headliners for the NME Awards Tour in early 2006. They also contributed a song to the War Child compilation Help: A Day in the Life.
In August 2006, the band announced that they had started working on their next album. The album was produced by Gil Norton and recorded in London. On January 22, 2007 the band announced that their second album, Our Earthly Pleasures, would be released on April 2, 2007 and will be preceded by the album's lead single "Our Velocity" on March 19, 2007.[1] On January 30, 2007 the band released details of their "Our Earthly Pleasures" Tour. Tickets to the majority of the events sold out within minutes, upon their release on February 2.
[edit] Members
Maxïmo Park consists of:
- Tom English (Drums)
- Duncan Lloyd (Guitar)
- Paul Smith (Vocals)
- Archis Tiku (Bass Guitar)
- Lukas Wooller (Keyboard)
[edit] Tom English
Drummer Tom English used to be in the band Field Music which he left to focus on work with Maxïmo Park. English is originally from the North West, attending school in Lancaster. English sometimes still works with Field Music occasionally at live gigs.
[edit] Duncan Lloyd
Lead guitarist Duncan Lloyd is originally from Derby and attended Northumbria University at Newcastle. In his first year he formed a student band with his friends which included Archis Tiku. Before the band's record deal, Duncan was a care worker. His birthday is the 19th February. Duncan sings backing vocals on the majority of Maxïmo Park's tracks.
[edit] Paul Smith
Smith is the oldest of three children from Billingham in North East England. He briefly worked as an art teacher before he was asked to join the band. He is noted for his on-stage behaviour, particularly his dancing and handchops whilst singing. Such behaviour has seen him likened to Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke.
He sings from his 'red book' when onstage, the inside of which few have seen; it contains his song lyrics, poems he's written and various diary entries. This red book went missing in May 2005, and messages were posted in the press and on the band's website asking eagle-eyed fans to look out for his bag on the waterfront in Newcastle [3]. Fortunately for the singer, his book was returned, and he continues to use it.
Smith onstage wears suits, and during the time of the first album, wore his hair in a perculiar fashion of a combover, with a piece of hair curling out on one side of his head. Recently he has changed to having his hair messy, with several hats, the most common the bowler hat.
[edit] Archis Tiku
Born in Mumbai Archis moved to the UK with his parents when he was one year old. He grew up in Wigan and attended Bolton School. In 1995 he moved to Newcastle upon Tyne to study medicine. Whilst in halls, Archis formed a band with three other friends, one of whom was Duncan Lloyd. Finding themselves with too many guitarists and no bassist, Archis stepped in to the breach. Not content with completing his studies and working as a local doctor, Archis continued to appear with Duncan in various pub bands over the next few years, which ended in a fortuitous meeting with Lukas.
[edit] Lukas Wooller
Keyboard player and sometimes backing vocalist, Wooler is one of the original members of the band, hailing from Yorkshire, he attended Newcastle University to study music. As an undergraduate, Wooller was involved in the Newcastle music scene and performed in nearly all the North-East's smaller venues with bands such as Bozo, Neon, S22 and The Fallout Trust (including living with them for a while). Wooler has been an advertising executive and is a trained chorist. Before Maxïmo Park's record deal, Wooller worked in the Bigg Market of Newcastle as a glass collector. On 24 March 2007, Wooller stated that he was a Huddersfield Town fan live on the Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM.[2]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
 #15 UK |
 #2 UK |
[edit] Singles
Chart positions are for the UK as compiled by The Official UK Charts Company.
- "The Coast Is Always Changing"/"The Night I Lost My Head" (2004) 63
- "Apply Some Pressure" (February 21, 2005) 20
- "Graffiti" (May 2, 2005) 15
- "Going Missing" (July 18, 2005) 20
- "Apply Some Pressure" (Re-release) (October 24, 2005) 17
- "I Want You to Stay" (February 20, 2006) 21
- "Our Velocity" (March 19, 2007) 9
[edit] DVD
 Found on Film (June 5, 2006), which comes with a bonus BBC Sessions CD that contains some previously unreleased songs. |
[edit] Other
- Their song "Wasteland" appeared on the War Child album Help-a Day in the Life in 2005.
- They were supposed to give away a special piece of vinyl hand-designed by Paul Smith at the T-Mobile Street Gig at London's Vinyl Factory on June 14, 2006. Due to delays in designing and producing the vinyl, the 7" has now been mailed out to those who went to the gig, and contains the previous B-side, "A Year Of Doubt" - the vinyl is etched with the lyrics to the above song and was received by guests at the gig and their +1s, on July 21, 2006, through the post.
- They covered John Lennon's song "Isolation" for a free CD that was compiled of John Lennon cover versions and given away with a British monthly music magazine. This was also featured as a B-side and features on Missing Songs.
- Their song "Apply Some Pressure" has appeared on the videogames Burnout Revenge, SSX On Tour and SingStar Rocks!.
- The video for their single "The Coast Is Always Changing" was filmed in a small pub in Newcastle called The Head Of Steam at a gig they played there in September 2004. They played a special intimate show in the same small venue (100 capacity) in January 2007.
- A popular chant at Maxïmo Park gigs is the "MAXIMO!" chant sounding like "Maximus!" from the popular film Gladiator, seen on the DVD: Found On Film (2006).
- Paul Smith did a part on MTV Cribs in 2006, in which he did not show his home, but a villa in Ibiza, in which Maxïmo Park were staying.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Maximo Park unveil new album details. NME (2007-01-22). Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
- ^ "Maximo Park on Soccer AM - Part 2", YouTube, 2007-03-24. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Maxïmo Park official website
- Maxïmo Park MySpace
- Maxïmo Park Moblog
- A great acoustic session for Vox podcast
- Maxïmo Park Fansite
- Interview by Alexander Laurence (The Portable Infinite 2006)
- Our Earthly Pleasures Review
| Maxïmo Park |
| Paul Smith | Duncan Lloyd | Archis Tiku | Tom English | Lukas Wooller |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: A Certain Trigger | Missing Songs | Our Earthly Pleasures |
| Singles: "The Coast Is Always Changing" | "Apply Some Pressure" | "Graffiti" | "Going Missing" | "Apply Some Pressure" (Re-Release) | "I Want You To Stay" | "Our Velocity" |
| DVDs: Found On Film |
| Related articles |
| Warp Records | Newcastle Upon Tyne |
