Still packing a punch after 20 years
As Maxïmo Park prepare to bring A Certain Trigger back to Newcastle City Hall, Paul Smith reflects on naivety, stamina, Teesside identity and why looking back only works if you’re still moving forward
On February 21 and 22, Newcastle City Hall will feel the full force of Maxïmo Park’s debut album A Certain Trigger as the band close their 20th anniversary tour on home turf.
For Billingham-born frontman Paul Smith, the milestone has prompted some rare moments of reflection.
“I feel proud of it - it packs a punch!” he says of revisiting the platinum-selling and Mercury Prize-nominated long player which gave our ears tracks such as Graffiti, Going Missing and Apply Some Pressure.
Two decades on, the record’s nervy energy and sharp-edged romanticism still hit hard. “It reflects our lives when we made it, which is an ongoing concern of ours when we make an album.
“We want the music to tell the listener what we’re experiencing, and what we’re into musically at the moment of creation.”
Listening back now, the 46-year-old who still lives in the North East says he’s struck not just by the velocity but by the emotional charge. “I’m surprised by how intense it can be, but I’m still an emotional person and it makes sense in that context. I didn’t realise how naive I was about the world, which in hindsight isn’t that surprising, as I was still young!”
That naivety - romantic, restless, occasionally awkward - is part of what gave the album its spark. Released into an indie landscape already buzzing with sharp-suited guitar bands, A Certain Trigger carved out space through wiry riffs, literate lyrics and, unmistakably, Paul’s Teesside accent cutting through the mix.
“Not at all! It was non-negotiable,” he says, when asked whether pressure was ever applied (song title wordplay intended) to soften it. “But nobody tried to change me. I think they knew it wouldn’t have worked if they had tried.
“The best thing you can say about any artist is that they have their own voice or way of expressing themselves. Most of my favourite singers sing in their own accent.”
At the time, he recalls, there were relatively few North East voices in the mainstream. “It seems ridiculous to say it now, but my accent was mentioned in lots of reviews and interviews at the time (even though most of them thought I was a Geordie, because the band had formed in Newcastle).”
The anniversary tour, which kicked off in Glasgow last week (Feb 6) was approached carefully.
“If you’re going to do something that’s retrospective, it has to be done with love, care, and a certain amount of detachment,” Paul says.
When deciding on what to include on the special anniversary edition of the album, that meant resisting sentimentality.
“It’s fun to listen to our old demos, but when we were compiling the rarities for the reissue, we had to be ruthless and think of what recordings were truly valuable to an outside listener.”
What they came up with was a multi-faceted reissue featuring a variety of different formats including a single LP, double gatefold LP, and three-strong LP collection. Also included is a Missing Songs collection including the likes of A19, Isolation, and My Life in Reverse, as well as tracks such as Wasteland, Limassol (First Avenue Demo) and Kiss You Better (from a Janice Long BBC Radio 2 session) on the Rarities & B-Sides CD. They weren’t messing about.
The band had, until recently, rarely dwelled on what had gone before. “We’d just finished touring our last album, Stream Of Life, when we started thinking of playing some anniversary shows and reissuing A Certain Trigger,” says Paul.
“After rarely thinking about the past, we realised it was a landmark birthday for the band, and we were ready to look back, briefly.”
This defined period of retrospection is very much seen as a punctuation mark rather than a full stop.
“We’ve all been pursuing solo songwriting and different projects. So it feels like we are still enjoying the present moment as well!”
Back in the rehearsal room, reconnecting with songs that haven’t surfaced live in years has been joyful. “It’s been a lot of fun, which is the main thing. Each night, we throw in an old b-side to keep us and the crowd on our toes!” says Paul. “That sense of enjoyment needs to translate to the crowd, otherwise it would be a bit of a damp squib.”
There’s also the small matter of stamina - not least when your signature style is a full tilt frontman who likes a dramatic jump. “I can’t believe how fast all the songs are, and not just because we are all so much older now!” Paul laughs.
“Physically, it gets harder, considering the emotionally-driven high-tempo nature of our shows, but I look after myself a lot more than I did when we first started!
“I feel a lot more comfortable doing it, and I think we should be better as musicians and performers after 20 years of experience,” he continues. “Unfortunately, it often goes the other way and people lose that spontaneity they once had, or they become jaded by life on the road.”
For Paul, the antidote is total commitment. “I’ve always given everything I could possibly give on stage, which makes me feel like I’ve done something worthwhile.
“Being on a stage is still a strange and artificial scenario, so I continue to dress up and make sure that it’s a performance, as well as having the honesty and truth that is built into the music.”
Looking back to 2005, the Maxïmo mood was defined by possibility. “There was a sense of the unknown, which is still the same, to a lesser extent,” Paul says. “We had started to gain a fanbase with our singles, and there was a bit of a buzz around us.
“I suppose I’m more realistic now - I know there are limitations to how many people we can reach, whereas at that point it felt like anything was possible, including complete obscurity!
“These days we know that there are people waiting for the records, but you still never know what impact an album might have. There’s always a sense of excitement, and of wanting to share something fresh with the world.”
If Paul is more realistic now, the songs themselves remain portals back to that earlier version of him.
“The songs are like time capsules that allow me to connect with whatever I was thinking at the time,” he says. “With that in mind, I’m almost singing the songs about the person that I was, as well as the other people that the songs are about - in a sense, I’ve become more of a character in a story, now that there’s real distance between me and the events that the songs were based upon.”
When the tour reaches its final night at Newcastle City Hall, it will be more than a victory lap. It’s a reminder of distance travelled: from Billingham bedrooms and Newcastle practice rooms to 20 years of records, reinvention and return.
Looking back, yes - but only long enough to feel the punch again.
Maxïmo Park are at Newcastle City Hall on February 21 and 22. Tickets from the website.