Maxïmo Park
Maxïmo Park are an alternative rock band from the U.K. Formed in 2000 in Newcastle upon Tyne. The band consists of Paul Smith (vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitar), and Tom English (drums). The band have released seven studio albums: A Certain Trigger (2005), Our Earthly Pleasures (2007), Quicken The Heart (2009), The National Health (2012), Too Much Information (2014), Risk to Exist (2017) and Nature Always Wins (2021). The first two albums went gold in the UK and their debut was nominated for the Mercury Prize.[2]
Maxïmo Park
Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.
2001–present
V2, Beat, Warp, Hostees, Cooking Vinyl, A Remarkable Idea
Paul Smith
Duncan Lloyd
Tom English
Archis Tiku
Lukas Wooller
History[edit]
Formation and early releases (2000–2003)[edit]
The band was created by guitarist Duncan Lloyd and is named after Máximo Gómez Park (also known as Domino Park), located in Little Havana, Miami.[3][4] Initially, the four founding members played several small shows including Manchester's In the City, which showcases unsigned bands in the UK. In 2003, the band decided they wanted a frontman as the original singers, Archis and Duncan, wanted to focus on writing the songs. The then-girlfriend of the drummer Tom English noticed his friend Paul Smith singing along to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition".[5] When Smith was found, the band did not know if he could sing: "When he first joined we didn't know if he could; just that he was a lunatic jumping around in a suit, it felt like the last piece of the jigsaw". With Smith joining the band gave him demos of their songs and from then on they started writing as a unit.
A Certain Trigger (2004–2005)[edit]
Around March 2004, a friend funded 300 copies of a 7" red vinyl single ("Graffiti" / "Going Missing") which was recorded by Duncan Lloyd in his and Thomas English's flat in Fenham, Newcastle. The band's second release was a 7" single of their songs "The Coast Is Always Changing" and "The Night I Lost My Head", recorded by Paul Epworth. After some time of doing gigs around their home town, Steve Beckett of the dance-electronic label Warp Records acquired one of these records and decided to sign the band to his label after also seeing the band perform at the Notting Hill Arts Club hosted by Creation Records founder Alan McGee.
In 2005, Maxïmo Park released their first album, A Certain Trigger, which sold over 300,000 copies and was nominated for the Mercury Prize in July 2005.[5] In July, Maxïmo Park had the honour of being the first band to play the Ibiza Rocks festival on its opening event.[6] In December 2006, the band were brought to Shanghai by Split Works and were one of the earlier big-name acts from abroad to play in China.[7]
Our Earthly Pleasures (2006–2007)[edit]
In August 2006, the band announced that they had started work on their next album, which was produced by Gil Norton and recorded at Rak Studios in St John's Wood in London. On 22 January 2007, the band announced that their second album, Our Earthly Pleasures, would be released on 2 April 2007, preceded by the album's lead single, "Our Velocity", on 19 March 2007.[8] On 30 January 2007, the band released details of a tour to promote Our Earthly Pleasures, the tickets of which sold out within minutes of their release on 2 February 2007.
Other contributions[edit]
In 2007, the band contributed their song "Wasteland" to Help!: A Day in the Life.
In 2009, they contributed a cover version of a Vincent Gallo song to the Warp20 (Recreated) compilation, as well as having their own song "Acrobat" covered by Seefeel.