Celebrating 20 years of debut album A Certain Trigger.
Whilst we very much enjoyed their early work Reading Indie Life have never seen Maxïmo Park live before, so have been looking forward to this one on the 15th of February . For those unfamiliar, they are a Newcastle based indie-rock band who have released eight albums. They were initially signed to the legendary Warp Records, one of the first guitar bands to do so. Paul Epworth, one of the UK’s most brilliant music producers worked on a lot of their early music. A Certain Trigger was released in 2005 and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
Art Brut
Tonight’s support, Art Brut, also released their debut album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, in 2005. Reading Indie Life totally remember buying Art Brut’s debut single ‘We Formed A Band’ on the basis of the NME raving about them, when it was still a proper music weekly. That they have survived 20 years is incredible considering they could barely play a chord when they started out. They are much better musicians these days. It is still all about repetitive choruses and rock and roll simplicity though.
They kick off with the aforementioned, utterly brilliant, ‘Formed A Band.’ It was put out originally on Rough Trade where it reached the giddy heights of 52 in the UK singles chart. Second single Double A side “Modern Art” and “My Little Brother” was released on the equally indie-riffic Fierce Panda label and provided it with its biggest hit ever at 49. Eddie Argos remains a wonderful indie outsider with a wry wit. Art Brut were part of a little sprechgesang bubble of bands who cropped up around the same time including The Rakes and their memorable “22 Grand Job.”
‘My Little Brother’ leads to a whole discourse about how Argos’ brother didn’t actually go off the rails and is in fact now a teacher. He acknowledges where they are at, a good enough band to keep going and getting bookings, but not able to make decent money from it. He could be speaking for 99% of bands in the music business right now.
Despite the short set they slip in B-side ‘Unprofessional Wrestling,’ which Argos describes as one of his favourites. ‘Emily Kane’ is their penultimate track. Argos reveals that the song did get to Emily Kane and she did get back in touch, and they remain friends to this day. They finish with ‘Wham!Bang!Pow! Let’s Rock Out’ and it has been a very decent way to kick off the evening.
Maxïmo Park
When Maxïmo Park formed Paul Smith was the last piece of the puzzle. He was spotted singing along to Stevie Wonder, “a lunatic jumping around in a suit.” That he could actually hold a tune was a bonus. Today, it would seem unthinkable for him not to be a part of it. Only three of the original five band members remain, but he is the only part that seems irreplaceable. He is a true rock and roll showman and always draws the eye to him. Amusingly, he is actually apologetic towards the end about his energy level tonight. He says he is not quite himself and blames it on eating a large slice of cake before going on stage. If this was Paul Smith at less than 100% then the rest of tour must have been very special.
There is a block either side of his microphone and he uses these to jump onto, jump off, jump across, to throw shapes and to hold poses. On several occasions he pushes down on the microphone stand and launches himself skyward with legs split wide. It is easy to see where the cover for A Certain Trigger came from.
They eschew the general trend for replaying classic albums in full from start to finish, saying they did that on the 10th anniversary of the album. They do play twelve of the thirteen tracks, only ‘Now I’m All Over The Shop’ is absent tonight. They mix it up though, interspersing them with other favourites. The wonderful ‘Our Velocity’ gets an early workout.
It is genuinely noticeable how humble they are as a band. There is a constant stream of thank yous. Thank you for coming tonight. Thank you for supporting the band. Thank you for sticking with them over the years. They understand the rare privilege it is to last over twenty years as a band and to still be able to do it as a full-time job.
We get a whopping 19 songs before they take a breather. ‘Versions Of You’ and ‘The National Health sound particularly fine from the rest of the catalogue contributions. One of the reasons for not playing the album straight through is to have ‘Apply Some Pressure’ in its rightful place as a main set closer, rather than deploying it as the second track. It remains the greatest thing they have ever done, an indie anthem from the day you first heard it. In some respects, it seems an oddball single, but they had the fortune of coming along at a time when a range of thoughtful bands were coming through – Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads were others in that vanguard.
They come back for three more. ‘Acrobat’ and ‘Going Missing’ are broken up by ‘Books From Boxes.’ They describe ‘Acrobat’ as the only track on A Certain Trigger that could not have been a single. The whole evening is a timely remember of the qualities of this band and what a fun album A Certain Trigger was. See you again for the 30th anniversary?
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