Interview: Maximo Park's Paul Smith on Going it Alone

As the frontman of British indie rock band Maximo Park, Paul Smith plays his role flawlessly. As the exuberant, scissor kicking, bowler hatted entertainer, his character amplifies to the point where it almost devours Smith himself.

In contrast, his lyrics are intimate and domestic; their stories painting not vast murals, but miniature portraits hidden in lockets, or private sketches in the backs of notebooks. Despite the intimate nature of Maximo Park’s lyrics though, Smith tells us here, "It is personal, but… you know, I dress up, I put on a show, and it provides a barrier between what I was writing about".

Now leaving his band, the huge crowds and the abstracting stages behind, Paul Smith has struck out alone with his solo album Margins, and taken himself on the road with a string of dates at some of the UK’s more intimate venues. In solo performance, on a smaller stage, the protective ‘frontman’ character seems to fall away; the physical energy transformed into emotional energy, and the persona translated into personality.

We sit down with the charming North Easterner ahead of his gig at Manchester’s Deaf Institute to talk about changing perceptions, rude lyrics, and his humble hopes that people might "stick around" to watch him after his support act.

So, how’s the tour going?

Very well! It’s been compressed into one month, but the end is in sight. I try not to think of the tour as a whole, I just try to focus on the show of the day. And if I can have a look around the actual place, that’s ideal as well.

Have you had a chance to look around Manchester today then?

I went to Piccadilly Records! I knew that I’d have limited time, so I went straight there and got some vinyl. I went to Manchester Art Gallery as well to see a sound and visual exhibition…

Recorders? [by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer]

Yeah, that’s the one! We went to see that, but we got told off by a little old man for going through a curtain. There was nothing saying ‘no entry’ so we just dipped behind it, and we ended up in the wrong gallery and got told off!

But yeah, overall it’s been a good tour and I’ve really enjoyed playing by myself… although, it’s not really by myself because I’ve got a band with me. And they’re really good friends so we’ve just been having a laugh and trying to play quite a different style of music from what I’m known for.

How’s it been playing smaller venues again? Has it been a good chance to reconnect with fans?

Absolutely! It’s been very natural. I mean, it was only five years ago that we were playing in venues this size and having a good time doing that, and it feels very much like that time to me. Especially with it being under my own name and a different style, it feels like "right, time to start again". I obviously still have my parallel life where I can go back to the band and make more aggressive, faster, poppier music, but yeah, these kind of rooms really suit what I’m trying to play and the way I want to do it. And playing guitar as well as singing, I’m kind of rooted to the spot a bit more!

Yeah, is that quite difficult for you?!

A little bit yeah! (laughs) But again, thankfully the material suits being a bit "stiller". The more confident we’ve got as a band though, the more ostentatious you can be. Just a little bit of showbiz comes into your performance when you’re pulling off a little solo or something. It’s been quite funny, because I’ll look round at Claire the bassist and she’ll just be shaking her head at me, because I’m trying some sort of bad amateur Neil Young guitar solo or something.

Was it quite nerve wracking, releasing a solo album? It’s quite a self-exposing thing to do, nothing to hide behind…

Yeah, I was definitely nervous initially, but the more it goes on the more you realise what you’re doing it for. You start out thinking "what will people make of it", "will I be able to play it", "will the audiences like it"… but then the first show that we played was in Middlesborough - and Middlesborough’s a fairly rowdy place at times - and they were as good as gold, a very receptive audience. The only people talking were my mates at the back… and they were like six foot odd so I could see them (laughs). But yeah, once that ice was broken, I felt more confident. And once the record was out I realised that a lot of people liked it, people who might have turned against me in a way, because people get quite precious about bands. And they can get quite precious about Maximo Park in particular, because the music’s quite personal, and emotional, and quite streamlined. And this record is not streamlined, it’s quite loose and it was spontaneously recorded. There’s no big production values here. So I think once it’s out, you remember what you’re doing it for, you know, the love of it. And ultimately I want people to like it, but I’m going to have to continue to make music that I like. Then at least I’ll have that comfort to be able to say "well at least I did something I was proud of".

Did you feel like it was something that you needed to do?

Yeah, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to do it on my own label. I just thought "it’s time to change perceptions of me", ‘cause I’m not an indie rock singer. We all have independent sensibilities in Maximo Park, so it’s doing something that’s a bit different, something that suits me at all times. If I feel like making that music with Maximo Park I will, and if I feel like making this music on my own I will. I never really thought of myself in a pigeon hole, I just thought, well I’m a guy who likes quiet music, a guy who likes quite aggressive music, a guy who likes whatever. And it’s funny, after five years in a band and three albums, people have an opinion of you that’s probably not true, and not very three dimensional. And in some ways, putting something out like this just says "I am my own man and I’ll continue to do what I like". And it prepares the ground for other things that I might do that again not everyone will be into… but other people that don’t even like Maximo Park might get into it, and that’s something that’s really important to me, to try and reach out to people.

Are you finding that you are gathering new fans with this solo material?

Yeah, I think so, in the crowds I’ve noticed kind of older people. I know that with Maximo Park there’s a definite spring in the step of the music and it’s in your face. You either like that kind of music or you don’t. It’s very physical and dynamic, and as people reach a certain age they don’t always like that. Some people will come along to see Gravenhurst [Paul's support act]... he’s very quiet, you know, just a man and a guitar, and anyone who comes to see him will hopefully stick around to see me and think "ah well it’s not so different actually". Whereas if they’d have just thought "ah well it’s that guy from Maximo Park who jumps around" then they might not stick around…

I can’t believe how humble you are, that you think people would come to see the support act and just "stick around" to see you!

(Laughs) Well, you know, that’s one of the reasons I asked Gravenhurst, because I wanted to set the marker for what the shows were going to be like, so that when people come and they see a guy with a guitar they’ll go, "well maybe we’re in for a different evening".

You’ve also recently release a book of Polaroid photography called Thinking in Pictures. Is that another way of putting yourself out there, away from the Maximo Park preconceptions?

Yeah! I mean, if I think something’s worth doing, I’ll do it. And if I think something’s worth putting out, I’ll put it out. And with the book I didn’t want it to be about a guy in a band, pictures of him on tour larking about. I mean, those sorts of things can be interesting, especially if you’re a big band like, I dunno, people might be interested in what the Rolling Stones get up to backstage or what have you, but I’m sure not that many people want to know what Maximo Park do, or what I do. It’s pretty separate to the music in the end, and these pictures were just very independent from being in a band.

So is there any connection between the album and the book at all? I know that some of the books have a copy of Margins inside them. Does the imagery inform the music in any way, or vice versa?

Well not specifically, but I do believe that they’re linked. My interests are the magic of everyday life, you know, romantic realism or whatever you might want to term it. A lot of the songs on Margins are just about people in domestic spaces who are interacting with eachother, and some people might find that mundane, whereas I find it really intriguing. This is how life is lived. Those are the things I want to write about.

I think that’s why a lot of people connect to your lyrics, because they are very specific, but through the specific references they become universal. Are your lyrics mainly drawn from personal experience, and do you ever feel exposed when you’re singing about such intimate memories?

It is personal, but once it’s out there... you know, I dress up, I put on a show, and it provides a barrier between what I was writing about. As soon as I’ve sung it I feel better about things, I feel like I’ve expelled it from my system. I don’t want to use the word "cathartic" you know, I’m not a tortured artist or anything, I’m just someone living their life day to day and good things and bad things happen to everyone. I think those emotional extremes are good things to write about, and once they’ve gone you move on. Some of the things on the album happened five or six years ago, and I wrote about them, and they’re out of my system, but once I feel it’s something that might spur someone else on with that balance of the specific and the universal, then ok. You know, there’s enough detail for people to know that it’s personal, and there’s enough holding back on the details that I can sing it without feeling like it’s too close to the bone. Although there are moments where some nights you feel it a bit more, and you’re like, "that line’s a bit on the edge".

Some of your lyrics are extremely intimate. How do you feel singing about those things in front of, say, your parents?

Well, I sort of got over that with ‘Apply some Pressure’, which has the line "you know that I would love to see you undress". That’s a fairly bold line for somebody releasing their first album and their Mother hearing it as the first single off that album (laughs). It’s something I would never discuss with my parents, but at the same time once you do something artistic or you’re writing a song, you’ve got to do whatever serves the song, and when I play live I’ll always serve the song. That’s why I do put a lot of energy into the Maximo Park shows, and that’s why I feel I can be restrained with these songs, because that’s the nature of the songs. All I’ll ever do is serve the songs, and if I feel like there’s a song like ‘Let’s Get Clinical’ off the last Maximo Park album or something like ‘Improvement/Denouement’ that references "a reservoir of lust", things like that, people feel these things and I don’t want to shy away from it, even though I’m quite prudish myself. When I listen to songs that are about all sorts of taboo subjects, if it hits the nail on the head the sparks fly and you’re like "I’m in love with that song". I want to provide those sparks for other people if I can.

Interview by: Jayne Robinson

Read our live review of Paul Smith at The Deaf Institute

Margins is now available to buy on iTunes.

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