Maximo Park’s Paul Smith will be headlining the first ever Hartlepool Live so Tobias Halford caught up with him to speak about singing in a regional accent, having children, and going solo.
Something I love about your voice is that you sing with your accent…
My songs are all fairly emotional songs and you have to be honest in some ways. If you weren’t doing it in your own accent then you wouldn’t put that emotion across.
In your last album, there was a lyric that stood out to me in: ‘School days were the worst days, I couldn’t wait to escape’…
I mean everyone’s different and I still keep in contact with some school friends but I think I was myself more when I went to Art College. Each time you move on you meet people that interest you and I think people probably thought I was quite strange at school. That song is about emphasising with other people who may have felt the same way.
I feel that through your solo albums I am finding out more about you …
I think as it grows and the body of work that I am involved in, it ends up being more diverse. You find out more about me and the ways my own opinions change; it changes as you grow older and that’s what I find interesting about life. The way you put these experiences into songs is a way to commemorate the moments that might get lost. It’s the small details that you might not find in a mass of pop songs; instead of giving these universal feelings it’s finding these smaller details that people can relate to. Hopefully, they can relate in those universal ways and perhaps we are not so different. In my solo stuff, I have definitely revealed more personal stuff than I would have with Maximo Park.
Do you think having children has made you more emotional?
Yeah, I can’t watch Madagascar 2 without feeling sorrowful [Laughs].
As you went to Hartlepool Art College I presume you are familiar with the area…
Yeah, I did a foundation course there and it was also foundational in my life. I met my two friends ‘the twins’ and we formed a band together. It was big for me meeting people who liked the same music as me who were not musicians. That whole year going to Hartlepool every day in the car is a time in my life that I will never forget. It was amazing to come back with Maximo Park and I’m really excited to play the Town Hall as I have never played there solo.
Will anyone be joining you on stage?
Yes, we have Andrew Lowther from Field music on the bass and Tom English from Maximo Park on the drums. It’s the first time it has ever happened so it should be exciting.
Hartlepool Live takes place on Saturday 15th June. For further information, please head to destinationhartlepool.com.
