Heading out the ‘The Singular tour’, with a sub-title of ‘Nowt but the hitz!’ the upcoming tour from North -east art rockers Maximo Park is a mouth-watering prospect.  Damian Robinson caught up with frontman Paul Smith to find out more about the tour and a love for Beatles german 7”s.

Hi Paul, I see you’ve just released a German version of ‘Versions of you’, nice.

Yeah thanks, we always have a great time playing Germany and wanted to do something special for our German friends.  There was always something special to me when I listened to Beatles or Elvis versions of their songs when they sung in a foreign language and I thought it was a really respectful thing to do.  I’m not saying my German is the best, and we certainly got help from others in the translation, but we’re really proud of the work.

You’re in Germany soon as part of a European wide tour.

Yeah, the European tour is actually a different tour to the shows we’re playing in the UK as these have been delayed a number of times what with Covid.  So the European shows will be part of the Nature tour and then we’re back for a few weeks and out on the Singular tour.

And how’s the preparation been going?

Really good thanks.  With the Singular tour there’s some work to be done but realistically we’re playing songs we’ve played for a number of years so we’re comfortable with how to play them live. 

Can you tell us what the setlist looks like yet?

Well we’ve actually done some online polls to see what venues and audiences would like which songs, so every night is going to be different.  I’m excited about changing the set lists each night and playing the songs people want to hear and have voted for.

Brilliant, and being a northern band did you try to end the tour on the Newcastle show or is that a lucky coincidence?

If we can finish a tour in the North East we will, but if not that’s also okay.  We finished the last show in Glasgow which was an amazing place to end a tour, but it’s also great to be at home.  We live in Newcastle, and that’s where the band formed, but we have Teeside connections also, so we try to alternate where we play and fingers crossed one of the shows ends the tour.  The North East means a lot to us, and we carry those feelings with us so if we can, and if the tour allows, then we will end at home.  But the reality of the show means that we try to do what we can but not everything is possible.

Maximo Park play Newcastle City Hall on October 14