"As far as we are concerned, there's only good music and bad music"

Thank you, keep up the good listening!

Anything in the water up there in the North-East?

Well, it used to be poisonous waste, but I think they've cleaned up the rivers considerably...Erm, I think there is a quite independent mentality to people making music in the North-East, which stems from the area being virtually ignored, culturally-speaking, for a long time. I think we just want to remain individuals rather than following any trends or 'scenes'.

The new single, 'Apply Some Pressure', is really good. It makes us think that you're a big tune band... discuss.

Melody is paramount to our sound. To draw people into the music immediately, you need to provide hooks. Once the listener is snared, we aim to provide them with even more than they bargained for. We all love pop music and that love for an incredible tune will never leave us.

Maximo Park - that's a place in Florida right? Sunny disposition? Although we hear there's one in Cuba too...

I'm not sure whether my personal disposition is as sunny as I'd like it to be! As a band, we would like to have a positive impact on people and improve their lives for, at the very least, the time that they are listening to our music. The Cuban park was, indeed, the inspiration behind the name, as it is an public area where everyone has an equal voice as they while away the days.

You're on WARP, a bit of a curveball as record labels go - why these fine exponents of might electronica over Big Guitar Record Corps?

We wanted to remain independent and creative so we chose a company that historically exemplifies these things. We like to keep ourselves and other people on their toes. Plus, the world is already too obsessed with categorisation and covert rules. As far as we are concerned, there's only good music and bad music so the fact that we are on a label known for electronica is fairly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

You're about to do a big old tour; is this your first concentrated assault on the public's ears? Excited? Or over-excitable?

We played almost solidly for two months last year after recording our album. Before that, we all had jobs and no money so really big tours weren't an option. We've had a taste for it now, and so we are excited. Over-excitement leads to occasional disappointment so we attempt to avoid it. Playing live is a massive part of what we do.

Someone compared you to Gene. Flattered? Or confused?

Confused, but not worried. If people listen to our records and see us live then they will acknowledge the wide gulf between the two bands.

Your biography says that you 'come from the strong tradition of British social realism'. Does that mean the Morrissey's and Alan Bennett's of this world? Or are we simplifying things?

I can appreciate both of those figures, but I think they both represent a hermetically-sealed world that you have to join, in order to really associate with them. Our music tends to have a more universal language that is less easily parodied and which reflects a more varied range of society's emotions. For example, although there is pathos in our music, there is also an indefinable anger or energy that surges through our songs.

We can only assume that you're creating an album of tempting pleasures...Have you started yet? What can we expect? WHEN can we expect?

Assumptions are made to be proven! You can expect our debut album, 'A Certain Trigger', to appear on shelves in the merry month of May. Each song has been invested with an equal measure of care and abandon, lyrically and melodically. We have tried to prove that pop music can be something to truly care about again; something that reflects people's lives and their hopes and desires.

2005 is going to be...

exactly what you make of it.

When you travel to foreign climbs, do you find that Anglophilia sets in amongst yourselves?

Home is an easy place to miss when you aren't there, so I think it's better to embrace the environment you are in and filter it through your own sensibility.

Is it easy to be bigger than Jesus these days?

I hear he was quite a slim fellow, so with an unhealthy diet I'm sure we'll be bigger than Jesus at some point.

Tell us a secret.

I never go back on a secret.

DiS is (theoretically) dying: tell us about a record that we need to hear before it all goes dark.

Life Without Buildings - 'Any Other City' (Tugboat Records). It may even save DiS, like a new wonder-drug. Take twice a day.

What keeps you warm at night?

Even with 3 blankets, only the body of a beautiful woman can prevent the cold! I suppose I should add more exclamation marks at this juncture...

Is it all about love? Or luck?

That depends on what your all might be. Love overrides luck, but you need a little luck to find love.

Many thanks.