Maximo Park

The name Maximo Park was thought of by founding member Duncan Lloyd and bass player Archis Tiku. It originated from the Maximo Gomez Park in Cuba!

The four starting members (Duncan Lloyd, Archis Tiku, Lukas Wooller and Tom English) first started out by playing small shows around their local area. This included Manchester's 'In the City', which showcases unsigned bands in the UK. In the City, has been a rich source of talent and many bands have been signed from playing. Maximo Park surprisingly didn't get signed from their performances.

After a few performances, original singers Duncan and Archis wanted to step back from their mics and concentrate on writing the songs. This is when Paul Smith joined the band. He was recommended by Tom English's girlfriend at the time, when he was apparently singing along to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition".

In 2004, a friend of the band funded the 7" red vinyl single Graffiti. The record was heard by Steve Beckett (Dance-electronic label Warp Records), who decided to sign Maximo Park to his label in march of that year.

After a around a year of recording Maximo Park had finished their first album - A Certain Trigger. This sold over 400,000 copies and was even nominated for the Mercury Prize in July 2005 as well as going platinum in the UK.

A Certain Trigger featured hits like Apply Some Pressure, Graffiti, Going Missing and I Want You to Stay . Apply Some Pressure was even featured on the soundtracks of the video games Burnout Revenge and SSX on Tour.

After the success of the first album, the band announced that they had started work on their second album in August 2006. Our Earthly Pleasures was released on the 2nd of April 2007. It is regarded as the best album from the band to date, boasting such singles as Our Velocity, Books from Boxes, Girls Who Play Guitars and Karaoke Plays. All of these were released as singles. Paul Smith states that the title of the album comes from the idea that "we are bonded by our experiences, and that several tracks were written to embody specific human emotions". Explanation of the song title features in the lyrics of Russian Literature which is also on the album.

On May the 11th 2009, Maximo Park released their third album entitled Quicken The Heart. The album also includes a DVD with recordings from their sell out tour named Our Earthly Pleasures. The album has already received great reviews from leading musical magazines such as NME.

Surely more fantastic music to come.