Maximo Park frontman Paul Smith has revealed the story behind their seminal single ‘Apply Some Pressure’. Watch our video interview above.

Smith was talking to NME as part of our ‘Song Stories’ series, when he said how the 2005 hit from their 2005 debut album ‘A Certain Trigger’ marked the moment that he joined the band and things ‘slotted into place’.

“‘Apply Some Pressure’ is one of the earliest songs that we did, and I remember it being quite a turning point with the band,” Smith told NME. “The first time we played it live was maybe in a soundcheck somewhere in Manchester at an industry kind of conference-y thing where people come and see unsigned bands. I don’t think anything came of us being there particularly, but in the soundcheck all the bar staff were suddenly looking round and watching us performing. Band soundchecks are pretty boring usually, so that was something that made us think ‘ah, I think this might go down well tonight’. Then when we played it everyone was going ‘what was that song that you played?'”


He continued: “Because it was quite a popular song, I think we get a reputation for being ‘angular’ as a result of it. I remember at the time, people were saying ‘ah I’m not sure about that structure – people will find it too awkward’. It went into the top 20 in the charts, which surprised us but set the tone that people could expect something that was slightly more unusual, and had a lot of energy and a lot of passion to it, but was also perhaps a bit more thoughtful than your average rock song.

Watch above as Smith also discusses the ‘David Lynch’ inspired first video for the song, and the second which Smith ‘hates’.

Maximo Park are gearing up to release their new album ‘Risk To Exist’ – which drops on April 21.

As well as a summer of festival shows, Maximo Park’s upcoming tour dates are below. Tickets are available here.

Fri May 5 BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute 1

Sat May 6 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy

Mon May 8 ABERDEEN Lemon Tree

Tue May 9 GLASGOW O2 ABC

Wed May 10 SHEFFIELD Leadmill

Fri May 12 LONDON Royal Festival Hall

Sat May 13 BEXHILL De La Warr Pavilion

Mon May 15 CAMBRIDGE Junction

Tue May 16 CARDIFF Tramshed

Wed May 17 FALMOUTH Princess Pavilion

Fri May 19 MANCHESTER Albert Hall