Maximo Park Survive Earthquakes, Fires for New Album

They hail from Newcastle, England, and rather charmingly enjoy tea, reading biographies and watching foreign films, but to record the follow up to 2007's 'Our Earthly Pleasures,' Maximo Park have put the familiar behind them and headed west.

What they've found so far during their three-week stay recording in the Los Angeles area with producer Nick Launay, is an experience with at least one minor earthquake and smoke from a host of nearby fires, making Southern California slightly more like the Wild West.

"The one thing that I got a little bit worried about when I was going to sleep was the fires," frontman Paul Smith tells Spinner. "You start thinking, 'I'm in a totally different climate. I'm in a different place.' That would never happen in England. There could be a fire in your house, but there wouldn't be some random natural elements attacking you in that particular respect."

Other than brushes with natural disasters, laying down about a dozen tracks for the as-yet-untitled release, including 'In Another World,' whose title will change, and 'The Comforting Ache,' which won't, has been enjoyable for the gentlemen of Maximo Park.

The band have been trying to record much of album three live, but Smith notes they've been adding finesse and embellishments when creativity strikes.

"We're trying to do as few overdubs as possible," Smith says. "We're trying to reach out a little bit sonically. But] I'll go into the studio and [guitarist] Duncan [Lloyd] will be brewing up some weird guitar effect and [keyboardist] Lucas [Wooller] will be in his front room with his headphones on, trying to get the right sound just so we can give people something fresh. The songs are fairly tight. They're melodic pop songs."

And in true Maximo Park form, there are plenty of lyrics about girls and girl trouble.

"Hold on! I'm trying to think how many aren't," Smith laughs when Spinner asks him how many fit his usual lyrical bag. "They're all kind of memories in a way. That's kind of what we do. We deal with some sort of emotional honesty. This album in particular is about time and how time has an affect on how you are and how you feel about people."

But while Smith is happy to dive into the past, the new record won't be a somber affair.

"The funny thing is, you can dance to most of our songs and this new album is the same," Smith says. "As soon as the beat comes in, hopefully, if you were in a disco, you'd want to dance."