It is taken from their upcoming new album, ‘The Things I Heard at the Party’, which will be released on the 23rd March via Far Out Records.

https://soundcloud.com/faroutrecordings/something-in-the-water

The alt rockers will also be playing the following shows.

MARCH
16 MANCHESTER Jimmy’s
APRIL
13 MANCHESTER Jimmy’s
22 LONDON The Lexington

This will be the trio’s first new material in a decade and will be released next year in 2018 via Far Out Records. Originally forming in 2004, the band took inspiration from the likes of American Football, The Get Up Kids and The Promise Ring and would releae several EPs until 2008 when they broke up. They would eventually be reborn in 2015. You can listen to the title track of the new record below.

PT: Hello the Maple State! How are you all today?
TMS: Hello Punktastic, I think we’re all great today, just got back from rehearsal and I’m listening to stay what you are by Saves the Day, thinking back to a time which was oh so simple.

PT: The Manchester Evening News recently described you as Canadian. I’ve always had ‘concerns’ about John, but is there something you need to tell us all about your nationalities?!
TMS: Yeah that was pretty weird, lazy journalism! No we’re not from Canada, although John did recently go to North Dakota in search of the money they buried in Fargo.

PT: Things appear to have gone quiet for a while, so let’s go through a few points over the last year just to clarify matters. You went to Chicago last year and did a few songs with Sean O’Keefe. They went on purevolume for a bit, but (I think) have since disappeared. Is there any chance they will ever be released?
TMS: We did indeed go to Chicago. The recording we did over there was basically to see what we could do, up until that point we’d recorded all our own music with Andy Farrer so we’d never actually done anything quite so professional before. The tracks are floating around on various compilations and websites, those recordings will not be featuring on an album, but that’s not to say we won’t ever revisit those songs. And yes it did go very quiet for a long while with us, last September after the Motion City tour we all started university, we’d built up a whole lot of momentum over that year and despite our best efforts to keep it up, it was inevitable that university would get in the way. And we all know now that it wasn’t what we should’ve done, but we finished our respective years and picked up where we’d left off as best we could.

PT: How was the Sean O’Keefe recording experience and how was Chicago and the MCS show, compared to what you are used to back here?
TMS: Recording with Sean was incredible, he’s a perfectionist and when you’re working on a timescale like we had it got pretty intense, but he knew what we wanted to achieve and he delivered some amazing tracks. He’s definitely someone whom we’re all open to the idea of recording our full-length with. The MCS show was crazy, we’ve never played outside of England so to go over and play to two thousand people was pretty strange, but it went really well, despite being about 2 degrees inside the venue.

PT: You came back to being named the best new band in Big Cheese magazine’s end of year poll – how did that make you feel? Was it a surprise to receive such an accolade so early in your careers?
TMS: Ha yeah that was cool, I had a copy of it in my room at university and my lovable neighbour was like “what the fuck is a big cheese magazine?” needless to say he wasn’t impressed with the title they’d given us. But yeah it was a nice way to end the year.

PT: Next came dates with Gym Class Heroes, The Academy is…, Motion City Soundtrack, Junior Varsity and Get Cape. How were these shows, many of which were in London and sold out. Any funny show-related stories to tell?
TMS: That was a hectic time for us, with us all studying in Manchester and Leeds; we’d be driving back from London at 5 in the morning and walking straight into lectures. But there were some amazing shows, I don’t know about funny stories, I found Aiden in our dressing room at the Junior Varsity show, which was pretty funny. Oh and when we played with the Academy is… in Birmingham Christian and Will fell through a hole in the stage and Christian broke his foot. It probably wasn’t too funny at the time I don’t remember, I know he played a whole half hour set though before collapsing.

PT: In June you went to record even more songs with Andy Gill, ex Gang of Four, who also recorded with RHCP. How did that recording session go and how did it differ from working with Sean O’Keefe? Which songs did you record during this session? Will they ever officially be released?
TMS: This was pretty weird for us, after the rush job of recording in Chicago, this was the complete opposite. The whole thing was being paid for by a label so we weren’t limited in a monetary sense like if we had been funding it ourselves; I think we were down in London for 5 weeks. It had both good and bad points, Andy Gill is an amazing guy so getting to know him and work with him was awesome, and the freedom to experiment with anything we wanted was great. But I think when you spend so much time on something, constantly altering and improving you get to a point where it’s like; well how are we going to know when to stop? So it came to something of a strange end. Again we currently have no plans to release any of these recordings.

PT: I was reading Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography and within it he was very critical of Andy Gill’s methods. How did you find him to work with and is he someone you would like to work with again?
TMS: Haha, well Andy was pretty critical of Anthony Kiedis’ methods so I think that’s an area best left untouched. We loved working with him, he had this great attitude of, “try it, and if it doesn’t work it doesn’t matter” so he did open us up to trying things we probably wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

PT: After this recording session you did dates with Say Anything. How did you find that tour? Again, any funny/interesting stories to tell?
TMS: To be honest this was a tour of two halves, the first few shows were pretty rough on all the bands, but once it got going it was awesome. I got to watch Max sing ‘a walk through hell’ every night, what more could you ask for? And the London and Manchester shows we’re just incredible. What is it with you and your damn funny stories Savage? I think John was pretty priceless in Glasgow when we went to a club after the show and our tour manager got thrown out for carrying illegal substances, then when we left the club a bit later, a drunken John asked the police men at the door if we could have our friends drugs back, they didn’t take too kindly to it.

PT: During this tour I know you were asked to do a series of tours, such as the Paramore one, but you turned them down. Why was this so?
TMS: We did what we thought was best for our band, if the shows had been bigger we probably would’ve considered it, but at the time it wasn’t the sort of thing we wanted to do. At the end of the day we’re not a pop-punk band and we didn’t particularly feel it was a tour we’d be suited on. That’s in no way meant to offend Paramore or any pop-punk bands for that matter; I mean we went to watch New Found Glory last night! But like I said we just did what we thought was best for us.

PT: How was In the City?
TMS: It was buzzin! We played three shows over the weekend and they were all packed out, it was just a hell of a lot of fun, and on the last night there were people who we’d seen at the other two shows and they’d still come down to watch. It was a good thing for us to do, we’re based in Manchester but we’ve never really been involved with the Manchester music industry. We’ve always had the emo label next to our name so I think a lot of the more hardened indie folks just expected My Chemical Romance, but we’ve had loads of good feedback and people taking interest who might otherwise have previously overlooked us on principal.

PT: OMG!1!!1!!! You’re now indie sell-outs that changed your sound to cash in on an indie trend! Discuss.
TMS: Indeed, you’ve got some lovely folks on your forum hah. It’s always the way though, people seem to have trouble accepting that bands move on and change. Since writing our EP two years ago, we’ve written and recorded like 40 songs or something, so our sound has gradually expanded on what it was. It was bands like hot rod circuit, the anniversary and brand new that made us want to play music in the first place, these bands have all allowed themselves to develop within their song writing at some point or another, its a natural progression. We’ve never been too interested in what the current trends in music have to offer. For us there is no predetermined path; there are four of us who write together so over two years we’re going to draw inspiration from a lot of different places. But it doesn’t bother us, some people get accustomed to a certain sound which they associate with a band and they don’t like to hear that change. I look at when we re-recorded ‘the city is…’ from the EP with Sean O’Keefe and although the new version was so much better we still had people saying we’d ruined the song or whatever, so we just have to continue doing what we enjoy, and if people dig it then it’s a bonus.

PT: Moving on to the label side of it, earlier this year you were kicked off Punktastic Recordings because you wouldn’t share your drugs and hookers with us, or something. I know there’s no drama, but can you explain to all the kids what went on!
TMS: Basically kids Mr and Mrs Punktastic Recordings agreed to release our EP at a time when no else would give us a second look; we thought this was pretty good of them. There was no contract; no agreement to release multiple records, just a whole load of faulty EP’s that needed re-packaging by hand! (Not Punktastic’s fault though I’ll have you know) and when we sold out of the EP that was the end of our original agreement, until we decided to print more. I wasn’t aware there had been any drama about this either, but I’ll say now that in the most official of senses; there was no drama.

PT: In the following months I know a stack of labels got in touch with you and are still talking to you. Is it true that some of the bigger labels/majors will wine and dine you and literally do anything you ask? Has anyone asked for a jar of blue M&Ms or anything equally ridiculous?
TMS: There is a certain amount of wining and dining involved, but its more beer and curry after a show rather than fancy Italian restaurants, although we have been taken to one or two of them too.

PT: Did any of them meet you in a pub at a train station? (For those who don’t know, the TMS/PTRECS deal was done and dusted at Leeds train station!)
TMS: A Weatherspoons I believe? I’m afraid not Paul, we’re yet to re-reach such heights.

PT: You have a single coming out in the New Year. Which songs will feature, which label is it out on, do you have a date for release, and will it be CD/vinyl etc?
TMS: We do, the single is a song called Joanna, we recorded a demo of it last year but due to killing a hard disk we never got around to finishing it, so we’ve gone back and re-worked it, finished it off so to speak in the way we originally envisaged. The B-side to the single is called Wood and Rain. It’s being released by the Manchester indie label High Voltage Sounds and should be available on itunes and limited vinyl on the 29th January.

PT: I also heard you’re planning to do a video for it – is this true? Any themes/concepts in the works for it?
TMS: We had some awesome ideas but when we met with the label and some video directors it became apparent that our plans were a bit beyond what our budget could cover, so it’s probably going to be quite a low-fi video, but John will look fit so it won’t matter.

PT: This moves us on very nicely towards an album. As we’ve so far found out, you have a veritable feast of tracks, some recorded and some not, for a full length. Have you decided who will record it, what it may be called, which songs will be on it and when it may be released?
TMS: Right now we have no idea about an album, we are talking to labels but we are yet to sign anything, we know who we’d like to produce it, and I’m sure some of the songs we’ve put out online this last year will be on it. But until then we are continuing to write and demo new songs so we’re yet to know ourselves really what may or may not end up on an album.

PT: Who made the decision to let Christian sing?!
TMS: Well Christian comes up with a lot of the melodies anyway and he’s always running around the stage shouting them, so Andy Gill suggested we give him a microphone, so far its been working out pretty well.

PT: Will the new single come with a step-by-step guide from Christian on how to robot dance?
TMS: Not since the broken foot, maybe he’ll release a DVD in the future who knows.

PT: Do you have any dates planned for next year at all? You seem to get asked it on your myspace every day…
TMS: I know we’re doing some dates at the end of January with a band called Data.Select.Party (members of the Riverclub) as they have a single out around the same time. But fingers-crossed we’ll have some others tours to announce pretty soon as well.

PT: Who is your biggest ‘celebrity’ fan? Did it surprise you when Mark Hoppus emailed asking for a track to be used on his pod cast?
TMS: Yeah that was top! I’d just been out with some friends at uni and I was way too drunk and excitable to be reading emails like that. A girl in my halls had a Blink poster on her door, and I have some vague recollection of waking her at 4 in the morning to tell her Mark Hoppus just emailed me, I’d never spoke to her before…or since. And I use to listen to Bad Religion all the time at school, so I thought it was amazing when Josh Cain first told us Bret Gurewitz is really into us.

PT: In no more than five words, what does the future hold for The Maple State?
TMS: Dating, Marriage, Parenthood, Retirement, Death.

PT: Also, does the future freak you out?
TMS: No, on the whole everything is alright!

PT: Greg, the floor is yours!
TMS: Our single ‘Joanna’ is out on High Voltage Sounds in late January, and we’re playing one last show this year on the 22nd December in Manchester, its going to be a good one so if you’re around please come enjoy it with us.
And I’d Just like to thank you Paul and everyone who writes for and reads Punktastic for their support over the past couple of years, and also to congratulate any one who has got this far into the interview, it’s been a beast to answer!

www.myspace.com/themaplestate

PT: Hello the Maple State! How are you all today?
TMS: Hello Punktastic, I think we’re all great today, just got back from rehearsal and I’m listening to stay what you are by Saves the Day, thinking back to a time which was oh so simple.

PT: The Manchester Evening News recently described you as Canadian. I’ve always had ‘concerns’ about John, but is there something you need to tell us all about your nationalities?!
TMS: Yeah that was pretty weird, lazy journalism! No we’re not from Canada, although John did recently go to North Dakota in search of the money they buried in Fargo.

PT: Things appear to have gone quiet for a while, so let’s go through a few points over the last year just to clarify matters. You went to Chicago last year and did a few songs with Sean O’Keefe. They went on purevolume for a bit, but (I think) have since disappeared. Is there any chance they will ever be released?
TMS: We did indeed go to Chicago. The recording we did over there was basically to see what we could do, up until that point we’d recorded all our own music with Andy Farrer so we’d never actually done anything quite so professional before. The tracks are floating around on various compilations and websites, those recordings will not be featuring on an album, but that’s not to say we won’t ever revisit those songs. And yes it did go very quiet for a long while with us, last September after the Motion City tour we all started university, we’d built up a whole lot of momentum over that year and despite our best efforts to keep it up, it was inevitable that university would get in the way. And we all know now that it wasn’t what we should’ve done, but we finished our respective years and picked up where we’d left off as best we could.

PT: How was the Sean O’Keefe recording experience and how was Chicago and the MCS show, compared to what you are used to back here?
TMS: Recording with Sean was incredible, he’s a perfectionist and when you’re working on a timescale like we had it got pretty intense, but he knew what we wanted to achieve and he delivered some amazing tracks. He’s definitely someone whom we’re all open to the idea of recording our full-length with. The MCS show was crazy, we’ve never played outside of England so to go over and play to two thousand people was pretty strange, but it went really well, despite being about 2 degrees inside the venue.

PT: You came back to being named the best new band in Big Cheese magazine’s end of year poll – how did that make you feel? Was it a surprise to receive such an accolade so early in your careers?
TMS: Ha yeah that was cool, I had a copy of it in my room at university and my lovable neighbour was like “what the fuck is a big cheese magazine?” needless to say he wasn’t impressed with the title they’d given us. But yeah it was a nice way to end the year.

PT: Next came dates with Gym Class Heroes, The Academy is…, Motion City Soundtrack, Junior Varsity and Get Cape. How were these shows, many of which were in London and sold out. Any funny show-related stories to tell?
TMS: That was a hectic time for us, with us all studying in Manchester and Leeds; we’d be driving back from London at 5 in the morning and walking straight into lectures. But there were some amazing shows, I don’t know about funny stories, I found Aiden in our dressing room at the Junior Varsity show, which was pretty funny. Oh and when we played with the Academy is… in Birmingham Christian and Will fell through a hole in the stage and Christian broke his foot. It probably wasn’t too funny at the time I don’t remember, I know he played a whole half hour set though before collapsing.

PT: In June you went to record even more songs with Andy Gill, ex Gang of Four, who also recorded with RHCP. How did that recording session go and how did it differ from working with Sean O’Keefe? Which songs did you record during this session? Will they ever officially be released?
TMS: This was pretty weird for us, after the rush job of recording in Chicago, this was the complete opposite. The whole thing was being paid for by a label so we weren’t limited in a monetary sense like if we had been funding it ourselves; I think we were down in London for 5 weeks. It had both good and bad points, Andy Gill is an amazing guy so getting to know him and work with him was awesome, and the freedom to experiment with anything we wanted was great. But I think when you spend so much time on something, constantly altering and improving you get to a point where it’s like; well how are we going to know when to stop? So it came to something of a strange end. Again we currently have no plans to release any of these recordings.

PT: I was reading Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography and within it he was very critical of Andy Gill’s methods. How did you find him to work with and is he someone you would like to work with again?
TMS: Haha, well Andy was pretty critical of Anthony Kiedis’ methods so I think that’s an area best left untouched. We loved working with him, he had this great attitude of, “try it, and if it doesn’t work it doesn’t matter” so he did open us up to trying things we probably wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

PT: After this recording session you did dates with Say Anything. How did you find that tour? Again, any funny/interesting stories to tell?
TMS: To be honest this was a tour of two halves, the first few shows were pretty rough on all the bands, but once it got going it was awesome. I got to watch Max sing ‘a walk through hell’ every night, what more could you ask for? And the London and Manchester shows we’re just incredible. What is it with you and your damn funny stories Savage? I think John was pretty priceless in Glasgow when we went to a club after the show and our tour manager got thrown out for carrying illegal substances, then when we left the club a bit later, a drunken John asked the police men at the door if we could have our friends drugs back, they didn’t take too kindly to it.

PT: During this tour I know you were asked to do a series of tours, such as the Paramore one, but you turned them down. Why was this so?
TMS: We did what we thought was best for our band, if the shows had been bigger we probably would’ve considered it, but at the time it wasn’t the sort of thing we wanted to do. At the end of the day we’re not a pop-punk band and we didn’t particularly feel it was a tour we’d be suited on. That’s in no way meant to offend Paramore or any pop-punk bands for that matter; I mean we went to watch New Found Glory last night! But like I said we just did what we thought was best for us.

PT: How was In the City?
TMS: It was buzzin! We played three shows over the weekend and they were all packed out, it was just a hell of a lot of fun, and on the last night there were people who we’d seen at the other two shows and they’d still come down to watch. It was a good thing for us to do, we’re based in Manchester but we’ve never really been involved with the Manchester music industry. We’ve always had the emo label next to our name so I think a lot of the more hardened indie folks just expected My Chemical Romance, but we’ve had loads of good feedback and people taking interest who might otherwise have previously overlooked us on principal.

PT: OMG!1!!1!!! You’re now indie sell-outs that changed your sound to cash in on an indie trend! Discuss.
TMS: Indeed, you’ve got some lovely folks on your forum hah. It’s always the way though, people seem to have trouble accepting that bands move on and change. Since writing our EP two years ago, we’ve written and recorded like 40 songs or something, so our sound has gradually expanded on what it was. It was bands like hot rod circuit, the anniversary and brand new that made us want to play music in the first place, these bands have all allowed themselves to develop within their song writing at some point or another, its a natural progression. We’ve never been too interested in what the current trends in music have to offer. For us there is no predetermined path; there are four of us who write together so over two years we’re going to draw inspiration from a lot of different places. But it doesn’t bother us, some people get accustomed to a certain sound which they associate with a band and they don’t like to hear that change. I look at when we re-recorded ‘the city is…’ from the EP with Sean O’Keefe and although the new version was so much better we still had people saying we’d ruined the song or whatever, so we just have to continue doing what we enjoy, and if people dig it then it’s a bonus.

PT: Moving on to the label side of it, earlier this year you were kicked off Punktastic Recordings because you wouldn’t share your drugs and hookers with us, or something. I know there’s no drama, but can you explain to all the kids what went on!
TMS: Basically kids Mr and Mrs Punktastic Recordings agreed to release our EP at a time when no else would give us a second look; we thought this was pretty good of them. There was no contract; no agreement to release multiple records, just a whole load of faulty EP’s that needed re-packaging by hand! (Not Punktastic’s fault though I’ll have you know) and when we sold out of the EP that was the end of our original agreement, until we decided to print more. I wasn’t aware there had been any drama about this either, but I’ll say now that in the most official of senses; there was no drama.

PT: In the following months I know a stack of labels got in touch with you and are still talking to you. Is it true that some of the bigger labels/majors will wine and dine you and literally do anything you ask? Has anyone asked for a jar of blue M&Ms or anything equally ridiculous?
TMS: There is a certain amount of wining and dining involved, but its more beer and curry after a show rather than fancy Italian restaurants, although we have been taken to one or two of them too.

PT: Did any of them meet you in a pub at a train station? (For those who don’t know, the TMS/PTRECS deal was done and dusted at Leeds train station!)
TMS: A Weatherspoons I believe? I’m afraid not Paul, we’re yet to re-reach such heights.

PT: You have a single coming out in the New Year. Which songs will feature, which label is it out on, do you have a date for release, and will it be CD/vinyl etc?
TMS: We do, the single is a song called Joanna, we recorded a demo of it last year but due to killing a hard disk we never got around to finishing it, so we’ve gone back and re-worked it, finished it off so to speak in the way we originally envisaged. The B-side to the single is called Wood and Rain. It’s being released by the Manchester indie label High Voltage Sounds and should be available on itunes and limited vinyl on the 29th January.

PT: I also heard you’re planning to do a video for it – is this true? Any themes/concepts in the works for it?
TMS: We had some awesome ideas but when we met with the label and some video directors it became apparent that our plans were a bit beyond what our budget could cover, so it’s probably going to be quite a low-fi video, but John will look fit so it won’t matter.

PT: This moves us on very nicely towards an album. As we’ve so far found out, you have a veritable feast of tracks, some recorded and some not, for a full length. Have you decided who will record it, what it may be called, which songs will be on it and when it may be released?
TMS: Right now we have no idea about an album, we are talking to labels but we are yet to sign anything, we know who we’d like to produce it, and I’m sure some of the songs we’ve put out online this last year will be on it. But until then we are continuing to write and demo new songs so we’re yet to know ourselves really what may or may not end up on an album.

PT: Who made the decision to let Christian sing?!
TMS: Well Christian comes up with a lot of the melodies anyway and he’s always running around the stage shouting them, so Andy Gill suggested we give him a microphone, so far its been working out pretty well.

PT: Will the new single come with a step-by-step guide from Christian on how to robot dance?
TMS: Not since the broken foot, maybe he’ll release a DVD in the future who knows.

PT: Do you have any dates planned for next year at all? You seem to get asked it on your myspace every day…
TMS: I know we’re doing some dates at the end of January with a band called Data.Select.Party (members of the Riverclub) as they have a single out around the same time. But fingers-crossed we’ll have some others tours to announce pretty soon as well.

PT: Who is your biggest ‘celebrity’ fan? Did it surprise you when Mark Hoppus emailed asking for a track to be used on his pod cast?
TMS: Yeah that was top! I’d just been out with some friends at uni and I was way too drunk and excitable to be reading emails like that. A girl in my halls had a Blink poster on her door, and I have some vague recollection of waking her at 4 in the morning to tell her Mark Hoppus just emailed me, I’d never spoke to her before…or since. And I use to listen to Bad Religion all the time at school, so I thought it was amazing when Josh Cain first told us Bret Gurewitz is really into us.

PT: In no more than five words, what does the future hold for The Maple State?
TMS: Dating, Marriage, Parenthood, Retirement, Death.

PT: Also, does the future freak you out?
TMS: No, on the whole everything is alright!

PT: Greg, the floor is yours!
TMS: Our single ‘Joanna’ is out on High Voltage Sounds in late January, and we’re playing one last show this year on the 22nd December in Manchester, its going to be a good one so if you’re around please come enjoy it with us.
And I’d Just like to thank you Paul and everyone who writes for and reads Punktastic for their support over the past couple of years, and also to congratulate any one who has got this far into the interview, it’s been a beast to answer!

www.myspace.com/themaplestate

Think:Fire are opening this tour and the Scots have a very competent Circa Survive/Incubus/Finch (without the screaming) style. Their singer Bruce Mackenzie is a very good frontman, hitting some difficult notes with ease and he manages to liven up a pretty sedate band over the course of what seems to be a long 30-minute set. While each song tends to take on a pretty lengthy journey of its own, the band, tonight at least, seem to be going through the motions on stage and look as if they’re about to fall asleep – singer aside. As a result, after about two or three songs I started to lose interest – if the band are bored then the crowd are likely to be too. The crowd, sparse anyway, started to drift away too and by the end I think everyone had had enough. In spells Think:Fire stood out, so check them out on myspace and make up your own mind. (7)

Everyone knows I’m biased towards The Maple State and their recent run of great support slots is not before time. Big things are around the corner and the reactions they’ve been getting recently prove it’s well deserved. Tonight there’s a mix of old and new material – ‘Mouse Moves’ and ‘We Swear By the Light Life’ show a more considered ‘indie’ side, while ‘Mayfair…’ and a brand new song the band opened with showcases their energetic and more synth-led side. A new version of ‘Joanna’ ends things with 100 or so people won over. They’re the best band at what they do in the country and they’re getting better with every passing show. (8)

I honestly thought this gig would sell out. After signing to a Sony imprint in the US, and a spell on Give It A Name over here, I really did think the kids would be out in force for Say Anything. Instead, about 100 people turned up who seemed less bothered about their clothes and haircut and instead sung along with gusto – the singalongs were amazing and I think the band were plesantly surprised about just how many people were excited by their presence. Max Bemis may have had his problems in the past, but that’s what makes ‘…is a real boy’ such essential listening. Running through most of the album, the band are energetic and aggressive and Max is a fantastic frontman. ‘Slowly Through A Vector’ and ‘Belt’ are fantastic, ‘Woe’ and ‘Yellow cat (slash) Red Cat’ spark massive singalongs with some of the kids in the front row even handling vocal duties when Max needed a break. With three guitars the band sound beefy and tight as hell – but are more than competent at slowing things down slightly during the intro to ‘Every Man Has A Molly’ – my favourite track of the night and another which sparked a massive singalong. By the time ‘Alive With The Glory Of Love’ comes round, the crowd are completely won over. Say Anything are one of the better live bands I’ve seen this year and, in a small venue, are a must see on this tour. (9)

Anyway, things get going and KNEEHIGH are the first band up. Now, oddly, I’ve only seen them live once before when they supported Fastlane in Sheffield about 18 months ago. A performance which was, well, gash. Since then, though, it is obvious that their live act has been seriously, seriously polished. Tonight was an absolute demonstration on how to do pop-emo-indie-type stuff in a small setting. Greg is engaging, almost note-perfect (a feat of some enormity when you hear the heights he reaches and the ranges he extends across) and generally fantastic in his role. ‘Speechless’ is recognised by a couple of people in the crowd, probably due to this being their fourth (?) time in Scunthorpe, but the reception they were given on finishing was deserved. One of the best small venue performances I’ve seen in a while. (9)

Next up are HEY, CAESAR! Local boys Steve & co. have a massively tall order to follow and they fall well short. Drums are adequate but completely backgrounded and guitar work is competent, but the keys make them sound like a Maple State tribute band. And then the vocals. Oh my lord. Someone needs to tell their frontman that he simply cannot sing. He somehow managed to make a poppy keyboard sound sound like a [Spunge] song. One song midway through sounded alright, but that was certainly due to the fact that the vocals didn’t kick in for about 40 seconds. (3)

CHASER take to the stage to a fairly re-filled room, and waste no time in getting the local drunks dancing. The Paul Savage Laptop Curse? reared its head again, meaning that there was a delay after the opening song, but this was quickly forgotten as the swirling sounds of indie-dance-joy pumped out. Most of the mini album was played and a new song was also demoed which seemed to go down very, very well; a distinctly more indie-pop vibe was evident, but it was certainly catchy. Tonight was a very solid performance, and improved from when I last saw them in March. The number of Is to dot and Ts to cross has diminished and these guys are developing into an accomplished live act. There are still one or two left, but they?re lessening all the time and tonight was demonstrative of their progress. (8)

At first I thought THE MAPLE STATE had turned into Kiss as the small stage become enveloped in a huge cloud of smoke, but I think it turned out someone just fucked up with the timings on it. And, to be honest, it was a start that set the tone for their set. Keyboard problems persisted, and Greg had a sore throat which was obviously causing him some discomfort by the end. I?ve seen these guys do a lot better than this, but that was to be expected after such problems. Still, the crowd enjoyed the usuals from ‘At Least Until We?ve Settled In’. (7)

As the night wore on, it served to highlight a massive problem with Scunthorpe, and the people who attend gigs there: they have absolutely no idea of how to behave. I know that gigs in small towns often turn into a semi crŠche populated by school and college kids getting drunk on half a shandy, but this was almost a joke at times. It was embarrassing, to be honest, but nevermind. Some people will never lose the small town mentality.

Spud

FRIDAY – My first night’s entertainment saw me travel to the East Riding town of Goole. Now I’ve only ever been to Goole once before and that was 9 years ago when I was a delivery driver earning a few coins in preparation of heading to university. Goole, it would appear, hasn’t changed too much since 1997. Still, The Old George is a decent enough pub, albeit on the very small size. Having missed the first band I prepared myself for CHASER, who are rapidly making a name for themselves. Now you know I’m biased because they’re on my label, but these kids are talented. Very talented. For teenagers, they’re probably on a par with any band their age. Fusing commercial rock bands like The Killers with more poppy Panic! At The Disco edges, Chaser blast through their ‘Best Seat In The House’ record with vigour. They’re tight, they can sing and they have tunes in abundance. They may have slightly been let down by the sound, but there’s plenty to suggest the ‘hype’ is warranted. (8)

THE RIVERCLUB headline in Goole and, despite the fact they play last, attract the biggest crowd of the night. While their EP is very polished, live TRC are far more energetic and thrilling. There’s a spiky edge which actually adds an extra dimension to their sound. There’s more aggression and energy, so while their sound isn’t as polished, it’s certainly just as fun. ‘My Girl, God, She Is Beautiful’ is the best way they can start their set and the Goole kids love it. (8)

SATURDAY – A swift train journey from GY to Leeds saw me visit The Royal Park Cellars for the first time for arguably the most solid 5-band bill I’ve seen in a while. RPC is an odd little venue – a big pub with, unremarkably, a cellar as a music venue, complete with stage. LOST ON CAMPUS start things up and Rob’s acoustic strummings get a decent response. With quirky off-beat songs, and a Kelly Clarkson cover thrown in for good measure, the talent is there despite the obvious nerves. If he can tighten his voice a bit, there’s a good chance of progression (6.5).

I missed a bit of KATE WILLIAMS as I was being a social butterfly, but even from the room next door you could tell that the songstress has a really impressive vocal. I didn’t catch enough to be able to give an accurate score, but it says a lot when nearly every band is talking about the same thing after the show…

THE RIVERCLUB carry on from the night before with another energetic performance, although maybe not quite as good. They do have a clutch of strong songs and there’s plenty of singalongs down the front. I don’t need to say too much more to what I said before…(7.5)

Unfortunately for CHASER, their laptop breaks after just a handful of songs and they’re forced to cut their set short. The first two songs are nothing short of great, with ‘Riot’ and ‘Best Seat…’ coming across like Ibiza dance anthems given a swift kick up the arse with a large dollop of rock. But when Nick’s laptop dies, the samples die too and Dan is left on his own to cover an Eldora Parade track before the band meekly leave the stage. (7)

I know I’m biased, but fuck it – there’s nobody better at what they do in the UK right now than THE MAPLE STATE. They get better week by week, the new songs sound strong and the older ones spark huge singalongs. They even get begged for encores (and a rare performance of ‘The Mariner Song’). The sound wasn’t the strongest by any means, but they always, without fail, leave you with a smile on your face. And, bias or not, that’s seriously all you can ask for. (8.5)

paul