THE ELDER STATESMEN
WHEN The Maple State first decided to reform last year, the cult Manchester band did so with their expectations firmly in check. There would, the band decided, be no excessive fanfare or selfcongratulatory bluster surrounding their return. Instead, the guitar outfit - who split in 2008 and officially reformed in late 2017 would gently test the waters at one of Manchester’s most intimate gig venues.
“We booked two shows at Jimmy’s,” says Maple State frontman Greg Counsell. “We didn’t want to go overboard so we booked a small venue, and the shows sold out straight away. The audience reactions were incredible; people were singing along to the old songs, they knew the words to the new stuff. We’d never had a response like that before. In our time away, we’d become more popular.”
It’s safe to say The Maple State wouldn’t have topped many people’s lists of Manchester bands they desperately wanted to see reform. Nevertheless, the band’s re-emergence has undoubtedly been one of 2018’s great Manc music success stories - one which also provides a perfect step-by-step manual in how to reform a band with great efficacy.
Indeed, first and foremost, The Maple State’s comeback has been motivated by the best, most genuine of reasons: unfinished business. First emerging in 2004, the Stockport band - Greg Counsell, joined by his brother Christian on bass, Richard Higginbottom on guitar and William Pearson on keys - built up a loyal fanbase with their emo-infused guitar-rock anthems. They released three criticallyacclaimed EPs (At Least Until We’ve Settled In, Joanna and Say Scientist), and toured the world with bands such as Motion City Soundtrack, The Academy Is and Minus The Bear before splitting suddenly in 2008 having yet to even release a full-length album.
Ten years later and Greg Counsell insists there was “no great drama” behind the band’s demise. “Real life simply got in the way; people wanted to go to university,” he explains.
Even so, the feeling that The Maple State had “unfinished business” continued to chip away at each band member in subsequent years. Despite all carving out distinguished careers over the past decade - Greg is a wildlife conservationist, Christian works for the European Space Agency, while Richard established his own publishing company - each member felt like they hadn’t made the most of their initial spell in the spotlight.
“I feel like we never really achieved what we should have achieved,” Greg reflects. “Through bad management, through bad decision making, we probably missed some good opportunities that we should have grasped. In the years after we split, I kept seeing all these bands who we’d played with, and they were having really successful careers. A couple of times, The 1975 - they had a different name at the time - they opened for The Maple State. To see them becoming massive, it did make me think what could have been.”
It was back in 2015, during a gettogether at Christmas, that reunion plans were first put in motion. Greg, who had continued to write songs since the band’s demise (“I’ve got archives and archives of songs; they were like diary entries”), played some new material to Christian and Richard - songs that would eventually form the backbone to The Maple State’s surprise comeback album.
Released a decade after the band played their last ever gig, The Maple State’s debut album, The Things I Heard At The Party, has been well worth the staggeringly long wait. Matching crunching guitar riffage with quicksilver melodies and beautifully observed lyrics, it’s an album which recaptures the punky hubris of their earliest recordings but now injects some well-worn life experience into the mix.
“There is a good precedent for bands who are our age and older, still making music, still making a real connection with people,” says Greg, still only 32. “I love bands like Elbow and The National, who didn’t break through till later on in life.
“I’ve only realised recently that my favourite albums by The National, they were made when the band were in their forties. Music didn’t have to be this thing I consigned to the past, because I’m no longer a teenager.”
Judging by the feverish response of those comeback gigs at Jimmy’s earlier this year, The Maple State have clearly made a significant start on what they call their “unfinished business.”
And that’s something the band are very keen to emphasise - this is only the start.
“Even though ten years have passed, it doesn’t feel that long ago,” Greg enthuses. “As soon as we get in a room and start playing together, it’s like no time has passed. As a music fan, I’m really opposed to nostalgia. But for me, this has nothing to do with the past. It’s very much happening right now, and that’s the best thing about it.”
The Maple State play the Deaf Institute tomorrow.