End of lockdown road gets nearer
FRONTMAN PAUL EYES LIVE TOUR RETURN NEXT
LOCKDOWN starts to come to an end tomorrow. For many school pupils and their parents, this will be a major milestone. Others will find their lives don’t change much, but it still marks the beginning of the end.
All primary school pupils will be allowed to return to classrooms from Monday, March 8. This is sometimes described as schools “re-opening”, but most schools have remained open throughout this lockdown. It’s just that only a limited number of pupils were allowed to attend.
Some secondary pupils will also return to classrooms on Monday, and others will resume lessons throughout the week.
For the rest of us, the change is relatively minor. We’ll now be allowed to meet a single person from another household for “recreation”, outdoors. The key point here was that you could previously meet up only for exercise, whereas now you can sit down for a chat or to open up a flask of coffee.
The next stage comes on March 29, when groups of up to six will be able to meet outdoors. It means you’ll be able to have a bit of a party in your back garden if the weather’s good.
Why is the Government moving slowly? There are a number of reasons.
First, the infection rate may have fallen significantly – with around one in 204 people currently infected with the virus, according to figures published on Thursday – but it’s still high.
Secondly, it has to take into account the fact that whenever restrictions are reduced, some people will go further than the new rules allow.
That even applies to the elderly. The Office for National Statistics found that two in five people over 80 who had received the vaccine went on to break lockdown rules, for example by meeting somebody outisde their support bubble indoors, less than three weeks after being vaccinated. That’s despite being told the vaccine takes three weeks to work.
The third reason, and probably the most important, is that the Government’s scientific advisers say it takes four weeks to determine the impact of any change to the rules on the infection rate. And it doesn’t make sense to bring in a new set of changes before you know what’s happened as a result of the old ones.
Still, while there is a long way to go – with some restrictions continuing until at least June 21 – the lockdown is starting to come to an end.
Since the pandemic began, one in five people have contracted the virus, about one in 150 have been hospitalised, and around one in 550 have died. The enormity of what we have been through may take some time before it really sinks in.
But what’s striking is how successfully we’ve come through it. The economy is in dire straits, but it hasn’t actually collapsed. Unemployment is high, but we’re not seeing an increase in people on the streets – it’s actually the opposite.
Despite the initial panic-buying of toilet roll, people have remained good-natured and even reasonably optimistic. Our country and its institutions have coped.
AS music names go, Paul Smith is up there with the best.
The frontman of Maximo Park, the Billingham-born rocker has graced stages around the world as well as sell out arenas and historic venues much closer to his Teesside home.
Fans will know the band formed in 2000 and has released seven studio albums – the first two went gold and debut A Certain Trigger was Mercury nominated.
But it is their latest, 2021’s Nature Always Wins, that is causing a stir. Midweek, early March 2021, the record was number one in the UK album charts ahead of the likes of Alice Cooper and The White Stripes, and hopes are high it will remain in the top spot – Maximo Park’s first.
‘Pretty good, but slightly unreal’ is how Paul, 41, describes the chart position for the £4.99 record he says costs the same price ‘as a posh pint.’
However you look at it, he’s come a long way since being scared to go on a primary school choir trip with the rest of the members at Billingham South.
“I sang in the choir at Billingham South, briefly, but lost confidence after a teacher shouted at me when I said I was scared to go on a choir trip! I loved music, and became obsessed with The Beatles due to my mam’s old vinyl records,” said Paul.
“I used to harmonise with a Beatles Love Songs compilation in the car! I got a cheap electric guitar in my early teens, during the grunge era but didn’t learn properly til I was a bit older.
“I loved my dad’s old nylon-string guitar, which was kept in the loft because he didn’t play it anymore. When I got into folkier stuff like Nick Drake, I started to use my fingers instead of a plectrum, which is how I still play – not that I’m a virtuoso.
“At Hartlepool Art College, I formed a band with twin sisters from Hartlepool – Rachel and Laura Lancaster – just instrumental guitar, influenced by Mogwai. It’s a real coincidence that we are now heading for the Top 5 the week after Mogwai got their first Number 1. And Laura Lancaster did the painting for our new album, Nature Always Wins. After university, I was asked to be in Maximo Park and the rest was history!”
Maximo Park are Newcastle-based but Boro fan Paul was never tempted to leave the region for the heady lights of London. He has a strong Teesside passion running through his veins which has seen him add his name to the campaign to save Redcar’s iconic blast furnace from demolition and is happy to have family and friends close by.
“Apart from my family, the industrial landscape, surrounded by the Cleveland Hills, as well as nights out in Middlesbrough (at the Cornerhouse
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It’s been hard to not play live and to have very little income, but, again, I feel lucky compared to many people
PAUL SMITH
and Arena) and Boro games with my friends,” he cites amongst his favourite places.
“I grew up in Billingham and we would visit Seaton or Preston Park quite a lot, but also go on camping holidays around North Yorkshire. Ripon, Thirsk, Helmsley were regulars.
“Mostly though, Whitby and Scarborough were our main destinations because my nana had a caravan in Whitby.
“I love going to Sound It Out in Stockton. I used to go there when I attended Stockton Sixth Form college and the staff know me now. There’s a great documentary about it, which says a lot about the interesting characters in Stockton.
“I love going to the Riverside with my childhood pals Neil and Ben.
“I’m happy here and my family are still close – I’m only 45 mins away from Billingham. It’s also helped the band develop in our own individual way, instead of being influenced by ‘music industry’ concerns or trends.
“After university, I found like-minded musicians in Newcastle and Sunderland with whom we formed a community of sorts – others might call it a scene. Everyone helped each other out and supported each other, too. It still exists today, I’m glad to say, although, obviously, there are interesting new bands and artists who have their own scene.”
In his ‘best ever gigs’ category, he’d place the 150th birthday celebration gig at Middlesbrough Town Hall where he played solo with a string quartet and sang his own songs alongside some of his favourites by other artists who played at what he describes as an ‘incredible venue and building.’
Career highs and lows?
“Just having a career in music seems miraculous to me! It’s a fickle business. Playing places like Middlesbrough Town Hall or The Royal Albert Hall have been highlights. Travelling to Germany, Japan, the US, Russia, Mexico, Brazil – places I might never have visited were it not for the band,” he said.
“And all the people we’ve connected with along the way. I try to forget the lows!”
Maximo Park’s latest album was made during lockdown, so that’s also been a high.
Paul has a daughter who is almost five so the time has also been spent homeschooling. “We were supposed to fly to Atlanta to do it, but had to quickly ask our producer, Ben Allen, if we could do it long-distance instead – lots of files sent over the internet and video chats! It wasn’t ideal, but we made it work.
“My daughter is nearly five and so she started school in the middle of the pandemic. It’s been a challenge for us, like it has been for everyone. At least I’m used to being at home in between tours, just reading and writing.
“It’s been hard to not play live and to have very little income, but, again, I feel lucky compared to many people who’ve suffered during all this.”
The first thing he plans to do out of lockdown, like most of us, is visit his parents and friends.
Plans for the future are in the pipeline.
“I would’ve been amazed at another Top 10 record, but the stakes are suddenly higher! I hope everyone on Teesside gets behind us. After all, the album is only £4.99 on itunes – the cost of a posh pint! And it’s really good!” Paul says of the latest album.
“We’re doing a streaming gig and then, hopefully, lots of UK gigs later in the year, if all is safe and back on track. I’ve made a record with folk singer Rachel Unthank, too, so hopefully that’ll see the light of day in the nottoo-distant future.”
● You can buy or stream the new album, Nature Always Wins, from the links found here: https://ffm.to/ naturealwayswins