Author: birminghamreview

Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Ed Taylor (Digital Flow)

The first time I saw Maxïmo Park live was in 2005, in the small upstairs room of a Sheffield pub. There were about 15 of us in the crowd. Through the course of that gig I think that we all realised this band couldn’t fail to make it.

The songs were too good and lead singer Paul Smith too beguiling – a lassic indie poet cast from the same mold as Sheffield’s own Jarvis Cocker. Ten years and five albums later, Maxïmo Park are touring to mark the 10^th anniversary of their debut album, A Certain Trigger – playing the O2 Institute‘s 1500 capacity main room.

And outside the numbers not too much has changed since Sheffield in 2005; Smith is still the same edgy, intense Romantic, spitting out lyrics in his unmistakable Geordie accent.  It’s just now he has amplified his persona for a much bigger stage. The awkward bookishness of the early days is gone, replaced with the posturing and leaping of a rock star.

The first half of tonight’s Institute show is a selection of singles and rarities from throughout the band’s career. Singles such as ‘Our Velocity’ and ‘Girls Who Play Guitar’ have an excitable, beered up, Friday night crowd enthusiastically singing along.

And if it’s a little laddish, this is a particularly neurotic brand of modern laddishness: “If everyone became so sensitive / Perhaps I wouldn’t be so sensitive”. Besides, there’s something quite delightful about a roomful of people yelling along to lines like, “I am young and I am lost / You react to my riposte”. ‘Wonderwall’ this isn’t.

After a short break, Maxïmo Park return for a track-by-track performance of A Certain Trigger. The album stands the test of time pretty well, a fine example of mid-00’s indie pop to file alongside Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys.

I have mixed feelings about the merits of playing the record in its entirety, however.  Unlike Pink Floyd performing Dark Side of the Moon or Radiohead doing OK Computer, there’s not much to be gained from hearing this type of album – which is basically a collection of singles with some filler album tracks – from start to finish.

Still, playing the album in full does showcase some of its hidden gems; songs normally overlooked in favour of hits ‘Going Missing, Apply Some Pressure’ and ‘The Coast is Always Changing’. A case in point is ‘I Want you to Stay’, the record’s melancholic fifth single. It begins as a restrained love song, with twitching guitars developing in counterpoint to the wistful vocals (“Nothing works around here/ Where cranes collect the sky”), building in complexity and urgency before reaching its chaotic conclusion. It sums up the best of Maxïmo Park: while their songs tend to be familiar tales of love and loss, Smith’s diction and delivery is always idiosyncratic enough to avoid cliché.

As much as I was impressed by Maxïmo Park’s songs and charisma that night in Sheffield ten years ago, my overriding memory is of the band’s warmth – they were delighted that we had turned up to see them play.

Now there are 1,500 rather than 15 people in the crowd, but Maxïmo Park still have that ability to make each audience member feel valued, special and part of something exciting.

It’s a great feeling, for this reporter at least. And it’s one of the many reasons I believe Maxïmo Park continue to be so cherished by their fans over a decade after their debut – be in a small room in Sheffield or a big room in Birmingham.

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For more on Maxïmo Park, http://maximopark.com/

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listings & online ticket sales, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

For more from Gigs & Tours, visit http://www.gigsandtours.com/ 

Words by Sasha Holt / Michelle Martin (Visual Voice Media) & Pics by Ed Taylor (Digital Flow)

Hello fashionistas, it’s finally happened, I’m back through the wardrobe from the fashion land full of surprises, better known as The Clothes Show Live 2015.

Having visited this event a number of times before, whilst at The Clothes Show Live ’15 I was interested to see how much of the show was dedicated to sustainable fashion – whether vintage or pre owned charity pieces. In previous years the event had definitely paid homage to what I would call ‘fast fashion’, so this time around I wanted to talk to designers who try to create clothing with elements of sustainability.

Exhibitors such as All about Aud saw that core customers at The Clothes Show Live ’15 were the quality savvy fashion crowd. Audrey Taylor from All about Aud pointed out that “high street retailers are selling vintage style pieces at a fraction of the cost I could sustain”. She also highlighted the issue of fast fashion saying “throwaway fashion was a problem for the fashion industry as a whole and younger people needed re-educating as to quality of vintage garments.”

As I mentioned in a previous report, millions of tons of clothes are thrown away each year – but of the clothing that’s given away to charities, it would be interesting to discover how much that is thrown away is sold on through less than reputable sources.

One of the most interesting insights into the pre owned clothing world was from Jacqueline Seaby of Sue Ryder; this charity minimizes its rag waste (unsalable clothing) by diversifying its avenues of sale. Jacqueline told me that “in our Bristol store and a selection of others where we saw there is a market we have vintage sections managed separately from the main stock”. She also pointed out that from their distribution centre in Swindon “we can select key pieces to be sold at events and guide the merchandising of each store into what will sell. We hope to change the perception of Charity shop fashion”.

From what I saw at The Clothes Show Live this year, Sue Ryder had made great waves in doing that on their stand – with an eclectic fashion smorgasbord that wouldn’t have been out of place in a high end boutique.

Visitors to The Clothes Show Live ’15 were also supporting the vintage look. Josh Gilzeane caught my eye in a red leather 1980s jacket. He said “I adore it and it always gets comments because it looks so different.” It was also interesting to see independent designers, both burgeoning and high end using sustainable methods where possible as part of their fashion remit.

One such brand is JAM Industries. Set up three years ago, and born out of surf culture, JAM is founded and run by brothers Mark and Andy Jordan – offering “stylish good quality après surf wear” that can be “worn from Carlisle to Croydon and you don’t even need to own a wetsuit”.

At their Clothes Show Live ’15 stand, JAM Industries told me “our ethos has been simplicity and design but most of all affordable quality and comfort”. And if their products weren’t already appealing enough to me, JAM also embrace the responsibility “to be as carbon neutral as possible. And using British sourced skilled workers and materials is important”.

Even the high end designers, such as London Fashion Week darling Emilio De La Morena, have visions of creating exquisite pieces that make the wearer feel sexy and special with a nod towards sustainability and ethical fashion too.

Introduced to The Clothes Show Live ’15 audience at the Olympus Style Studio, by sustainable and eco fashion champion Hilary Alexander OBE, Emilio De La Morena talked about his “sculptural intricate pieces that envelope a woman’s every curve in lace, velvet and sequins” making his pieces “sumptuously sensual”. Emilio further stated that “where possible I source my materials from Europe, usually France and Spain, to cut down on our carbon footprint. I sometimes redevelop fabrics from previous seasons to design a completely new garment to reduce our dependence on new fabrics.”

Emilio De La Morena was also keen to highlight the kind of woman that wears his clothes, “she takes time out at the mountains or coast to enjoy the beauty around her and that inspires my collections with colours and marvels of nature.”

So from vintage retailers to designers and customers at The Clothes Show Live ’15, trying to be part of fashion in an ethical way (no matter how small) is agruably growing in momentum; maybe one day the tide will turn away from disposable fashion.

I look forward to seeing if The Clothes Show joins this clothing revolution and champions sustainable fashion at future events.

For more on The Clothes Show, visit http://www.clothesshow.com/

For more from the NEC Group, including links to listings at all venues, visit https://www.necgroup.co.uk/

For more from the Ticket Factory, visit https://www.theticketfactory.com/