Daily: Northern Powerhouse – MAXÏMO PARK’s Paul Smith rocks down in lockdown

<p>How does a band make widescreen, forward-thinking communal rock music when they’re suddenly locked down miles away from one another? And when your keyboard player has moved to Australia? <strong>Paul Smith</strong> of Newcastle postpunk adventurers <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/048FBwXjFYBWxSggPDipic?si=N4RWpvz9RiqnjNgoagxqXA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Maxïmo Park</a> tells Dorian Lynskey about finding inspiration in strange places, recording an album on WhatsApp and jerky FaceTime calls, writing about Brexit and Grenfell…&nbsp;and the myth of levelling up the North.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><ul><li>“Whatever we might do to try and conceal it, our true nature always comes up through the cracks.”</li><li>“My faith in Boris Johnson to roll out the vaccine and save the live industry is low – and it wasn’t high to begin with.”</li><li>“I don’t want to be the North East guy with a chip on his shoulder…&nbsp;but it’s going to take a lot of levelling up to level up Stockton.”&nbsp;</li><li>“The live music industry is worth a lot to the Chancellor, whether he knows it or not”</li></ul><p><br></p><p><em>Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Audio production by Alex Rees. </em><strong><em>THE BUNKER is a Podmasters production</em></strong></p> &#10;&nbsp;<br /><hr><p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>