Maybe I’m a-MAZE-d
Following the release of their new single; ‘Light up the Sky’ on 8th October, I caught up with Maze’s Paul Bassom to discuss a possible upcoming tour, musical inspiration and football infighting within the band:
The band started with Paul and Gary – how long have you two known each other?
‘’We first met in around 2001 while working for the same firm, and spent a lot of time going to gigs together; mainly in pubs. We had a Monday Club, Tuesday club, well I think a club for every day of the week, and I dragged him to the odd Palace game. It wasn’t until 2010 that we started making music together. ‘’
Have the five of you always harboured ambitions to be in a band or be involved in music in some way?
‘’Ever since I picked up the guitar I was writing songs, and very quickly formed a band with the minimal chords I knew. Be studied music at university and I know Scott and Aaron have been in bands for years. So I think it was only Gary that came into music late.’’
Who are your musical inspirations and what did you all listen to growing up? Do you have similar taste or do you end up arguing over artists?
‘’I’m achieving my musical ambitions in Maze, and anything else we achieve will be a bonus. We’ve only been a band since April which is crazy and what we’ve done in that time is mind blowing. BBC song of the week, Sky aired two of our music videos and we’ve played two great festivals and signed a publishing Deal.’’
‘’Growing up. I was into the rave scene, but Britpop changed all of that. Ocean Colour Scene quickly became my favourite band, but I think most of the band have a strong Britpop or 90’s connection. We can argue over music tastes, but not to the point where you want to quit or walk out the room. Gary just pulls out the Millwall brick and it stops! ‘’
How does the writing process work with the band?
‘’I’m the main songwriter, Scott writes as well, but at the moment we’ve had a big recording schedule, so it’s mainly written in my studio. We just keep building on the song until it’s complete. Then we take the songs into the rehearsal rooms to get tight’’
You are all big football fans supporting different teams – do you avoid Sunday sessions depending on Saturday’s results? Do you get much time to go to games now? How about combining the two – do I hear the rumblings of a World Cup 2022 song? Or maybe a WHU song haha – that would be great from a Millwall and Palace fan!
‘’Yeah I’m a Palace Fan, Gary supports Millwall, Scott is West Ham and Aaron follows Ipswich. I think Ben follows netball and Tiddlywinks! We’ve all been season ticket holders!’’
‘’Haha, that would be great, I think we should perform on the West Ham pitch at half time, just to see if Gary gets out alive. ‘’
How would you describe your musical style, and how would you say it’s evolved since your first release in 2019?
‘’I’m a massive DMAS Fan and they’ve adopted the 90’s sound and have become one of favourite bands. Australian, they are! That’s the thing; I’ve always tried to hide my love of ‘90s music, only because you get the ‘you sound like Oasis’ comments after every release, but the success of DMAS has made me rethink that. And now I just write music I love, even if you can hear my influences.’’
What’s next? Any chance of a UK tour?
‘’Well funny you should ask that, we’ve been talking to Marquis Drive about a possible tour and also Cannons Band. If they come to the UK we’re open to tour and with an album almost recorded it would be a great way to reach people.’’
Maze’s latest release, ‘Light up the Sky’ is out now: https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Forcd.co%2Flightupthesky&e=ATP210RPKFzgJKL9I28vxa155-6YOmi9M9f3grrn0fnANXwKqD_grzQ77PIvtlwNLllTNEvjAV_strW_Sbu2yQ&s=1
Article by Lauren Jayne
