The Mavericks are best known for their massive worldwide hit Dance The Night Away, but they are far from a one hit wonder. The band have spent over a decade defying the constraints of the Country genre, after all, strict genre specific perimeters limit creativity.
Their creativity has led to a unique blend of Tex-Mex, Cajun, Cuban, Regge, Dance and anything else they please. A string of albums and US chart successes have consistently shown that this is a band that continue to surprise their fans. Their motto is to do what they
please: If they are having fun then the audience will too, and this is a band who certainly knows how to have fun. However, prior to the split they were touring constantly and as drummer Paul Deakin tells me "although it was wonderful, towards the end we were all burnt out and it took the joy out of it... it just stopped being fun." After they split up in 2004 they worked on various solo projects with lead singer Raul Malo releasing 6 albums and Paul focusing on his love for carpentry as well as music. It was only at the end of last year when they were approached to do a reunion tour that the old Maverick magic came together and in the space of just a few months they have a brand new album out and are embarking on a new tour.
The new album In Time is getting rave reviews and Paul believes it could well be the best album they have ever recorded. "It exceeded all my expectations." He says " I had remembered the chemistry and the spark we had...although you remember it cerebrally when you experience it again its like WOAH YEAH! You have to experience it again, especially after having that break."When I asked him how the band managed to make their best album ever despite not having seeing each other for seven years? He quotes his friend Raul "probably because we hadn't seen each other for seven years!"
The new album is fresh and full of fantastic songs such as Amsterdam Moon,Back In Your Arms and my personal favourite - Come Onto Me, which Paul enjoys playing live. "Raul had written a whole bunch of songs and the band decided to go into the studio to record this new material. There was no demo tape or pre production. We let everything happen organically, let it be magical or all fall apart." The band recorded 9 songs in 2 days, which is phenomenally fast. " We had a rush of creativity. We played better than we ever have." As the heartbeat of the band does he find that the rhythmic bass and drum synergy is hard to work at, especially after all this time? "It's very easy with this band, everybody is a rhythm section, it drives itself. He continues to tell how this current band line up is the best ever and "much more capable of doing different stuff, we might even do a disco record" he jokes "who knows."
So does this mean that the band are going to stay around this time? " It started out as 20 shows and it's gonna turn into another 20 years. We've just started planning the next record. We are very mindful of what it is going to take for us to stay together." It looks as if The Mavericks are having fun again and whether it be Country, rock, blues, Latin or disco, the band take their music next, their fans are sure to be dancing the night away.