The Maple State

The Maple State formed in 2004 in Manchester, England after meeting at school/college, the band originally drew most of its inspiration from emo-rock bands such as The Get up Kids, The Anniversary and Hot Rod Circuit. Comprised of brothers Gregory and Christian Counsell, William Pearson and John Goodwin, the band recorded their earliest songs in a friend's bedroom and began touring the UK, these songs eventually became their first EP entitled At least until we've settled in which was released by Punktastic Recordings in March 2005, the EP received rave reviews from Magazines and Fanzines across the UK and helped the band land tours with Motion City Soundtrack, Fightstar and Minus The Bear.

In December 2005 The Maple State flew out to Chicago to record new material with Sean O'Keefe (Fall out Boy, Hawthorne Heights) and Joshua Caine (Motion City Soundtrack), also playing at First Avenue in Minnesota with Motion City Soundtrack. At the end of the year Big Cheese magazine named The Maple State 'Best British Newcomer' in their annual reader’s poll.

In 2006 the band released a spilt EP with Kneehigh and toured throughout the year with Say Anything, The Academy Is..and Get cape. Wear cape. Fly.

In the summer of 2006 the band recorded a single with Andy Gill (Gang of Four) but apparently due to legal complications the songs were not released. At the end of 2006 the band signed with Manchester Indie label; High Voltage Sounds and in February 2007 they released the Joanna EP, the songs on this release were far-removed from the emo-rock songs the band had started out with taking on a slower more mature sound, but the single 'Joanna' received radio play across the UK and the band were invited by Mark Hoppus to support his band +44 on their European tour.

In summer 2007 Richard Higginbottom who was a long time friend of the band joined on guitar and they began writing material for their album. The band released an EP entitled Say, Scientist on High Voltage Sounds in February 2008 to consistently strong reviews from the likes of NME and Rocksound, this EP marked a return to the faster passed and more energetic sound the band started out with and the first single We Swear By the Light Life was released in December 2007. The second single Temperate Lives was released in April 2008 and has been the bands most successful to date, with the song making national radio playlists and the video reaching number 7 in the MTV2 chart.