Sydney’s indie pop rockers, Palms, were kind enough to join us and share their thoughts and experiences on recent tours with fellow Aussie bands such as Last Dinosaurs and Violent Soho. They talk about their brand new LP, Crazy Rack, out today – we learn that the title is not as cliché rock n roll as it sounds and we get an insight into what’s on the calendar for the months ahead…
First of all, how was the tour with Last Dinosaurs back in September/October? You guys share the same sort of ‘summer’ vibe as them so I’d imagine the crowd’s reaction would have been superb! Was there anything that stood out within how the people moved or reacted to your songs compared to theirs?
*laughs* I guess we both kinda have an “up” vibe, but we’re way more abrasive than them. I felt kind of bad, especially at the all ages shows, because Last Dinos have such a groove heavy, slick, danceable, nice pop vibe and people are there for that, and then we get up and play our instruments poorly, make a racket and just sort of shout at the audience for half an hour. But I think people still enjoyed us.
I hope so anyway. But yeah the tour was heaps of fun. Both Last Dinos and The Jensens, who opened up, are such lovely and chill guys. We had a real blast. It’s funny but as we get older, touring becomes more about finding cool places to eat, drinking local beers, and finding stuff to do, like hitting the beach or playing putt putt. Like actually trying to see some of the place we’re in, rather than just getting wasted and lying in bed all day.
The single “Bad Apple” you released pre-launch of the new album Crazy Rack, features some interesting lyrics. Do you care to explain the true meaning behind “I feel happy now, but I’ll probably feel lonely soon, We’ve got failure on our side, Talking shit and ripping off You Am I”?
I guess that first one is sort of about me not really being the settling down/marrying/buying a house/having kids kind of guy and how that’s cool now while all my friends are sort of living the same life as me, but eventually most of them will probably drift more into that domestic lifestyle and I’ll still be here on my own. Wah wah wah.
The second one I guess is like, we have nothing to lose y’know? We have no expectations of success, we just wanna have cool experiences and meet people and hang out with each other and play our music. So that’s the ‘failure on our side bit’. The ‘ripping off You Am I’ bit is cos the chorus used to just be me saying ‘ba da ba ba da ba’ and it sounded heaps like the chorus of “Mr Milk” by You Am I, so I thought I better call myself on it.
“Beatdown” was the second single released before the new album launch. It’s a more punk sort of in-your-face song. Was this one that had the crowd pushing and shoving on the Last Dinosaurs tour or more recently and most likely on the Violent Soho tour?
Yeah it was, and it’s also the song that’s been getting a little bit of airplay on Triple J, so I think for a lot of people it was a kind of ‘Oh it’s this band’ moment. A little bit of familiarity really helps to win a crowd over.
Touring with Violent Soho would attract a different genre of fans than Last Dinosaurs as the music is heavier and much more mosh than bop. Were the crowds any rougher and what was the craziest thing you saw both during your set, and during Violent Soho’s?
Yeah totally. Violent Soho’s crowd is mental. From as soon as Soho start till the end they are just going crazy. They were starting their set with their new single “Like Soda” and it’s been out for what, like 5 minutes, and the crowd already knew every word and were just screaming it back at them. I gotta say though, there wasn’t anything bullshit crazy beyond the usual moshing and crowd surfing and circle pits. The crowds were really good to us too. They definitely pushed each other around more than they did at Last Dinos. My favourite moments are the random shit people yell at you on stage, like ‘I love you’ or ‘I really like your socks’.
Not only are Violent Soho hyped about bringing out the first single off their forthcoming album but also you guys’ are the first at it with the new album Crazy Rack released today! The title, Crazy Rack at first thought could bring many things to mind… but not so much what appears on the cover. What is the direction of thought you are hoping fans take from the cover and the music it contains?
Oh man it’s just meant to be a silly joke really. I guess the idea behind it is that when you hear the words ‘crazy rack’ you immediately think of like a giant pile of cocaine or a strippers fake tits or something, like that classic rock n roll myth of sex and drugs and rock n roll y’know? But in reality the crazy rack is just a rack of old lady dresses. It takes on extra meaning cos I work in a second hand clothes shop in Sydney, so my life has way more in common with the old lady dresses than the rock myth. And I think that’s what’s funny about being in a band in 2015, everyone has to have a job. You go from playing to hundreds of people going crazy on a Saturday night and then come Monday, you’re back behind the counter at your dead end job, staring at a wall for 8 hours. The title and cover are just playing with that dichotomy.
So with a brand new album out at the perfect time, coming into summer, what’s next for Palms? Is it sit at home around the barbeque chilling to your own tunes or is it head out on the tour bus and party with the fans playing some new music?
Firstly we would never chill to our own tunes haha. We’ve definitely heard them enough for this lifetime. The barbeque sounds good though. We’ve got a couple shows coming up. The first is At First Sight festival at Carriageworks in Redfern. It’s a record fair as well as a music festival and there’s loads of great bands playing, like Blank Realm and Oscar Key Sung. It’s actually a lot more left field kind of stuff. We’re the most straight up normal band on the bill. We’re like the black sheep, but for being conventional. And then we’re playing at the big party FBi are throwing in January for the SMACs which will be rad. And then we’ll probably do our own tour early next year. So long answer short: some chilling, some playing.
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Make sure to snatch up a copy of Palms‘ new album Crazy Rack here. It’s out today!
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