![News Added Feb 04, 2013 Palma Violets, who have been together for only a matter of months and have been playing a series of secret gigs around their home area of south-east London, are one of those bands about whom a lot of fuss will be made in certain quarters of the music press. The […]](https://hasitleaked.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Palma-Violets-180.jpg "Palma Violets : 180")
Palma Violets, who have been together for only a matter of months and have been playing a series of secret gigs around their home area of south-east London, are one of those bands about whom a lot of fuss will be made in certain quarters of the music press. The kind of band that will elicit declamatory headlines with biblical overtones alluding to Stone Roses song titles, suggesting that – finally – here comes something that will wash away the ordinary opportunists who’ve been clogging the system for too long and bring back all the things that have been missing. They will be received like heroes, messiahs, even hailed as the resurrection. We saw them supporting Alabama Shakes at Glasgow’s King Tut’s – where Alan McGee famously had a quasi-religious epiphany…
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…of his own on that fateful night in 1993 when he stood at the front of the stage during an early Oasis gig and decided, there and then, to sign them to Creation – but we were a little underwhelmed. We saw them last week supporting Alabama Shakes at Glasgow’s King Tut’s – where Alan McGee famously had a quasi-religious epiphany of his own on that fateful night in 1993 when he stood at the front of the stage during an early Oasis gig and decided, there and then, to sign them to Creation – but we were a little underwhelmed. We couldn’t see anything particularly unusual, let alone radical or revolutionary, in their look – four 19-21 year olds dressed relatively neatly, in jackets and jeans, with haircuts that could feasibly appeal to fans of the Libertines’ shabby chic – and we struggled to hear anything in their sound that might make a difference. But then, that’s why Geoff Travis, boss of Rough Trade – the label that has just signed Palma Violets based, rumour (soon to acquire the status of legend) has it, on one song – is a genius. At the very least, it explains why he runs a company involved in nurturing raw talent. Either that, or it confirms he is able to turn something less than spectacular into a commodity that a lot of people want.
Nick Cave, Warren Ellis and Bernard Butler are three such people. They were among the audience members who turned up to see the band play at the Great Escape over the weekend. Butler has even, this early on, been mooted as a producer for them. Getting the right producer might be the move that makes the difference. We talk a lot in this column about the amazing new hip hop and electronic musicians-technicians who operate solo, many of them from America, some from the UK, . But there’s nothing to say a traditional band couldn’t hook up with such a person, who could help transform their music into something extraordinary. It used to be expected that four adventurists would join forces with a studio visionary to find new ways to present vocals, guitar, bass and drums. From the Beatles with George Martin to Joy Division with Martin Hannett and Radiohead with Nigel Godrich, it was a matter of course that a producer would be used to turn base matter into gold. Listen to Joy Division live – they were staggeringly powerful, for sure, but it took Hannett to turn that driving energy into something that would endure for decades. Crucially, he helped them break with tradition.
Palma Violets need a Hannett. Like Joy Division early on, they are being added to that ancient dark-rock lineage that began with the Doors and the Velvets. Meanwhile, the singer’s voice is being compared to Jim Morrison’s and Ian McCulloch’s – with some of the shrieking fervour of Wu Lyf’s Ellery Roberts – and the keyboardist makes a shrill noise that recalls exponents past (Ray Manzarek) and present(-ish; basically, whoever plays organ for Spiritualized). The sound rarely roams from garage-rock-psych and strives to achieve the epic and intense.
If you’re just going to flat out copy and paste people’s work, at least credit them. Paul Lester, of the Guardian, is probably not too happy about people stealing his work.