Palma Violets w/ Guards – 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis (04/30/13) live review

Tour Dates

“Shake that aloofness sickness! I give you South London’s finest!” shouted pitchman Harry ‘Violent’, UK buzz band Palma Violets’ merchandise huckster, and self-appointed band ‘ambassador of taste and class’. In addition to all the recent UK press hype (incl. NME’s Best New Band & Song of the Year), Palma Violets smartly brought in their own pitchman to fire up the crowd, intro the band, and even join in the festivities onstage, last night at a full 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, along with Brooklyn-based Guards.



Both bands played edgy 45min. sets that left some in the crowd wondering if we’ve just seen the future of guitar-based rock, or just two bands making their way into the Midwest after dual weekends at Coachella. The small sweaty packed club was the perfect venue for those in attendance to make up their own minds.



Richie Follin’s Guards opened the night up with smoke machines, minimal lighting, and their “evil power-pop”, as Follin describes it, promoting their debut full-length, In Guards We Trust (Black Bell Records). Follin previously played in his sister Madeline’s band, Cults, but this is truly a project all his own. Expanding live to a five-piece, the band deftly employed its whisper-to-scream brand of guitar rock, amp volumes moving from 1 to 11 on tracks like “Nightmare”; “Coming True”; “Resolution of One” and “Silver Lining”.



The songs came across as more raw than on record, but solid and more appropriate for a live setting. Follin even requested all the lights down near the end, in a prog-like instrumental that had him waving his guitar everywhere, searching for interesting feedback sounds. With ‘Ready to Go’ on regular local radio rotation, Guards is living up to the song’s title.



With their name inspired by a classic British tablet confection (a la Smarties or Necco), Palma Violets hit the stage like hard candy after Violent’s hype-man intro, with a ferociousness and devil-may-care abandon, in support of their debut, ‘180’ (Rough Trade US). A mix of Clash, Ramones, early Libertines, and Wu Lyf; “Chilli” Jesson (bass), Sam Thomas Fryer (guitars/vocals), Pete Mayhew (keys) and Will Doyle (drums) opened loud with ‘Johnny Bagga’ Donuts’, and immediately followed that with the bouncy ‘Rattlesnake Highway’. ‘All the Garden Birds’ showcased Fryer’s baritone, playing off bassist Jesson’s snarling screams and frantic playing energy.



Their music is purposely imperfect, driven by the gusto, abandon, and wrecklessness of youth, and the desire to whip the room into a frenzy. This didn’t fully strike the audience until mid-set with the driven beat of ‘Chicken Dippers’ and the ear-infecting first single, ‘Best of Friends’, that had heads nodding and the center of the floor pogo-ing in unison.

Things calmed a bit for ‘Step Up for the Cool Cats’, their 2nd single, then ended with ‘We Found Love’ and ’14’, both of which (maybe unintentionally) featured riffs that sounded like ‘Sweet Jane’ and ‘Crimson and Clover’, respectively. The two song encore was where things really got crazy – pitchman Violent returned to the stage as the 5th member and keyboardist Mayhew, who was almost motionless for the main set, was bouncing manically across the stage like a completely different person. A where-did-they-find-that cover of 1980’s ‘Invasion of the Tribbles’ by Calgary punk band The Hot Nasties and album hidden track, ‘Brand New Song’ closed the night, with people climbing on stage, instruments being upended, and the fuel of chaotic enthusiasm.



While their sound is more an update than re-invention of guitar rock; as a band, Palma Violets aren’t quite yet in full bloom, but have planted the seeds for something potentially extraordinary.