Palma Violets at The Workman's Club | Review

Palma Violets at The Workman’s Club, Dublin, 8th April 2014

NME poster boys Palma Violets are a rowdy bunch. The Lambeth quartet arrive late on stage at The Workman’s Club, dressed in charity shop cast-offs, ready to cause a ruckus.

Opening with Rattlesnake Highway, the band’s sound is characteristically loud and punchy. Guitarist Samuel Fryer and bassist Alex ‘Chili’ Jesson are the frontmen from hell, scrambling on to drumkits and generally making a nuisance of themselves to fellow bandmates, keyboardist Jeffrey Mayhew and drummer William Doyle.

Not that they give a toss – as they manoeuvre through the set, it is obvious that the band are in control from the off. This is their show, and they’re doing it their way.

The BBC Sound Of 2013 nominees are brash and unforgiving in their performance, but manage to maintain the balance of intensity throughout. Grungey, snarling guitars play off against the keyboard that is almost soft in comparison.

Fryer is interrupted frequently by shouts from Jesson, and bursts of furious drum beats from the band’s secret weapon, Doyle. Songs such as Chicken Dippers lack clarity in the vocals at time, but that is made up for in demonic-like energy.

The chemistry between Jesson and Fryer is apparent – so much so that you’d often forget there were two other people present and, indeed, integral to the performance. Comradery aside, the band’s control of the pace and timing of the show is something that stands out impressively.

Best Of Friends – lead track from their début LP 180 – brings the best out of the band and the crowd, featuring drawn-out sing-alongs and guitars that just won’t quit.

Keyboardist Mayhew plays seamlessly with the guitars, though at times, he drowns out Fryer and Jesson’s drawls. Step Up For The Cool Cats possesses all the qualities of a pure rock anthem.

“You had me dancing in the sun …” Fryer proclaims, fully charged and rearing to go.

The tempo variation throughout makes for hard listening at times, with the hectic shift between haunting melodic keyboard to a full-on guitar sound. It is hard to distinguish between the music and the noise.

By contrast, 14 is a sombre, pleading march-along that is in direct opposition to the oozing confidence displayed earlier on. They request for the lights to be turned down as Mayhew and Jesson down instruments begins dancing, though Mayhew looks like a bit of a spare part.

The show finishes the same way that it started – bratty and full of rage. Palma Violets are a band who aren’t breaking new ground: but whatever they’re doing, they’re having a damn good time doing it.