Photo: Emma Viola Lilja
If there’s one word to sum up Palma Violets, it’s energy. The frenetic, loose cannon show of frontmen Samuel Fryer and Alexander “Chilli” Jesson to be precise.
A partnership closer to Doherty and Barat than Lennon and McCartney, and not only because Fryer decides to wear a trilby.
As soon as they arrive under the Forum’s red lights, Jesson nails the madcap disorientated vibe, yelping with abandon at ‘Rattlesnake Highway’ – a blend of Clash’s ‘White Riot’ with a Ramones homage. Propelled by Will Doyle’s drumming and Jeff Mayhew’s keyboard, it sends this young, excitable crowd into a spin, especially when a harmonica tops off the furore.
Amidst all the flailing limbs, Fryer is the one staying cool – keeping this sellotaped show running; retailing tales of late night party conquests on ‘All the Garden Birds’ through an assured baritone drawl. The chord shifts really work live, slowing things down nicely to fit the hazy imagery. Somehow even the simple line “All my friends were there” manages to sound momentarily meaningful.
The problem is, too much of Palma Violets remain momentary. A splattering of ideas and sounds, from the funky licks of ‘Chicken Dippers’ to the punkish surf sound of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ that never fully form. That is, aside from ‘Best of Friends’, the track that still encapsulates them best, two years after its release: passionate, haphazard but absolutely saying something about heartbreak, confusion and free living. There’s at least some direction in the mayhem.
But taken together, whilst the Violets are perfectly at home burning up venues – Jesson literally goading the crowd to charge at him - it becomes clear how crucial these next few months, and this second album, will be for their career. The band already fleetingly disappear in to the darkness when the lights switch, like a flickering flame that will either fully catch fire with a sense of direction, or burn out pretty sharpish.
Palma Violets played:
Rattlesnake Highway
Danger In The Club
All the Garden Birds
On the Beach
Tom the Drum
Best of Friends
Step Up For the Cool Cats
Last of the Summer Wine
Johnny Bagga
Donuts
Hollywood We Found Love
