British garage rock darlings Palma Violets hit cover of NME, popular music magazine, a month before their debut album hit.
It’s a sweaty late Saturday night, a loft in Greenpoint, Brooklyn is filled far past capacity, and there are a few young British blokes playing scrappy indie rock in the front. There are rowdy twenty-somes moshing… and it’s unclear if there’s more beer or cigarette smoke being consumed inside.
It still happens in New York, even in 2013. Palma Violets, a four-piece London-based act with not-so-hidden hints of The Libertines and the Arctic Monkeys, made their Northeast US debut count in late January. Locally Amped caught two of their half-dozen shows in NYC over the course of a week, one at Brooklyn’s Glasslands and one at the aforementioned loft show.
Simple, reverb-heavy songs define the young Brits, who quickly caught the hearts of the British music industry and media. In 2012, they played mostly small basement gigs before Rough Trade — the home of their proteges, The Strokes and The Libertines — signed them.
Their debut album, “180” finally hit the public this past week to mostly positive reviews, but prior to that, their buzz was solely the result of two singles including a youthful track with a chorus of “I wanna be your best friend.”
Add friendly songs, some exuberant, young guys and the accessible four-chord garage rock sound together, and its not surprising that they’ve got this initial buzz.
New York surely didn’t get sick of them, as Brooklyn Vegan reported that nearly all of the shows had a young, vibrant crowd. Crowd surfing happened, and it wasn’t even a punk show.
They have the young, reverb-soaked sound down pat. And, their live presence is stellar, to say the least. Now, let’s see if they have staying power.
They’re back on the East Coast at Brighton Music Hall in Boston on May 6, Johnny Brenda’s in Philly on May 8, Music Hall of Williamsburg (NYC) on May 9 and Bowery Ballroom (NYC) on May 10 so catch them and make an educated guess then.
