It was around 3 o clock on a steaming hot Saturday at Rough Trade west. The crowd started to congregate around the shop front as the temperature started to rise. After a wait of around 10 minutes, Chili Jenson and Co finally emerged from the back of the audience. The crowd was a mix of fans, the general London shoppers and Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker. Palma Violets took some time to sound check their instruments before kicking off with the title track from their new album Danger In The Club. This was given a fairly mediocre response from the viewers – the odd head nodding and swaying was a disappointing reaction for such a lively track. During the next track ‘Rattlesnake Highway’ the band’s friend Harry Violent was at hand creating the crowd that the gig deserved, shouting “come on move!’ It’s a fucking Saturday!”.
It took a while to build momentum but finally a textbook Palma Violets mosh was created. It was particularly lively during Tom the drum when several people got sucked under and had to be rescued by the camera men turned security guards at the front. As far as new material went there were a couple of unrecognisable tunes that had the ever so recognisable power behind them but apart from that they played the classics from their debut album 180. Chili bounced around and covered all areas of the stage from standing on his bass amp to being within a whisker of the front row, making the performance a true spectacle.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poFXWUTEs1k&w=740&h=422]
The penultimate track ‘Best of Friends’ created mayhem in the familiar chorus and although there was a relatively small group of fans the singing could of probably been heard from several blocks away. The last track was a new one and despite all efforts to keep the mayhem going Harry Violent had given up and chosen to hop the red and white tape and enter the stage area. The staff panicked and tried to pull him off stage, though the all clear was given by Will Doyle the drummer, allowing him to share the mic with Chili Jenson for the final chorus. Within 25 minutes the set was over and with the help of Violent, Palma Violets had successfully promoted their new album with a truly unique record store day 2015 performance.
Words by Cameron Sims