Its day four of the 2015 SXSW Music Festival and things are still pretty crazy. So many bands have performed and rocked the crowds out in Texas but the music lovers better get back on their feet and start screaming for encores as many more bands are yet to play. Standing out on today’s (March 20) live music schedule are fast-rising indie starlets Palma Violets.
Palma Violets are an emerging new band from London, first forming in 2011 based upon a musical partnership shared by frontmen Samuel Fryer and Alexander “Chilli” Jesson. Even with Garage Rock influences, the band primarily focused upon the indie rock genre. They managed to pull off their new found sound by smashing the votes for NME’s ‘Song of the Year’ in 2012 with the band’s first single “Best Of Friends”, and at the end of that same year, the BBC announced that the band had been nominated for their Sound Of 2013 poll.
Palma Violets’ debut album was released a year later in February, and 2013 became a busy year for the band as it saw them appear on the NME Awards Tour alongside Django Django and Peace. From then on, NME have championed and sung the praises for the Lambeth band, rewarding the talented musicians with numerous articles in their magazines. On February 16 this year, the band premiered new single “Danger In The Club” on BBC Radio 1 to rave reviews. The next day, they announced the release of their new album Danger in the Club, produced by John Leckie, which would be released on May 4 via Rough Trade Records.
Another performance to look out for tonight at Parish, is from veteran British indie rock band The Cribs, formed from brothers Gary, Ryan and Ross Jarman. The West Yorkshire band once had a fourth member in ex-The Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr, who left the band after a brief three year stint. Forming in 2001, The Cribs was part of a recording project for the brothers who had set up Springtime Studios, their own label. The boys generated interested around their label and created a demo, before taking the leap to play live as venues such as Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, also admitting to playing at “squats and warehouse parties” with various artists including Subway Sect.
The Cribs first began gigging and touring in the year 2002, tied together with like-minded UK bands, such as The Libertines, by British music press looking for the English version of US alternative rock. Mojo Magazine reported at the time that the “strength of the demo will find the trio fighting off calls from major labels and managers in 2002”. By the time the band had released their 3rd LP, they had overgrown the throwaway label, and were being described as “the biggest cult band in the UK” by Q magazine in 2008.
The Spirit of Independence award was presented to the band on their 10th anniversary at the Q Awards in 2012, followed by the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards. “An Ivory Hand”, a teaser track for the band’s upcoming album For All My Sisters was released on the 19th of January this year, with Steve Lamacq premiering it on BBC 6 Music on the same day. The song was soon to be crowned ‘Single of the Week’ by NME, while follow up single “Burning For No One” was premiered as Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Record in the World’ last month. For All My Sisters will be released on March 23 in the UK
For more information of tonight’s schedule at Bar 96 with Palma Violets, click here, while you can find out more about The Crib’s headline gig at Parish here. The rest of today’s schedule and indeed the weekend ahead at the SXSW 2015 Music Festival, can be perused here.
Words by Meg Benbow // Edited by Ayo Adepoju
