Band of the Week: Palm Reader

This week's Band of the Week are Palm Reader, a metal 5 piece from Woking, UK. I first heard about Palm Reader when I found out they were supporting Trash Talk on their UK tour which I would be attending, so naturally I checked them out. After listening to their most watched single 'Noble Host' on YouTube I was pretty excited to see them live but when I did I got quite the surprise. 'Noble Host' is a very tame single from the band; their set was actually full of thrashy, metally songs that got a crowd of testosterone moshing like their life depended on it. What I hadn't realised was that the band had a full length album, 'Bad Weather' already out and that this is where their sound is established. Their sound is exactly what you'd expect from a band supporting Trash Talk on tour: it's frantic, it's grizzly, it's loud and it's pretty awesome. What's nice about Palm Reader though is that frontman Josh Mckeown's vocals are clear which means if you're brave enough you can have a sing-a-long, something which is sometimes impossible with bands of this genre. Whilst on the topic of Josh, he's also a really nice guy; straight after performing he headed to the merch stand to sell to fans and despite how sweaty and out of breath he was I thought that it was cool he was selling the merch to me, not someone he and his band had employed.

The band have also played a few festivals this summer such as Hit The Deck, 2000 Trees and Sonisphere and they were also part of the Rock Sound/Impericon Exposure Tour, which goes to show this band could become something big. Their bio on tumblr reads "We play loud. We play heavy. We play hard. We play fast." and that is the most accurate thing I've ever read in any bands bio. Palm Reader are showmen as well as musicians. Seeing them live was a new experience for me as half of them spent their time playing their instruments in the crowd amongst some serious moshers. It was quite impressive to see a band mosh so hard whilst playing instruments and still make it sound like a song. With a new album out early next year, this band are definitely one to watch.

'Bad Weather' is available to buy now from iTunes and smalltownrecords.co.uk
Single 'Noble Host (Grace Pt. 3) can also be downloaded for free via the band's BandCamp