Sydney indie rockers Palms bring the fuzzy-guitar fun yet again on their second LP, 'Crazy Rack'.
The new album sees the four-piece expanding their sound, while still having a blast doing so. “We all like different kinds of music, so I think it's pretty natural that it's gonna come out on the album, but we're also feeling a bit more confident,” singer Al Grigg says about the group's newest release.
“Every song didn't have to be a punchy garage-rock song because I think even we're bored of that. It's still all guitar-based indie rock but I guess within that genre there's a bit more going on.”
Al describes the songwriting process for 'Crazy Rack' as fairly instinctual and not necessarily inspired by musicians he admires. “There's not really a process. If something comes it does, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. I don't really sit down and think 'I'm gonna bang out a song today'.
“My favourite bands are like The Replacements, Pavement, Neil Young, Lou Reed, but you don't really get to choose who influences you. They're the things I love, and I'd love to think our music has stuff in common with those guys, but it's just as likely to be subconsciously influenced by some really bad commercial jingle you heard when you're on hold, trying to order a cab or something.”
The album's cover – a mishmash of second-hand clothes with a dodgy cardboard sign declaring it the 'Crazy Rack' – is an eye-catching photo that perfectly encapsulates the album's lyrical themes of misread situations and backfired intentions. “We thought the photo was so funny, when you hear the words 'crazy rack' you think of some gross fake boobs or a pile of cocaine or something, the sex, drugs and rock & roll myth of being in a band.
“In reality I work in a second-hand clothes shop to pay my rent, so the crazy rack to me is actually way more likely to be a rack of old-ladies dresses. I think it's funny to play with that dichotomy of the idea of being in a rock band and the reality being that you're working a shitty job to get by,” Al says.
“I don't even know if that shop's still there. It's probably like ten years ago, it's somewhere in Mona Vale in the northern beaches of Sydney.”
He checks with drummer, Tom, who took the photo. “They've gone out of business! Damn! They may never know. Unless they're really into Australian indie rock, maybe the old ladies that worked at that op-shop are sitting at home just like 'aww here we go, finally got the Palms pre-order!'”
The band is excited to release the album, their first with Ivy League Records, home to Aussie acts like Cloud Control, Alpine and Bad//Dreems. “Man, it's awesome! Feels good to finally have it out there in the world after sitting on it for a little bit.
"I kind of go up and down about it, like anything you make you have those days when you're like 'this is really good!' and then 'this is terrible, I can't believe we've made this, who the hell would put this record out?' But that's just normal ups and down, and then you go right back to being like 'this is amazing, we'll sell a bunch of copies and we're gonna be rich',” laughs Al.
“I just want people to enjoy it I guess, maybe get something out it. I want people to... I dunno, I just hope people like it, man! It's really funny I think, with this band we don't have any expectations, we're just doing this thing cause we really enjoy it.
"Maybe it's slightly selfish in that way where we're sort of doing this because it's about us and our friendship and it adds so much to our lives and then we're just stoked that other people enjoy it as well. It's all a bonus to me if other people get into it.”
'Crazy Rack' is out now.
