Last nite at the Crystal Ballroom London rockers The Palma Violets did a show for the local indie rock radio station 94.7, charging a mere 94 cents for promotional tickets. Even the night of the concert, tickets were available at the door for one dollar and 94 cents. The Palma Violets have had enormous success in the UK and elsewhere in the past year or so, but are barely known in the US.
That is about to change, if they continue putting on shows like last night's at The Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon (USA, Earth).
American readers of British music bible NME have been hearing about The Palma Violets for a long time, and they've had tremendous success in the UK this past year, touring, recording, and appearing on TV, radio, and at festivals, not to mention healthy online exposure.
They've played in the US a little and their powerful single "Best of Friends" has been getting some airplay here, but mostly, American audiences are just getting to know The Palma Violets.
Playing the official video of "Best of Friends" for a friend, he remarked they "seemed very British", and their have been countless bands that have been hugely successful, influential and popular in England that simply never caught on in America because they were "too British", for example, Oasis. And the British pop sensibility is obviously more welcoming to to underground indie psychedelic/garage rock than the US pop charts are. So it is that, aside from a few Anglophiles in certain American cities, there are many excellent British bands that never catch on in America - like The Libertines (also Pete's drug arrests putting the nix on a US visa and touring is a factor here). Even Arctic Monkeys have had to actually move to America to try to conquer it.
It remains to be seen if Palma Violets will be a British band that brakes through.
That is about to change, if they continue putting on shows like last night's at The Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon (USA, Earth).
American readers of British music bible NME have been hearing about The Palma Violets for a long time, and they've had tremendous success in the UK this past year, touring, recording, and appearing on TV, radio, and at festivals, not to mention healthy online exposure.
They've played in the US a little and their powerful single "Best of Friends" has been getting some airplay here, but mostly, American audiences are just getting to know The Palma Violets.
Playing the official video of "Best of Friends" for a friend, he remarked they "seemed very British", and their have been countless bands that have been hugely successful, influential and popular in England that simply never caught on in America because they were "too British", for example, Oasis. And the British pop sensibility is obviously more welcoming to to underground indie psychedelic/garage rock than the US pop charts are. So it is that, aside from a few Anglophiles in certain American cities, there are many excellent British bands that never catch on in America - like The Libertines (also Pete's drug arrests putting the nix on a US visa and touring is a factor here). Even Arctic Monkeys have had to actually move to America to try to conquer it.
It remains to be seen if Palma Violets will be a British band that brakes through.
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