London-based four-piece Palace have made something of a splash in the indie-rock scene in the past twelve months – opening for Jamie T’s comeback tour and dropping a pair of acclaimed EP’s in the form of Lost In The Night and Chase The Light. Now they’re touring off their own steam, and are coming to Nottingham’s own Bodega on the 17th. Ahead of their show, Impact Music spoke to frontman and lead guitarist Leo Wyndham.
Hey Leo! Looking forward to seeing you in Nottingham next week.
Yeah us too, we haven’t played Nottingham before so we’re really excited for that one.
Palace is relatively new band, where are you guys from and how did you come together?
We’re all sort of country folk really, one of us is from Brighton, I’m from a bit out of the way – but we’ve been mates all our life and we came together two or three years ago and said fuck it… it’s about time we started a band.
When did you guys start picking up your instruments?
I’ve been playing guitar since I was around nine, I remember being terrified of my guitar teacher who was a bit of a taskmaster: baptism of fire, but then after a couple of years I started playing myself and writing a few years later.
“We don’t really like a lot of modern music, much from say the past twenty years”
What sort of music would you describe as your influences?
A lot of older stuff, Jeff Buckley… we don’t really like a lot of modern music, much from say the past twenty years… we’re really into the blues, roots stuff, but there are bands like Tame Impala, then older motown like Otis Redding. Our bassist Will is really into reggae and dub, and he has his own reggae label.
What’s his label called?
Horus Records.
Awesome. So are you going to try and bring something off the old school ethos to new music with Palace?
I wouldn’t say that… well maybe, in the way we write the music – the guitar really is front and centre and that comes from our interest in blues music, not much sounds like that anymore so in that respect I guess yeah.
You have two EPs out so far which sounded great, do you have a full length on the way?
Yeah we do – we head to the studio in December, we just thought it felt like the right time.
And as a new band, how do you go about making a name for yourself out there?
I guess we just have to go out and write a fucking great album, have faith in the melodies-
Let the music speak for itself.
Speak for itself, yeah, exactly. And then tour, tour, tour until we’re utterly exhausted. I mean we’re lucky to have a really great label behind us, who seem more like indie people than businessmen if that makes sense, the sort of people you want to be mates with, you know?
“We’re all into soul and funk and, I don’t know how, it just works so well”
You’ve mentioned your band’s various interests; the blues, you have a bassist that’s into reggae… how do you balance those influences when it comes to working in the studio?
Well there is crossover I think; we’re all into soul and funk and, I don’t know how, it just works so well. And we’re just so lucky how it’s come together, we’re in such a good place to record right now; me, Will Rupert and Matt, we’re just a bunch of mates, and we’re in exactly the right place to do this.
Fantastic. And finally; what are you listening to right now?
A lot of Bowie. And, fuck… let me check my iPod. Oh shit yeah: Warpaint. I’d never heard of them until recently but my mate Tom introduced me to them and I’ve got a bit of a thing for one of the girls from Warpaint now… Jenny I think her name is. Fat White Family too.
Great, thanks for speaking to us, looking forward to seeing you in Nottingham next week!
Yeah man, looking forward to being there!
Liam Inscoe – Jones was speaking to Leo Wyndham from Palace, playing at Bodega on October 17th
Image: Palace via chuffmedia PR
