Next up in our ongoing Download Festival preview, we have rising Woking Hardcore band Palm Reader.
The up and coming band are set to play the Pepsi Max stage and will be showcasing their recent debut full-length; ‘Bad Weather,’ an album that twists and turns from rapid numbers to more calmer, sincere moments but consistently delivered with plenty of confidence. With such an acclaimed record and a European tour kicking off immediately after Download, the festival could be the start of a very bright future for the quintet.
We recently spoke to guitarist Andy Gillan who spoke of the band’s excitement and delivered some sound advice for festivalgoers.
Are you heading to Download? What bands are you excited to see? Let us know on our Facebook page or on Twitter.
Already Heard: Can you tell us your name and role in the band?
Andy: I’m Andy – guitarist, biggest moaner & worst cook in Palm Reader.
AH: Why should fans check you out at Download?
Andy: Despite the honour of being able to play at Download, we’re still just 5 idiots who play music and rip the piss out of each other. We are you. Just on a stage. Making noise.
AH: What can we expect from your set?
Andy: Full frontal male nudity. I jest. This is by far the biggest show we’ve ever played so we’ll be losing our shit big time.
AH: What other bands are you looking forward to seeing?
Andy: We have to scoot off to Europe soon after we play so we’ll be missing pretty much all the bands we wanted to see. Hang The Bastard will be cool to watch tho.
AH: What are your memories of previous Download Festivals?
Andy: Taking a super soaker full of vodka into download and throwing up violently while hurling abuse at Iron Maiden. Obviously they couldn’t hear me, but the guy with the mullet in front of me did. He was even less happy with the fact I chunked all over his camping chair, blanket & picnic. Had a wicked black eye to take home as a trophy…
AH: Do you have anything else you’d like to say?
If you’re going to Download:
1) Drink lots of water. If you’re well hydrated, you can drink more alcohol. But it does mean you have to piss more.
2) Pack baby wipes. No one wants to hang out with the dude who stinks of sweaty ass, B.O and suspicious sex smells…
3) Build up your throwing arm. Pissing in bottles becomes mandatory at festivals and you want to get it as far away from your tent as possible.
4) Watch the bands you don’t know. You never know, you may be surprised. I fell in love with ISIS at Download and it’s totally changed the way i look at music.
5) 9 times out of 10 the mainstage headliners suck. Fact. Save yourself the pain and misery and go party with the sick bands in the tents. Also they finish earlier so you can get back to your tent before the rush.
6) AVOID DRUGS LIKE THE FUCKING PLAGUE! I ate too many mushrooms at Reading one year & when I figured out what the fuck was going on I was standing in the middle of the pit watching Dillinger Escape Plan. Not the best place to regain your lucidity.
7) Don’t eat meat from the stalls. I’m a big meat eater but at festivals I go strictly vegetarian. Reason being, you don’t want dirty muppets touching low grade dirty meat with dirty hands and on dirty surfaces. Veggie food is cheaper and there’s less chance you’ll end up shitting yourself.
Catch Palm Reader at 13:45pm on the Pepsi Max Stage on Friday 14th June.
‘Bad Weather’ by Palm Reader is out now on Small Town Records.
Palm Reader links: Facebook|Twitter
Our full coverage of Download Festival 2013 can be found here.
Words by Sean Reid.
