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2013 was a hectic year for Woking\u2019s Palm Reader<\/strong>. Having released their debut album,\u00a0‘Bad Weather’,<\/em> last Spring to critical acclaim and then spent the rest of the year relentlessly touring, which included appearances at Download, Reading and Leeds and a whole host of other festivals, as well as shows with Devil Sold His Soul and We Came As Romans.<\/p>\n Now 12 months on, the Hardcore five-piece recently wrapped up work on album number 2 and they\u2019re once again set to hit the festival circuit. To kick the summer off, Palm Reader<\/strong> recently played the Hit The Deck Festival<\/strong>, and during the Nottingham date, Already Heard<\/strong> spoke to vocalist Josh Mckeown.<\/p>\n Mckeown discussed the band’s forthcoming LP in detail, working with producer Lewis Johns again, the advantage of playing festivals like Hit The Deck<\/strong>, and more.<\/p>\n Already Heard: It\u2019s your first time at Hit The Deck. How are you finding it?<\/strong> AH: Yeah I heard it\u2019s more spread out compared to Nottingham.<\/strong> AH: Did you see any bands yesterday?<\/strong> AH: This is the first show of the festival season and you\u2019re playing other festivals such as Sonisphere and 2000 Trees.<\/strong> AH: What are your expectations for Sonisphere?<\/strong> AH: Have you been to any festivals of that size?<\/strong> AH: So you know what to expect?<\/strong> AH: How was Download? <\/strong> AH: Out of all the festivals you\u2019re playing, which one are you looking forward to?<\/strong> AH: How do you approach a festival show compared to a normal show?<\/strong> AH: For a band like Palm Reader, how important are festivals like Hit The Deck?<\/strong> AH: Is it more important for you to introduce yourself to new fans?<\/strong> AH: I think festivals like Hit The Deck and Slam Dunk are becoming more widespread, and it\u2019s easier for bands like yourselves to introduce fans in those areas.<\/strong> AH: Of course not. I think because festivals like Hit The Deck are more intimate and more to what you\u2019re used to rather then playing Sonisphere where the stages are bigger.<\/strong> AH: Moving on to the new album, which you\u2019ve recently been recording. How did that go?<\/strong> AH: How have they gone down so far?<\/strong> AH: You worked with Lewis Johns again. How was that?<\/strong> AH: Yeah we recently ran a feature on him, and he\u2019s got a lot of knowledge on bands like yourself. I think that\u2019s important when you\u2019re working with a producer who knows what you\u2019re about as a band.<\/strong> AH: I asked him about the new album. He said you “stepped up the songwriting”.<\/em><\/strong> AH: With it being your second, do you think there is any added pressure compared to the first?<\/strong> AH: I\u2019m guessing as a band, it\u2019s better to take your time rather than rush it?<\/strong> AH: Did you write it as a collective?<\/strong> AH: How was the recording process like this time compared to \u2018Bad Weather\u2019<\/em>?<\/strong> AH: In a way you wanted to challenge yourselves?<\/strong> AH: How would you compare it to the first album?<\/strong> AH: In a way, Chapter 2?<\/strong> AH: You\u2019re not the \u201cnew band\u201d now, more people know who you are.<\/strong> AH: Is there a release date you\u2019re aiming for?<\/strong> AH: So you\u2019ve got the festival season to get people to know the new songs and get the band out there?<\/strong> AH: Is the album going to be out on Small Town again? AH: They seem to be a label that has a good knowledge of up and coming UK bands.<\/strong> AH: Anything else you want to add to finish?<\/strong> Palm Reader<\/strong> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Tumblr<\/a><\/p>\n
Josh Mckeown: Yeah it\u2019s been good. Yesterday was pretty cool. I wasn\u2019t too keen on\u00a0walking in between the venues.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, it\u2019s not a bad thing, but it\u2019s just a lot easier here.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, there were a few bands on our stage that we stuck around for. They\u2019re friends of ours and we really like what they\u2019re doing. We saw Dead Harts, Bastions, Baby Godzilla. A couple of us split up, and some of us went to see Kvelertak and Brand New. We spent a lot of time meeting up with old friends, and seeing people we haven\u2019t seen for years.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: We\u2019re doing Sonisphere. One called \u2018Kin Hell Fest in Leeds, Alt-fest, and Festivile in Sheffield. I think we\u2019re going to be getting some other little bits and pieces in that as well.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: I\u2019ve never been myself so I can\u2019t really say. I don\u2019t know what to expect really.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Well last year we played Download, Reading and Leeds, Greenfield, and Pukkelpop Pop. So I\u2019ve been to a few big festivals now.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, almost.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: It was insane. We were playing the same time as Architects. We were shitting ourselves because anyone who might watch us, will probably watch them. But then it rained so everyone came in the tent and saw us. Brilliant.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Well at \u2018Kin Hell Fest we\u2019ve got Cradle of Filth playing. So for the novelty factor, I\u2019m going to go and watch them. No interest in that band whatsoever because I think it\u2019ll be just stupid. There\u2019s all sorts. I mean at Sonisphere there\u2019s Gallows, Mastodon\u2026 I\u2019m not entirely sure what day we\u2019re playing yet, so we\u2019re waiting to hear about that, so we can find out who we can go and watch.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: They tend to be a lot more relaxed because there\u2019s not quite as much focus on one particular line-up like 5 bands. There\u2019s so many bands people want to see. It\u2019s kind of like a floating audience. You don\u2019t have to worry about them being particularly there to see your band, so it takes the tension off a little bit. I\u2019m not saying you perform any differently, it does take the tension off. I enjoy festivals quite a lot.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: It feels like those are the kind of festivals in the UK, are for the people that we play to on a regular basis. It\u2019s not by any means an enormous crowd or devoted following. It\u2019s a smaller sort of deal.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah exactly. That\u2019s the level we want to be at. We want to be able to pretty much stand in front of people, and metaphorically shake their hands and introduce ourselves.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, definitely, because there are a lot of people who can\u2019t afford the bigger festivals, or they can\u2019t get there. I don\u2019t want to focus on the size too much, because I feel like I\u2019m disrespecting the festival.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, that\u2019s fucking scary. Those festivals scare the shit out of me.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Really bloody good. I\u2019m really happy with it. We finished it 2 or 3 weeks ago. We finished all the vocals and everything. It hasn\u2019t been mixed yet, we\u2019re in the process of doing that, but it\u2019s sounding pretty big. I\u2019m really excited for people to hear it. We\u2019re playing a few new songs at Hit The Deck.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Obviously because people come down and know what to expect, it\u2019s nice to see there reaction to a song they\u2019ve literally never heard before. People seem to take a step back and go \u201cfucking hell!\u201d So its good.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Fucking brilliant. We love him to bits. He\u2019s perfect for what we want him to do, for the last album and this album. He definitely has the band’s best interest at heart.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah we\u2019re on the same wavelength both in the type of music we\u2019re playing and the way we\u2019re playing it. He\u2019s ideal. He\u2019s a good lad Lewis.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, we took a little more time in writing, recording and releasing it. We\u2019re just trying to make sure it\u2019s exactly the way we want it to be done.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Not so much in an artistic point of view. It\u2019s just the time frame is where the pressure came from. We didn\u2019t feel pressured to write anything in particular. We\u2019ve always done whatever the fuck we want. There\u2019s no point in writing songs unless you do what you want to do.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Exactly. The last album we didn\u2019t have a drummer until 2 weeks before recording it. He had to write, learn and record most of an album in 2 weeks. So this time round, we\u2019ve been playing with him as our drummer for a year, so as a band when it came to writing songs, not just playing them, you have a bit more intuition with other members.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: We lock ourselves in a room, and hit our heads together repeatedly until something musical comes up.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: It wasn’t that much different. There was little bits we wanted to focus on, like guitar tones, drum sounds or recording vocals for a particular songs. We wanted each song to sound a little bit different, so that wasn\u2019t a consistent level.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, challenge ourselves. It gets boring if you\u2019re essentially playing a different version of the same song over and over again. So we\u2019ve written as many songs that are loosely bound together, in the fact that we play them. It\u2019s difficult to say. We\u2019ve basically tried to write an album that is varied, but also as a collective, sounds the same. I\u2019m pretty confident we\u2019ve done that.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s difficult to say. The first album was a swift kick in the bollocks to say \u201cwe\u2019re here, we\u2019re Palm Reader. This is what we do.\u201d This one feels like we\u2019re standing up a little bit and going, \u201cThis is what we\u2019re really about.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, Chapter 2, quite literally. It\u2019s the second set of recordings of a period of time later than the first album.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, and if they don\u2019t, then this gives them more of an idea of what we do. It\u2019s a progression<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Josh: I think we\u2019re looking for later in the year, around October or something like that. There\u2019s a lot up in the air; artwork, album title, track names. So the finer details are quite cemented.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Like I said, we\u2019ve got the festivals I mentioned earlier, but I think we\u2019re going to be getting a couple of more tours in before the album is out. If not, we\u2019ll definitely be playing quite a lot of shows once it is out.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Josh: Yes. We love Pete. Lovely guy.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: Yeah, they\u2019re not scared of releasing a band that they honestly care about. There\u2019s varied styles, like bands you wouldn\u2019t necessary put together with us, but we don\u2019t care. We don\u2019t consider ourselves better or anything. We love them because they\u2019re fucking awesome, not because they\u2019re a \u201ccool\u201d label. We\u2019re a band of nice guys that like to deal with nice people; management, booking, labels, any of the industry shit. If you can\u2019t make friends with them, then they shouldn\u2019t be on your side.<\/em><\/p>\n
Josh: I don\u2019t know. Just listen to Palm Reader, just a little bit if you fancy it. It\u2019s pretty good fun. I like it haha.<\/em><\/p>\n