Palma Violets play tiny London album launch gig

To celebrate the release of ‘Danger In The Club’ (and Chilli’s birthday) Palma Violets went back to their beloved south London on Wednesday night (6th May) for an unconventional gig at an unconventional venue: The Effra Social Club, in Brixton.

The beers start flying as soon as the band step on stage, and a cloud of balloons and tinsel is poured on top of the ridiculously excited crowd shouting the lyrics of new song (and set opener) ‘Secrets Of America’.

An mixture of new and old keeps the evening interesting and the (noticeably drunk) birthday boy manages to sound as tight as ever, even when engaging with the fans in the front row.

“We’re gonna try some acoustic stuff but no one knows the chords!” says Chilli while sitting on a chair placed in the middle of the stage to play ‘Ratwayrock’, a new song not on the album, and which is tied to Sam doing a partially a cappella version of Dylan’s ‘Death Is Not The End’.

At this point a few of Splashh, watching the show from the side of the stage start frantically requesting ‘Chicken Dippers’, and of course Palma Violets oblige, raising the chaos level and singalongs to a new high.

New track ‘Danger In The Club’ sets the mood perfectly for the band’s usual finale of ’14’. And just as they’re about to leave the stage, Rough Trade / 1965 guru James Endeacott walks in with a fresh pint in his hand asking the audience to sing happy birthday to Chilli who then crowd-surfs to the back of the venue, lost between a sea of hands.