PALMAS
On first listen, Philadelphia based indie rockers PALMAS take you back through time, straight to the stage of a 1950s tiki dive bar. It’s a place where locals and outsiders find themselves dancing close under glittering lights, surrounded by a fog of slow-swirling cigarette smoke. Here, women in thick cat eyeliner melt into mysteriously dark silhouettes.
When beats stop and eyes open, the band (Eric Camarota - Bass, Matthew Young - Guitar, Adam Cantiello - Guitar, Kurt Cain - Vocals/Organs, and Pat Degan - Drums) are no longer performing for a sea of one-night lovers somewhere in the past. Instead, they're here, on a beach with good friends and guitars, drinking cheap Mexican beer around a bonfire.
Palmas' music has already captivated fans and critics alike. They’ve been playing sold-out shows for over a year and have been featured in publications such as NYLON, Noisey, and Daily Music Insider, all before officially releasing any music.
Rehearsing in an off-season haunted house allows their surf-tinged tracks to come injected with an aura of fake blood, skulls, and zombies. PALMAS ride an eerily addicting line between sunny days and unnervingly dark nights. On tracks like “Stay Away,” the band evokes proof of their 1950s influence with reverberated guitar leads reminiscent of Nancy Sinatra or the opening of an original James Bond film. Their single “Ride the Wave," however, brings you back to a sun-soaked beach party of the present where you can hear distant echoes of Temples, Best Coast, and The Growlers.
Perhaps the key to PALMAS’ balance of colorful surf-y leads and heart-wrenching nostalgia lies at the foot of their merch table. You’ll find it littered with old postcards bordered by twinkling lights. If you stare at one of those slowly fading, bent and twisted, “Hello from Florida” novelties long enough, you might get to follow PALMAS on their trip from a seemingly normal beach day to a smoke drenched dance floor that’s lost in time.
In addition to premiering their music video for "Stay Away" via Noisey/Vice, PALMAS has recently announced their freshly signed deal with NYC label Lost Colony Music to release an A/B side “Stay Away”/“You Were My Girl” with an EP to follow in November.