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| Photo by Rico Moran |
Toronto's Century Palm play a unique style of Post Punk/ New Wave with scads of gusto and charisma. In a world full of people that seem to have been there and heard all of that, it takes truly exceptional group to stand out among their peers and predecessors and that's exactly what Century Palm does. Their songs shimmer with melodic vocals that are encased in cold, catchy, sometimes even quirky guitar riffs which build high atop a strong foundation of bass and drums. Swelling saxophones and kindling keyboards, which sometimes take the drivers seat, are also march in succession. This band takes elements of Devo, Gary Numan, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Joy Division and Gang of Four and melts them all together to forge a sword that cuts most of today's humdrum lifestyle music into ribbons.
Interview by J Castro
Who is
currently in the band and what does everyone do in it?
Andrew Payne writes a lot of the songs and sings them, and
plays the rhythm guitar and the Moog.
Paul Lawton plays the bass and sings and writes songs too. His songs remind us that death is approaching.
Jesse Locke plays the drums and is amazing at it.
Alex Hamlyn is lead guitar, saxophonist, and knows the most about music theory of any of us.
Penny Clark is me. I am the synth player. Allow me to tell you the story of the band.
Paul Lawton plays the bass and sings and writes songs too. His songs remind us that death is approaching.
Jesse Locke plays the drums and is amazing at it.
Alex Hamlyn is lead guitar, saxophonist, and knows the most about music theory of any of us.
Penny Clark is me. I am the synth player. Allow me to tell you the story of the band.
How did you
all meet and decide to play music together?
PENNY: I met all those guys in 2013 on my
first tour (of my life) with my other band Tough Age. They were playing
together on that tour as a conglomerate Ketamines/Zebrassieres band. Ketamines
was fronted by Paul and Zebrassieres was fronted by Andrew, so in terms of
musicians playing in the band, Century Palm is kind of the fully fused version
of that tour, plus me.
I moved to Toronto about a year ago and Paul played their
initial recordings for me and I got really excited by the songs and started
giving all kinds of commentary that was inappropriate for someone who wasn’t
actually in the band. A few months later, they were looking for a new keyboard
player and I managed to worm my way in there. We bonded by standing in a snow
storm together for three hours.
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| S/T EP released October 16th, 2014 on Planet of the Tapes |
What band or
musician first inspired you to want to pick up an instrument and learn to play
and/or write music?
PENNY: Mudhoney. Their music is so big
sounding. Music is really connected to energy for me and that band has tons of
it.
How would
you describe your band to your grandparents?
PENNY: I would describe it in this manner:
“You probably won’t like it. But you might! We’re playing pretty late. I guess
it’s like rock music, basically.”
What sorts
of things do you typically enjoy writing songs about?
PENNY: Century Palm songs are very
introspective. A lot about the inner self and that person’s experience with the
external world. With my favorite parts, I have scenes that I visualize in my
head while I’m playing them, like a beach or crickets at night. Nature stuff
like that.
I’ve heard
people say that playing and writing music is therapeutic to them. Have you ever found this to be true?
PENNY: Definitely.
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| Photo by Rico Moran |
Does it
annoy you or distract you at all to see some of your audience members fondling
their phones while you’re up on stage performing?
PENNY: Usually I look up or down and not at
the audience directly. Direct eye contact… is kind of weird if you don’t know
the person and you’re not gonna have a conversation or something. But I would
especially look away if it’s a phone-checking kind of crowd, because nothing
will take you out of the song faster than seeing people who look like they’re
totally disengaged with what you’re doing.
After one of
your shows, what sort of feeling or sentiment do you hope your audience walks
away with?
PENNY: I hope they’re happy.
What is your
favorite album to listen to from start to finish?
PENNY: Apollo Ghosts - Landmark
What’s the
best advice anyone has ever given you that you still follow to this day?
PENNY: Be nice to people. Being mean in a
“clever way” can be really fun and it is a quality that is generally pretty
celebrated in our society but it is so useless for getting anything worthwhile
accomplished. Don’t put other people down. Don’t have a power trip, be open to
the people around you.
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| Valley Cyan 7" released August 22nd, 2015 on Deranged Records |
What is the
best way people can hear and get a hold of your music?
PENNY: We have a 7” on Deranged, a 7” on
Paul’s mysterious label SCI. In the future you can hear our whole album, when
it comes out on Deranged, and another 7” when it comes out on Hozac.
We also just released a song as part of the Pentagon Black
compilations that were released in the form of a poster. Get songs and decorate
your house!
If you want to listen to Century Palm songs in a digital
manner, you can use our Bandcamp. Our tape of the first four songs is sold out
except for one copy at June Records, which as far as I know, is still there,
What lies
ahead for the band in 2016?
PENNY: Mostly recordinnnggg and a few
shows. In Toronto, we’re playing with Nap Eyes on April 7, and in Ottawa with
Tough Age, BB Cream on April 22, and with Tough Age in Toronto on April
23rd.
Be sure to
follow Century Palm on their sonic adventures on social media!
https://www.facebook.com/centurypalm
https://twitter.com/centurypalm
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