INTERVIEW: Andy Gillan – Palm Reader

It has been three years since their last release but hardcore outfit PALM READER are back with a bang due to unleash their latest bout of sonic fury in the form of new album Braille which is to be released on April 6 via Silent Cult Records. We caught up with guitarist Andy Gillan to get the low down on what we can expect from this effort and what plans they have in store for the remainder of the year.

PALM READER are due to release your third album Braille on April 6th, how do you feel the band has progressed since Beside The Ones We Love?

Andy: We’ve kind of moved forward quite a lot musicians and songwriters. We just wanted to try new avenues so to speak, try venturing down new musical routes to see what happens! We didn’t want to release a third album in the same vain.

What was the inspiration for the album title? Did you have a concept in mind whilst writing?

Andy: Kind of. I was toying about with the idea for it before we started writing. It was more for the artwork and everything to begin with but as we progressed with the writing and Josh’s lyrical themes started fitting in with it without mentioning my thoughts for the title to anyone else for quite a while. It’s kind of like feeling your own way through… With this new record we aren’t particularly well versed in this kind of thing so it ties in quite nicely.

How do you approach the writing process, do you all pitch in?

Andy: It’s mostly me, the last one we wrote all together in two weeks but I write a load of music on my computer and go through it with Dan, our drummer. When we have rehearsals we then start to separate the crap from the shit! We ended up with over 30 songs but most of them didn’t even get to the stage of adding vocals on. A third of those didn’t make the cut in the first round. Some we used for spare parts.

Were there any ideas which you were hesitant to get rid of or was it quite a straight forward process?

Andy: We got rid of one two weeks before studio! It had all the lyrics and everything. We listened back to it and weren’t as happy as we were with the rest.. it might surface another day but yeah we let go of it really late in the game.

PALM READER’s sound is very expansive and ever evolving. Are there any specific factors that influence your writing style?

Andy: Just whatever we listen to really, I’ve been listening to a lot of ambient progressive stuff like Tony Anderson and Richard Skelton… and a lot of BJORK because I’m weird like that! I guess the way I write guitar parts progresses at the same rate as my personal music taste like if I’m listening to a lot of aggressive stuff I’ll write heavier riffs.

You have continued your relationship with Lewis Johns but did you approach anything differently this time round?

Andy: This time round we’ve had a lot of opportunities to do some demo’ing beforehand whereas last time we basically just turned up with a record. He has been in the background for at least like a year before we recorded it and would be like ‘yeah, that’s cool, that’s definitely shit, that’s brilliant’ offering advice on what we could try with the likes of song writing and types of production. He’s a really good dude, we trust him implicitly. I hate using this phrase but he is like the sixth member when we go into the studio and being completely impartial with give us an outside point of view. He is in a better position than we are to comment as we’ve heard the songs like 50,000 times and we are quite numb to how the overall picture looks, fussing over details.

You have given us a taste with the first single Swarm which was premiered on the Radio One Rock Show, how has the response been?

Andy: Really good! The video has had more views than any of the others and it’s only been out a month so quite positive!

How have you found working with Silent Cult Records so far?

Andy: They’re just wonderful people. Really nice to work with and it’s been plain sailing so far. Obviously the album isn’t out yet so it’s early days but they’ve been a joy to work with.

PALM READER are due to hit the road with ROLO TOMASSI this month, what can the fans expect if they attend one of your shows?

Andy: More new songs! We’re debuting a lot of new material. Probably about half of our set. It’s going to be our first tour of the mainland for well over a year so we’re really looking forward to it. If it was our headlining tour we would do something special but this tour belongs to ROLO TOMASSI so we’ll try not to show them up too badly!

PALM READER have already toured with some pretty high profile bands in your career but what would your dream lineup be?

Andy: We would love to play with loads of bands that have already split up! Botch or The Chariot! I’d love to play with Isis, that would be wicked.

What can we expect from PALM READER for the remainder of 2018?

Andy: We have a few festivals. Grinagog and Teddy Rocks. We have some in the pipeline but we are waiting for the announcements.. so there are more heading your way!

Thank you very much for your time Andy, just one more question; is there anything you would like to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Andy: Buy our record please! It’s really good. Definitely the best one we’ve done and the most ambitious. Be nice to your mothers!

Braille is due for release on April 6th via Silent Cult Records.

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