Palladium was formed by four session players bored of session work with famous, but apparently deeply untalented musicians, although they are coy over who they mean. They've draped themselves in pseudonyms, but singer/bassist Peter Pepper did work with Amy Winehouse, and they played their first gig together under the moniker The Peppernotes, at a Caribbean Restaurant while dressed as Peter Pan in drag. Since then they changed their name to Palladium and played alongside Alphabeat, Mika, The Thrills and The Kooks. They played a ludicrous brand of full-throttle yacht rock which found itself a cult following in London, and their live gigs were hilarious, theatrical and stirring. With their odd names (Peter Pepper, Rocky Morris, Rufio Sandilands, The Fez), peculiar dress sense (golf visors and waistcoats) and a sound that incorporated Prince, Steely Dan, Todd Rundgren, Go West, Chaka Khan, and the Police, Palladium were always going to be a difficult sell. Music makes most sense to people when pigeonholed, but here was a band caught between rock and a pop place – too silly for earnest indie rockers to admit to enjoying them, too individualistic for the mainstream pop world to understand. Then again, as might be gathered from a band fronted by a guy in PVC trousers and hippy beads, fitting in wasn't really Palladium's thing. Their anthemic choruses and stadium-sized riffs might have mined the guilty pleasures trove, but their love of their influences was refreshingly genuine.
They signed a deal with Virgin Records, and released their debut single, 'Happy Hour' in July 2007, and they recorded their debut album later that year, with everything on 'The Way It's Not' being pushed to the max, and performed with unabashed glee. The band members' previous jobs as young session musicians meant they could really play, and you can hear it on the album. 'Midnight Service' gallops along atop a riff as muscular as the one on Pink Floyd's 'Money', while 'Miracles' features tumbling drums and a fist-pumpingly optimistic chorus, and 'Get It Right' is based around one of the giddiest keyboard riffs you'll ever hear. Despite this ringing endorsement from the Guardian music critic, problems with Virgin led to the release date of the album in 2008 being cancelled, and it remains unreleased to this day. One criticism Palladium faced was that they were some kind of ironic in-joke, and it was hard to argue convincingly against this, because part of the appeal was that they were funny and entertaining to watch. They did pull ridiculous rock poses on stage, but that wasn't the main appeal, and the strength of the song-writing and the sheer joy with which they play blows those doubts away. If you like any of the bands named as influences, then it would certainly be worth your while giving this album a listen.
Track listing
01 Happy Hour
02 High 5
03 White Lady
04 The Way It's Not
05 Somebody, Somewhere, Somehow (feat. Michael McDonald)
06 Midnight Service
07 Miracles
08 Greatest Dancer
09 Get It Right
10 Little Boy Blue
11 Swings And Roundabouts
12 Anna Marie
