Palaye Royale plus support from Starbenders

To say we were looking forward to seeing this gig tonight at KK’s would be a massive understatement to say the least. First up we have Starbenders, from Atlanta, and we have only come across this excellent band very recently over the last few weeks after finding out they were supporting label mates Palaye Royale. With only two albums and lots of singles we are very impressed with what we have heard and they have some excellent videos on YouTube. Even with the cramped room for them to play on stage due to Palaye’s large staging they didn’t hold back, and had the reception from a packed KK’s they deserved with sometimes raw vocals and an underlining melodies to their songs. We expect bigger things for this really good band and suspect when unleashed on a larger stage, they will put on a great show.

As mentioned before, coming across this “Fashion Art Band” as they like to call themselves, only in the last couple of months, they are one of the most exciting bands we have come across, and that is just based on recorded material and some fantastic, very stylish videos. Having started coming to prominence in 2017-18 and winning Best Breakthrough Band at the Rock Sound Awards, and just building up a head of steam, then bang, Covid put the brakes on. But they now seem to be back on track to where they should be, the top! Citing The Rolling Stones, The Faces, Small Faces, The Doors, Bowie, and Velvet Underground as big influences, you can see that in the way they dress that these lads don’t just act like rock stars, they live like stars.

Kicking off with ‘Nightmares’, it was clear we were in for a for a fantastic night. And by the second number, guitarist brother Sebastion – by the way one of the three brothers was already in the pit and on the barrier with fans, this was shaping up to be a spectacular gig – and vocalist brother Remington, quickly discarding his cool looking schoolboy jacket, soon after with his tattooed body soaking wet with sweat, running around and never stopping. Pouring all his energy into the performance, and what a performance. By song six, he was on a blow-up dinghy, crowd surfing! On the way, climbing up a girder and hanging on the very high beams, then dropping back into the dinghy, back to the stage, wow! But drummer brother, Emerson, wasn’t going to be left out. When organising a mosh pit in the middle, before promptly joining it. There weren’t many quiet times during the night, except for the occasional visit to the piano, especially for the beautiful ‘Oblivion’, from latest 2022 album ‘Fever Dream’. As they left the stage, the audience were quick to encourage the band back on, and with two encore numbers, finishing with the title track, it was over, leaving a packed KK’s stunned at what they had seen.

These sort of gigs don’t happen every week, the songs, delivery, the performance, and the energy was off the scale. This is a band who should be playing much, much larger venues, even arenas they are that good. What bodes well for them is the crowd tonight was made up of not just younger people, there was a good percentage of the more mature variety. All we can say is please, please return as soon as you can, unbelievable.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe