Members of Red Riders play their first ever show as PALMS

Al Grigg (vocals/guitar) and Tom Wallace (drums) have spent the last eight years blitzing stages as Red Riders. After the band's recent break-up, the pair has started a new group, Palms. Their first-ever show takes place on Thursday July 21 at FBi Social, Kings Cross.

"It's different to Red Riders in that it's less melodramatic and angsty," explains frontman Al Grigg. "My inner drama queen is taking a break, kicking back in the lounge room and drinking a cocktail with heaps of straws and umbrellas in it. I'm really tired of epic music that's trying so hard to be universal. I just wanna sing simple songs about my simple life. It's funny 'cos all the friends I've played stuff to think it sounds way more like me and the kind of music that I love: The Go-Betweens, The Shins, The Strokes, just classic guitary indie rock."

"Having said that though, it's still me and Tom and it's gonna have something in common with Red Riders purely because we're the same people. And that's how it should be, too. How could you trust us otherwise?"

Supporting Palms will be Melodie Nelson, (Lia Tsamoglou, ex-Rand & Holland, Moonmilk) who has just released her acclaimed debut album, Meditations On The Sun. Writes Inpress: "Melodie Nelson is a fascinating mix of echoing girl-group pop with a steely laziness; as if Jesus and Mary Chain produced an album for Julee Cruise."

Opening the show will be The Desks, in their first public gig in more than two years. They've previously played with The Crayon Fields, Pikelet and Guy Blackman, and racked up more than 70 songs for the 20th Project (where bands write and record a song from the scratch on the 20th of each month - other contributors include Telafonica, Lessons in Time and Brave Radar).

The bill is an all-Sydney line-up and presented by FBi's Australian music show, Local Fidelity, hosted by Lee Tran Lam, who will DJ in between sets.

Thurs July 21, 8PM
PALMS (ex-RED RIDERS)
MELODIE NELSON
THE DESKS
LEE TRAN LAM (DJing)