Song Spotlight: The Palms' Push Off

Back in mid-May, I was asked if I wanted to cover Dope Lemon for US Rocker Music at The Novo. That sounded like a good idea so I said yes (you can read the review, which also includes thoughts on The Palms set, here). Life was / is busy. I did no research into the night other than trying to anticipate when I should leave home to get there on time. I got an email from the PR firm saying that I was a go and I was provided the set times for Dope Lemon and the opener. I glanced at the email and just mentally made a note that doors opened at 7 p.m. and Dope Lemon was on at 9:15 p.m. The opening band was mentioned, but I really didn't pay much attention to the name and only noticed that they were on at 8 p.m. 

The Palms at The Novo

When I got to the venue, it suddenly dawned on me that maybe I should see who was opening. I looked at the email again and I noticed that it said The Palms. The Palms? The inner workings of my brain started to bring up old memories. That's the band that had to change their band name. What was their original band name? I did a quick Google search to solve the mystery in quick order: Terraplane Sun. Terraplane Sun / The Palms is a band that I saw three different times between 2012 - 2017. Interestingly, all three times were at The Satellite (did not survive the 2020 venues shutdown).  

I wrote this about the first time I ran across them in 2012:

As for Terraplane Sun, they're from the Westside.  They rocked us with some blues driven rock.  I wasn't at The Satellite last week, but if I heard correctly the keyboard went out on the exact same song this week as last week.  Eerie.  This is a band that likes to mix it up with the musical instruments.  A trombone came out for a couple songs and a mandolin for perhaps half the set.

The Palms at The Novo

I ran across them again when they were playing with The Mowgli's and COYOL. Let's go down memory lane on this one. The Mowgli's are a long time favorite band of mine. The band broke up in 2018-ish, but then got back together. They recently released a song called "Change." One of the band members, Katie Jayne Earl-Hogan, is in another favorite band of mind called The Blushes. COYOL was a duo made up of John Isaac Watters and Céleigh Chapman. Both are still involved in music. I ran across Watters a couple times back in 2023. I haven't seen Chapman since the COYOL days, but I did notice she's still involved in music and unfortunately lost her home during the Altadena fires. Back to that night, while walking to my car after all was finished, I over-heard someone say the following and so I wrote it down at the time, "The music was great, but I hate those band names." Ha ha, it was a good night of music. 

Back to The Novo. While in the photo pit, I had to yell out, "Terraplane Sun!" I then apologized if that name brought up any ill feelings, but I was assured it did not. Was it inconsiderate on my part to even bring it up? I just have fond memories from years past.

The Palms at The Novo

The Johnny Zambetti-Ben Rothbard duo had to change their name due to a dispute with their record label. It was (I'm assuming) a way they could get out of the contract. The song that came out of that situation was called "Push Off." They said during their The Novo set, "We ended up writing a song to inspire us to get out of it [the contract].”

Then it's time that I speak my mind
You can't take that away - away
So are you going to use me now?
Well you're a motherfucker

The song is a plaintive reflection about the conflicts that arise between suits and creatives. It is an anthem that no doubts keeps the band focused on their ultimate goal of freely being able to express their artistic dreams on their own terms