ThanksGiving

10/10/2025

ThanksGiving

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday here in Canada 🇨🇦, I know what I am going to be doing- listening to this gem LP on perpetual repeat!

PALM GHOSTS “Content Provider” released today!!

I got to meet PALM GHOSTS 🇺🇸 when they played at METEOR a couple of years ago. I immediately struck up a musical friendship with the band and we have been in regular contact ever since.

I early September I was sitting at the aces MARCH 21 CAFE with @iammiozio. Mike first introduced me to PALM GHOSTS. My phone vibrated and, coincidentally it was an email from founding member JOE LEKKAS personally informing me that the band had a new LP out 10/10! He wanted to make sure I had a crack at the limited edition pink vinyl of “Content Provider”. I received the LP this week and early listens have me very excited.

I reached out to JOE and conducted a short interview to give this great band an outlet on release day. Here we go:

JOE: Thank you sooo much! It means a lot coming from super music fan such as yourself! Answers below 👇

Q. Tell the members of this site gwilliamrexunderground365.com about the state of being of PALM GHOSTS today?

A. Sure! We are taking a bit of a break from our usual heavy tour schedule this year, but other than that, we are constantly working on new music. The muse is ever present.

Q. Okay, your latest LP, released today, “Content Providers” is brilliant. Congratulations. Did you have an over-arching theme or intent with this LP?

A. Thank you for your kind words! Yes, this record is more or less about the degrading of musicians from artists to content machines. Social media has made it easier than ever to potentially reach an audience, but at the same time has made it really hard to build something that lasts. You have to constantly be “on”. To share every small detail. I remember when artists had mystique. It somehow made their music more powerful.

Q. The first song I heard from the LP was “Last Of The Holdouts”. As I listened to the LP, the overall feel of the LP was less power pop and darker than that song to me? Can you comment?

A. Yeah, there seems to be a bit of darkness to everything we do. I think it has a lot to do with the bands I grew up listening to… Post punk, goth and industrial music. But we also aren’t afraid to add some pop. The biggest complaint I have with many of the newer bands I hear is they create a cool vibe but seem to be afraid of a good hook. We don’t shy away from a hook if it’s there. Maybe that’s where the Nashville comes into what we do.

Q. Anything you can tell us about the musical influences that impacted your songwriting and lyrical things on “Content”?

A. The musical influences haven’t changed, really. I’m an anglophile. Most of the music I love comes from the UK. Aside from the velvet underground and maybe the talking heads, I can’t think of too many US bands that I love. You can probably hear a bit of 80s post punk / new wave, 90s shoegaze and early 2000s indie rock in our sound. Ben writes 95% of the lyrics for the band. He’s always taking ideas from things he reads and watches. I mean, the song Extraordinary Talents! is about the relationship of Kim Peek and Barry Morrow. How many bands write songs about stuff like that? I can’t think of many! Haha.

[Ed. Note- “Ben” is long-time member Ben Douglas.]

Q. Can you comment on three of the songs that impacted me significantly on first listens?

“Content Providers”

Content providers is pretty much about being an older artist and struggling with navigating the world of social media. I mean, it’s hard enough to be born into the technology and have to live your life online but to remember a time before the internet and to have to deal with this stuff, man, it sucks. It’s certainly not my favorite thing to do!

“Michael, You’ve Changed”

This is loosely based on the life of Michael Hutchence. During a fight in Europe, he fell and hit his head on a curb, causing him to lose his sense of smell and taste. For a man who lived his life as a sensualist, this caused him great distress that ultimately led to a bunch of circumstances that ended his life.

“Star Children”

Star Children came from an episode of Bands Reunited on VH1 concerning the band Haircut 100 and how they were groomed to be pop darlings, which led to them having a hard time dealing with fame. It’s one of many similar stories of artists fighting an industry that cares only about money.

Q Hey. Did you appreciate that your LP title is actually a double entendre?

A. No but it’s funny if you think of it that way! Ha

Q. Finally, one last question, when are you guys getting back to Wïndsor so we can hear this brilliant LP live?

A. We’d love to come back to Windsor, we always had a great time there. Hopefully sooner than later, if you lovely neighbors to the north will still have us, we’ll be back! Haha. Thanks again for everything!

Okay, so there you go Group! Have a happy release day as you celebrate like an insider on the ground floor with this one over our Thanksgiving weekend.

Here are the three songs from the LP that I could find YouTube videos for:

“Content Provider”