Guitarist Sam Stratton has come a long way since joining Royal Bangs, an indie rock three-piece from Knoxville, Tennessee. More specifically, he’s gone a long way – all over the world, in fact. The band has had three albums, as many labels, and more than a little good fortune along the way. We tracked down guitarist Sam Stratton between European shows for a little insight into how this American Rock Band have gone from intimateclub shows to international tours.
Royal Bangs’ first album came out on independent label Audio Eagle Records. Home to only a handful of bands – most of them from Ohio – its claim to fame is that it was founded by Patrick Carney of The Black Keys. Carney signed Royal Bangs after hearing them on the now antiquated, and largely abandoned, MySpace. I ask Stratton if Carney really found the band online? “Yes, he contacted us through MySpace. We sent our album to Audio Eagle because Houseguest, another band on the label, had played in Knoxville. It’s strange to think that something that is so outmoded now has played such a relevant part in this band’s life.”
Stratton says he thinks the main reason Audio Eagle Records is no more is that “Pat was busy kickin’ ass in The Black Keys. He’s a hard worker and a good friend of ours, but it’s hard to be the overseer when you’re overseas. He helped us in a huge way and still continues to give us advice. Patrick, like us, wanted the band to get bigger. He’s the one who suggested Glassnote.”
Glassnote Records, home to Mumford & Sons, Two Door Cinema Club, and the solo efforts of Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke, released Royal Bangs’ third album, Flux Outside (reviewed in Muse – Jun/Jul ’11 Edition), in March. Their second album was released by German label City Slang, which also released the bands’ debut in Europe the year after its launch.
City Slang specialises in distributing North American bands in Europe, including the likes of Arcade Fire, Calexico, SA’s own Dear Reader, Nada Surf and The Notwist. It seemed a great fit for Royal Bangs’ sound and ethos, so I ask Stratton how the label ended up picking up Royal Bangs’ debut for the European market. “We’d driven up to NYC to play a showcase at the Cake Shop during CMJ. It was really wild – everyone was trapped in this cramped, drunk basement by a major downpour. I think it was the first show our fourth, and last, bassist played with us too. The owner of City Slang was there and really liked it and offered us a deal.”
Arguably, despite having a smaller stable of artists, Glassnote is even better suited to Royal Bangs’ sound. I ask Stratton what prompted the band’s decision to sign with them? “They came highly recommended, they were small, they were experienced, and they were genuinely sincere about giving us creative control over our music,” he explains. “I’m sure that it was the best decision we’ve made. The team is amazing and the president, Daniel Glass, is a great human being.”
One of the peculiar perks of being a band that’s doing well is that your idols suddenly become peers. I wonder aloud if any of Stratton’s musical idols proved to be somehow disappointing in person. “No, not yet. Soon. All the successful musicians we’ve met have been painfully decent, so it’s been a little frustrating. We haven’t given up hope though,” he laughs.
Royal Bangs’ most recent release was produced by Dave Fridmann, a former member of Mercury Rev and producer for all of their albums and all but one of the Flaming Lips’ releases. Fridmann has worked with legendary independent artists like MGMT, Low, Sparklehorse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and many others. I’m curious as to whether Fridmann asked to work with the band or vice versa. “We definitely asked to work with him. He’s been one of our heroes since high school. He was brilliant and very comfortable to work with. We’d love to work with him again.”
I ask Stratton if he thinks audiences for live music are decreasing, increasing, or neither? “It’s hard for me to get a good perspective on it. The audiences at our shows are getting larger and when we’re home the audiences at local shows seem to have doubled in size. There are more festivals than there used to be. I want to believe that more people are going out to shows.”With the current culture of iTunes singles and piracy debate I’m curious as to whether the Royal Bangs think it more prudent to focus on singles or albums… “It’s always more important to focus on albums,” says Stratton seriously.
We talk about the stresses of touring, but Stratton downplays the pressures of seeing his band mates almost every waking moment. “It’s not hard. We’ve been friends for so long and we know each other way too well.” This intimacy seems to carry over to the bands’ performances – polished but constantly reworking and fine-tuning. Stratton suggests that it carries over to the songwriting too. He says the band generally writes the music collectively, with vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Schaefer writing all the lyrics.Flux Outside is certainly Royal Bangs’ most successful album to date. I ask Stratton what the benefits are, if any, of having a few albums beneath one’s belt before achieving a major breakthrough, as opposed to sudden and early success?
“I don’t know, we never had sudden and early success”, he laughs. “It seems like it would have been awesome, but I can’t say that I’d change anything we’ve done. Things are going well at the moment, but we are thinking about what’s next.”
Next? “I hope we can do one album per year and we are putting out some remixes soon.” Stratton says the band just wants to keep touring, keep reaching more listeners, and keep pushing themselves as musicians.Finally, before letting the guitarist get ready for the evening’s show, I ask him which single band he would choose to listen to for the rest of his life if forced to. I’m pleasantly surprised when, contrary to my classic or psychedelic rock expectations, he simply says: “Sly & the Family Stone”.Perhaps in honour of the favour the service indirectly did the band in its early days its MySpace is still going – complete with the novel genre description of “Japanese classic music/ showtunes/western swing”. Make no mistake, Royal Bangs rock, however you choose to describe it. I think it’s safe to say we’ll be hearing a lot more of them in years to come. I, for one, am delighted.
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