The Royal Heist - Interview

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I recently had the chance to interview The Royal Heist. Click above to check it out. Fun read!

Your album Midnight In The Garden Of Evil just came out. Can you tell me a little about the recording process of the album and why you chose to title it Midnight in the garden of Evil?
Well, we recorded the album at Sunset Sound, which was quite amazing in itself. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to record an album in the same studio as legends such as The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Prince, just to name a few. To record and create in such a environment really made the recording process special for us!
The Recording Process itself was very quick, the majority of the time we spent on the album was in pre-production. We took a lot of time writing the songs, then we would demo them, then we would get together with Mykul Lee (executive producer) and really dissect and re-structure the songs until we were happy with a final version.
As far as the album title goes, apart from being a line from the 7th track on the album, we felt it tied together all of the subject matter of the songs. The album touches on a lot of different issues, sex, drugs, lies, even love, but all reference real life situations, whether our own, or others we have observed. Midnight in the Garden of Evil is about decisions people make in their lives, and the consequences of those situations.

You worked with Mykul Lee and max Coane on the new album. Can you tell me how that cam about and what the experience was like?
We have been great friends with Mykul Lee and Oh No Not Stereo for a long-time now. We have shared many tour vans and many bottles of whiskey together! When it came time for The Royal Heist to start recording a record, Mykul Lee was the man who made that happen. Mykul had worked with Max on Oh No Not Stereo latest record 003, and Mykul introduced Max to us, all along intending for him to engineer our record. Once all the pre-production was done, we went in to the studio and the rest is history. Working with Mykul Lee and Max Coane on this record was more than we could have asked for, both of them helped tremendously in all aspects of making this record!

When I listen to the music it all sounds really well put together but something about the way the bass works with the vocals adds something extra to the music. How did you guys go about defining our sound and what are some of your biggest influences?
When we started the band we were all switching instruments in a way, Collin was a drummer now singing, Everett was a guitar player now playing bass, Our old guitar player had never played guitar before, and Charlie had never played that style of drumming before. So needless to say we were pretty rough around the edges, but the change of positions in the band helped to create the unique sound we have created over the years. The bass is always prominent and driving and locked in with the drums, with riff driven indie style guitar work.
We all have different influences as musicians, coming from very different musical backgrounds. We feel that the diversity of our musical interested helps us to create a unique style of music. When it came to aiming at a style we really found comfort in bands like Bloc Party, and Arctic Monkeys, who seemed to have that high energy 4 on the floor style of music that we were also creating. Though we really like to think we don’t sound anything like the bands people compare us to, and have the ability to stand alone.

The music business has been drowned in bands over the last few years. As artists how do you stay ahead of the pack and find a away to create something original enough to draw fans to your band?
We feel that the trick to creating something original, is to make sure not to be influenced by anything other than the sounds of your own music. If you create based on the music of others than you will always lack originality. Though a smart artist must know the marketplace, as well as who is achieving success, you can never let that influence the decisions you make creatively, this is the downfall of the average band!

Who are you guys currently listening to that are up and coming that people should check out?
If you have not already, you most definitely need to check out Oh No Not Stereo, also we love a North Hollywood local band called Murph and The Blackouts, also check out The Photo Atlas, and The Epilogues, both Denver bands who you will be hearing about soon!

What are the plans with the album just dropping as far as music video and tours?
We just toured in March, to Austin for SXSW and back. Now we are concentrating on playing Los Angeles in support of the record for the next couple months, most likely hitting the road again at the end of the summer! We have some video shoots lined up, so keep an eye out for those.

You guys are unsigned which seems to be a going trend with a lot of bands these days with the record industry kind of failing artists and 360 deals taking money out of their pockets. Why did you guys decide to release the album and would you consider signing to a label?
Well were a band, and releasing albums is what bands do, with or without label representation. As far as signing with a label, of course we would consider it, who wouldn’t consider the idea? But without specifics it’s impossible to say what we would do in a label signing situation.

I guess that wraps it up. Do you guys have any closing comments?
Thanks for taking the time to pick our brain, and thanks to anyone who took the time to read this interview. Our album is available on I-tunes, and amazon.com. For more info on The Royal Heist , check us out at www.theroyalheistmusic.com . Thanks for your support!
The Royal Heist