Royal Headache

NEW

BAND

OF THE WEEK

►LISTEN NOW NME.COM/ NEWMUSIC

20 Royal Headache

Aussie rockers back from the dead to make one of the albums of the year

oyou really thinkournewalbumisOK?”

DIt’snotnormalforaninterviewertoface suchscrutinyfromtheirsubject,butthen again,RoyalHeadachemainmanShogunis nonormalsinger.“I’vebeenreallyconfused aboutit,”hecontinues,talkingaboutthe Sydneyband’sforthcomingsecondrecord, ‘High’.Forwhatit’sworth,ItellhimIthinkit’s astormer,positivelydrowningingaragerock anthems.Itmightevenbemyalbumofthe year,Iadd.There’sapause.“Butthefirstone’s better,youreckon?Comeon…”

ADIYfour-piecewhostartedplaying togetherasareactiontoSydney’sdirescene attheturnofthedecade(“itwasalldance musicandreallyshittywaterypost-rock bands”),RoyalHeadache’sself-titleddebut albumisnowabonafidecultclassic,salivatedover byeverybodyfromHookwormsandSheerMagtoThe BlackKeys.Criticsandlabelrepsadoredtheband

too, taken in by tracks like ‘Girls’ and ‘Surprise’, which melded hardcore sensibilities with a breathtakingly astute songwriting nous that recalled why The Strokes were so exceptional way back when. Here, it became obvious, was a band who had the ability to turn from being brutally ferocious to beatific in the same song, while also remaining 100 per cent ‘real’. And then they went and messed it all up. “People were trying to sign us but we were just being real dissociative about it,” says Shogun. “Completely unable to deal with it. I wish we had [signed] because ▼ I’m still stuck in a shitty job. I just work in a call

ON centre. I hate it. Yeah, bollocks.” NME.COM/ Needless to say, by 2013 the band had fizzled NEWMUSIC out completely, one of music’s great lost

NOW hopes. But now, having gently regrouped over the past year and struck a deal with What’s ►Hear an Your Rupture?, they’re back. And the new exclusive album genuinely is great – brimming with band life-affirming songs that sound both worldmixtape weary (‘Wouldn’t You Know’, which in another time would have been a Northern Soul staple) andworld-beating (‘Garbage’ is the nastier twin of ‘Submission’ by the Sex Pistols). Royal Headache’s past is a headache – their future is now. ■ MATT WILKINSON ►BASED Sydney, Australia ►FOR FANS OF Parquet Courts, The Kinks ►SOCIAL royalheadache.com.au ►BUY IT NOW Album ‘High’ is out on August 21

►SEE THEM LIVE Shogun says they’re planning to get to the UK for their debut shows here in November

►BELIEVE IT OR NOT Each member of the band goes by a nickname – alongside Shogun there’s Law (guitar), Shorty (drums) and Joe (bass)