German rockers Royalist talk about latest single, “TBH”
Picture: Chris Hesse Hello Royalist, thanks for your time. Would it be possible to introduce your band to our readers, as well as your roles in it? Hey Valentine, thanks for having us. We are a band called ROYALIST, with Hamburg, Germany as our homebase. We would describe our music as neofuturistic rock, or just simply alternative synth-rock. Our members are Sam, who is our drummer and lead designer, Flomo as our bassist and producer. Nico is our guitar mastermind and social media manager and I am Ricardo, singer and the one responsible for merchandise, which we produce all by ourselves. With a worldwide pandemic going on, how have you handled the management of your band over the past few months? I don’t think any band had an awesome time over the last year, but we try to remain positive and do what we can do best, which is writing music. We have released our first 4 singles in the time of the pandemic, and it’s been hard to promote them without the live concerts. But we are more than happy with all the feedback and kind messages we received. With everything going on right now, this is what keeps us going forward. You've recently dropped your single, titled “TBH”. How was the writing process for this song? TBH is (for me personally) our best release so far and I’m so stoked how it turned out. After writing our first couple of songs, we wanted to go a step further and develop our electronic influences even more by integrating sounds and samples, that you wouldn’t normally hear on a “rock” single. That’s the beauty in music nowadays, people are open for new stuff that they haven’t heard before and I think the positive feedback for TBH speaks for itself. This single was released along with a music video. How was the shooting experience? Right! All of our music videos so far have been done with our trusted videographers “Strangeworks” and “Cruel Visions”. With the lockdown going on and everything, it was tough to create a video by respecting and following the rules. So, we made it in a way that we could pay attention to keeping distance and made it kind of our story for the video. So you have the empty city and four guys feeling lost and distant in it. Fun fact, we even got caught by the police while shooting. But since we didn’t break any rule and had a shooting permission, everything turned out well. They even wanted some stickers from us, haha. You've also recently celebrated your second band anniversary. What's the best memory you have so far? There are so many to choose from. Playing our first and only show since the start of the pandemic on the Reeperbahn Festival 2020 was a highlight. But I think for me personally, my highlight was the productive routine we have developed while writing songs in our own studio. We are producing everything all by ourselves and getting better and better as a band and as producers was really something I have been proud of. Spending our weekends in the studio really is like holiday for me, regardless of all the work we put in our songs. I’m sure you are, like a lot of people, missing live shows. Do you already have some dates planned for 2021? Yes, we have! Our dear friends in DIE HAPPY have asked us to join them on two of their live tours and we obviously said yes. If everything goes as planned, they will take place between October and December 2021. Would be awesome to see some of you people there! To finish, what is one lesson you’ve learned that you think is important to pass onto other bands? That’s a tough one. I guess the most important thing, regardless if you are in a band or not, is not giving up, even in times like these. Help each other out and don’t be a d*ck. Other bands are not your opponents, so work together and rise together. You’re always stronger as a team. Thanks a lot for the interview! Thanks for your time!
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