Back With a Bang

This past August, a relatively packed Pilot Light was treated to the latest in a series of “final shows” by local indie rock colossus Royal Bangs, celebrating not only frontman Ryan Schaefer's imminent departure but also the official Knoxville release of the long-awaited We Breed Champions, the band's second proper full-length. The record, recorded by Schaefer and completed only two weeks beforehand in the run-up to their HOT DOG FEVER tour, was a fairly limited affair, self-distributed on CD-R in sewn burlap sleeves. But anyone who picked it up, or downloaded it from the band's Web site in the following months, will likely tell you the same thing: It's ingenious, brutally catchy and one of 2006's finest records, local or otherwise.

Luckily for the group, the ensuing nine-month hiatus found them at least one new fan in Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, whose Akron-based label Audio Eagle Records befriended the band on MySpace and, upon hearing the record, enthusiastically offered to release it.

“They all seem like pretty amazing dudes, which is the kind of dude we like the most,” Carney says, no less stoked two months later. “Our plan is to do everything we can to make them rich.” That includes giving We Breed Champions a loving remixing and remastering, as well as brand new art, presumably printed, cut and collated somewhere other than a Staples en route to HOT DOG FEVER's Asheville, N.C. show.

Awaiting the release of the refreshed album Audio Eagle this fall, the Bangs are busy welcoming their principal songwriter back to the States after two semesters of “cultural espionage” in Lille, France. Despite the distance, Schaefer insists the band was still effectively together: “I would work stuff out on my guitar, or make beats on my computer, just like I do here at home. Then we'd just trade ideas.”

Among those ideas are an alleged 25 songs' worth of material the band plans to pare down for use as an eventual follow-up to We Breed Champions, hopefully also released in collaboration with Audio Eagle, barring sudden fame and fortune.

“Actually, memo, guys,” announces Schaefer. “I already made the record.”

“That's cool,” shoots back bassist Jason Campbell. “While you were gone we decided we don't need you to tour.”

Before their proper follow-up, however, Royal Bangs are also at work on a limited-run covers EP for Boston-based Nokahoma Records. Though still in the planning stages, the band has already chosen, if not exactly learned, songs by the Voidoids, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen. Showing the band yet another intended cover, Schaefer insists we put on “The Emerald,” the grand finale of Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak.

“There's the line ‘overthrow the overlords,' and there's the dual leads,” he gushes. “How can we not cover this?”

The budding relationship with Nokohoma is another triumph, courtesy of MySpace.

“On one hand, you know… it's MySpace, it's silly,” says drummer Chris Rusk, who handles the band's promotion and booking in spare time not spent moonlighting in an estimated third of Knoxville's best rock bands. “But it's become an extremely valuable tool for bands… you can self-promote with a little dignity.”

“Plus I meet 70 percent of my boyfriends on MySpace,” Schaefer playfully concurs. “They buy me pagers and rings.”

Before they hit the road later this summer to promote We Breed Champions, the band is eager to return to Knoxville's stages, not only as Royal Bangs but also as a slew of variously silly side projects like Grape Wizard USA and Powersnake, with the purpose of building up funds for their tour. It all kicks off in June, with what Rusk slyly characterizes as a “last first show,” featuring recently returned up-and-comers the Diacon-Panthers and, with any luck, some new Royal Bangs material. And a lot more dual leads.

Royal Bangs w/ Diacon-Panthers
June 8 @ Pilot Light