Royal Teeth‘s debut full length album, Glow won’t be released until August 13th, but that hasn’t slowed them down one bit this year, as they have been touring nearly non-stop promoting their music. This indie-pop band from Louisiana has a high energy set, catchy lyrics, and music that gets you up on your feet. Their second trip to Seattle found them headlining Ballard’s Tractor Tavern on June 27th. Supporting this tour were the Colourist, who will open for Fitz & the Tantrums on August 9th at Showbox SoDo, and American Authors. Royal Teeth will make their third trip back to Seattle this Saturday, as part of 107.7 The End’s Summer Camp.
The song “Tonight You’re Perfect” starts off New Politics’ second album, A Bad Girl in Harlem, and it’s apt for this band to talk about perfection. The trio, Danes David Boyd and Søren Hansen plus New Yorker Louis Vecchio, have a solid work ethic beneath their virile music and live shows. This work ethic, married to songwriting chops, brought the two Danes (with then drummer Poul Amaliel) to New York specifically for a recording contract given to them before they even moved to the city. New Politics’ debut, released in 2010, contained a wild set of punk-rock-pop songs – ones that carried very well a bit of rap, melodic screaming and lots of guitars. With this year’s a Bad Girl in Harlem, New Politics haven’t diverged much from this rad sound. There might be a little more polish, but is that necessarily bad? Both albums are two of my favorite albums ever, and for a live show you’re in for something special. I’ve seen three of New Politics’ Seattle dates and can attest to excellent show viewing.
New Politics
I talked with the band before their opening set for Fall Out Boy in June, and saw how seriously (rightly so) they take what they’re doing, and still they’re having fun. Vecchio joined the band after Amaliel left, and has experienced much of the band’s evolution: “From being the band that we were last tour and to the band we are now, just from being on the road with the bigger acts we’ve been out with, we have all learned a lot. It’s been a giant growth phase.” Having Vechhio join the band was an immediate decision. “We clicked instantly. We have similar energy,” said Boyd. The reaction to A Bad Girl in Harlem has been, Hansen mentioned, “so positive,” and that’s good news, as Boyd reflected “ We put ourselves on the front line. We’re ourselves.”
They play hard, as in they play instruments and perform hard. Recently Hansen’s guitar neck broke off and needed some surgery: “It’s got a whole new neck. I knew it would happen. I have pictures of the actual damage, so it was inevitable.” Plus he got another, new guitar.
Broken guitar – photo courtesy of New Politcs
Drummer Vecchio ends up with “a lot of blood on the drums.” This is something Boyd didn’t realize initially. “I told him to wear white last week because it looks good.” You can guess how those white clothes looked after the show. Boyd, who splits frontman duties with Hansen, has some serious dance moves and the ability to stand on his head. As vocalists, both Boyd and Hansen admit that singing did not come naturally for them. Hansen, a pianist, stressed, “I could not hit a note whatsoever when I started singing. I traded my piano for a soundcart and started recording myself.” Boyd added: “I still don’t know if I can sing. This comes from the bottom of my heart. I’m really grateful for this opportunity. I’m learning and gotten better – but it’s a bit of a new thing for me. I hope I’ll get better.” “Your voice is really good,” Hansen told Boyd, “Take someone like Mick Jagger – he’s got such character. I think that’s the main thing. It’s all opinion.”
Really they are an entertaining live band. As a live act, it made sense when Hansen explained, “When you play songs live, you have to get in a comfortable area of playing that song. You’re also reinventing them.” This reinvention has always been tremendous.
The day of the Fall Out Boy Seattle show the band met up with Pat Monahan from Train to work on a podcast. Boyd explained, “They’re on the same management as us and we did an interview podcast with him. It’s not out yet, but it’s something he’s working on.” Boyd added, “He’s such a nice guy –and very inspiring and wise.” Recently the band also got to appear on Loveline with Dr. Drew, who Hansen said was “really chill,” and Boyd found it “inspiring.” Plus Boyd pointed out, “There’s no ice with him. He’s been doing this for thirty years – he knows his shit. He could narrow down a subject and knew what string of questions to ask to get to the core. We were doing our best to answer the questions well. We stayed there for the whole show. When you get to hear other people’s points of view you realize that you’re not much different.”
As we wrapped up our talk, and after seeing the cool, and numerous tattoos Vecchio has on his arms – many are Dr. Seuss characters – I asked Boyd and Hansen if they had any tattoos. They did not at the time, and Hansen said, “If the single charts at number 5 here, I’m getting my first tattoo. I’m going to get our stripes.” The single hit 4. Expect a new tattoo.
Back on June 1st, English Sub Pop-signed band Foals headlined the Neptune with support from Surfer Blood and Blondfire. After a three-year recording break, Foals released Holy Fire in early 2013. If you want to catch openers Surfer Blood again, this Saturday, August 10th they appear at the End’s Summer Camp in Redmond.
Photos from Simon Krane below include Foals’ Yannis Philippakis climbing the Neptune’s balcony. Go Yannis!
Watershed Festival at The Gorge was another huge success for the faithful from all over the Western United States and Western Canada. The festival sold out again, with Toby Keith, Kip Moore, Blackberry Smoke and the rest, who rocked the house for 3 days. The crowd ate it up, and fans flooded Central Washington to see some of the biggest stars in country music. They were not disappointed.
There were more American flags and American flag outfits than I had seen in a very long time. It has to be said that country music fans are by definition a patriotic bunch and they are not shy about it. Speaking with the crowd, they expressed loudly their approval of the show and they all said that it was one of the best shows they had ever seen.
Let me count the ways I love New Politics: their music is fantastic, their live shows are amazing, they’re an interesting trio of guys. . . they’re all handsome. What makes them one of my favorite groups though is primarily the music. That’s the stuff I learned about them first, the stuff that I turn to whenever I want to – and listen to loud. Next week I’ll have my interview with the band here on Back Beat Seattle. First let’s feast our eyes on photos I took of their recent opening set for Fall Out Boy, and then keep in mind you’ll have your shot at seeing New Politics when they play the End Summer Camp on August 10th.
