The Royal Bangs Return Home

© Lizzie Rice

The Royal Bangs.

The Royal Bangs make high-energy pop that melds together the best of 80s hooks with the frenetic fuzz of garage rock. Formed in 2005, the quintet was preparing to disband when the drummer of the Black Keys, Patrick Carney, heard them on MySpace, fell in love with their sound, and offered to publish their albums through his label. The Royal Bang's sophomore effort, We Breed Champions, elevated the band out of the local scene in Knoxville, Tennessee, and their latest album, Let It Beep, brought the Bangs to a world-wide audience. I recently sat down with drummer Chris Rusk to discuss the band's storied rise.

Tell me the story of Royal Bangs. How did the current lineup come together?

Ryan, Sam and I met in high school in Knoxville, TN.  Ryan introduced me to Pavement.  Ryan and I then started playing together in my parent’s basement.  Sam moved to Knoxville from Portland, Oregon and started going to our high school after this.  He started playing guitar with us later.  Brandon Biondo and Henry Gibson joined after We Breed Champions was made, and we knew them from playing shows around Knoxville.

How have you been involved with the Black Keys? How have they affected the trajectory of the band?

Pat Carney, the drummer from Black Keys, heard our music on MySpace and messaged us, saying that he really dug it and asked if he could put it out We Breed Champions on his label, Audio Eagle Records.  At the time, Ryan was studying in France, and we didn’t really plan on doing much with the band anymore, but I guess it seemed like a good reason to keep it going.  So we did.  Also, Pat funded the recording of [2009 album] Let It Beep, and we did it in his studio. We also went on tour with Black for a week and a half last year.

If you had to, what bands would you compare yourself to?

I wouldn’t compare us to other bands, but I think its probably easy to tell we are influenced by Pavement, The Boss (that’s Bruce Springsteen, if you didn’t know), cool noises, classic rock, and cool drum beats.

What’s your favorite track on the album?

My favorite track on We Breed Champions is "Handcuff Killa" because its awesome, and my favorite track on Let It Beep is "Tiny Prince Of Keytar" because Ryan’s sangin' is so pretty.

What are your top five most-listened-to bands of the moment?

Dirty Projectors, The Nerves, Slayer, Blk Jks, and Mas Y Mas.

How do you feel about copyright issues, particularly the proliferation of illegal downloads? How do you think the music industry will change in the next 5 or 10 years.

It's cool that people can find out about us this way, but it kind of sucks that you can never know how many people listen to your music like you could when people actually bought music. I mean, some people still buy music.  But not as many.  The way the music industry will change in the next 5 or 10 years…they won’t exist anymore.