Published: June 9, 2009 2:33 AM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight June 2009 Edition
The Royal Greens
The Royal Greens
When you are listening to The Royal Greens, fans are treated to some good old southern rock music that has meaning and full of energy. What makes the band especially appealing is their ability to tell colorful stories through their music. In this recent spotlight with several members of the band, we get to know more about The Royal Greens in this super cool spotlight.
The Royal Greens:
Sam Fochtman- Guitars, Vocals
Matt Stump- Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Zach Bishop- Drums, Percussion
Matt Browning- Guitars, Bass, Vocals
Isaac: How do you sum up 2008 for The Royal Greens?
Matt: 2008 was our beginning. Our first real performance as a band was in May of 2008. We were able to set goals and meet them throughout the year. Those goal included recording and releasing our first album on our own. 2008 was a good year, 2009 is going to be better.
Isaac: Describe the music scene in Fincastle, Virginia.
Matt: There really isn't a music scene in Fincastle, Virginia; there isn't much of anything in Fincastle. The closest town with a music scene is Roanoke, Virginia. There is a revival of sorts going on in Roanoke. For years, the town was overrun by cover bands, with those cover bands came venue/bar owners and fans, who only had love for cover bands. Times they are a changing, and we enjoy being a part of it all.
Isaac: So far, what has been the biggest reward that the band has received in 2009?
Matt: We've received no rewards of the tangible type. Producing and recording our own album and then seeing our work's reception from guest musicians, mixing and mastering engineers as well as fans has been a great reward in itself.
Matt: Playing our own music in places we've never been before, and getting a great reception from people we've never met before is probably the biggest reward we could ever get.
Isaac: How did the band form originally?
Matt: Matt Browning had a gig playing original songs for tips and beer money at a local bar. Sam Fochtman, a great song crafter himself, had just moved back to the area from Richmond, VA and Matt invited him to "come out and play sometime." Sam had been jamming with his cousin, Zach Bishop. A couple weeks and cases of beer later there was a three piece band, of sorts. Matt Stump, a friend of Zach and Sam had a home recording studio and come to find was an outstanding guitarist and songwriter. The rest was just a lot more cases of beer and practice.
Isaac: Elaborate a little about the concept behind The Royal Greens.
Matt: Matt and Sam met back in 2004 via similar taste in music and their bands becoming friends via MySpace. They had both been writing acoustic alt. country songs (for lack of a better term to describe them) and found that they grew up less than 20 miles from each other.
Matt and Sam had the initial idea to get a band together and play a different type of electrified music. Take things they had heard growing up in the Appalachian Mountains and blend them with a little bit of everything else that had ever made it way into their heads. The initial ideas for the songs were okay, but it took the addition of Zach and Matt Stump to actually make them work. Zach Bishop came into the mix holding down the beats and pushing the songs even further into the rock realm. With Matt Stump came a whole other perspective on songwriting, one part John Fogerty, one part Rich Robinson, one part Pearl Jam, and a couple other parts that we don't know where they came from.
Isaac: This question is for Zach. Elaborate a little about whom were your biggest influences as far as drums in the music industry?
Zach: Many drummers have influenced the way I think about drumming as a whole, and also how I choose to play. I mostly grew up listening to heavier music and paying attention to the drummers playing those styles. I often try and bring a heavy sound to a lighter song, hopefully making it more dynamic in parts. Many times I'll try to play something like Brad Wilk (RATM) would play, not too intricate, but solid and fits a groove well. Or other times just play really heavy like Abe Cunningham (Deftones) to finish out a rock song. With the backgrounds of the other musicians in the band, I feel as though we have a melting pot of genres that blend nicely to make quite a unique sound. I try not to force a beat into a song; I try to listen to what would sound good with that particular song and go from there.
Some of my favorite modern drummers include INPO; Kristofer Steen (Refused), Danny Carey (Tool), Patrick Hallahan (MMJ), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) Matthew McDonough (Mudvayne), Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam), Josh Freese (APC.
Isaac: How would you describe your music to others?
Matt: This is a hard question, and one we get to try to answer at least 20 times a weekend. We normally look at each other in bewilderment, and then look around the room, each hoping that the other will step in and answer the question.
We normally call it rock music; we sometimes elaborate a little and call it southern rock music. However, we have to watch that term, you will never see us with a Confederate flag backdrop, and although "Freebird" hails from the audience at every show we play, we do not and will not play Freebird.
We've heard comparisons to newer bands such as The Black Keys, My Morning Jacket, and Kings of Leon. As well as comparisons to Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Allman Brothers Band, and a general comparison to "music of a classic, bygone era."
Isaac: What is your definition for Rock Music?
Matt: Rock music has to have soul, emotion, and is a direct derivative of blues music. Electricity doesn't hurt the mixture, but is not required for all "rock" situations. Once you put those things into it can take any shape thereafter. Rock music has so many genres these days, we would like it better if it wasn't so segregated and people took their own opinions away from one big life changing thing called rock 'n' roll.
Isaac: What has been the inspiration behind your music?
Matt: Each of the songwriters came to the band with an idea and inspiration behind their music; we then work to make the songs collectively ours as a band. Matt Browning states his inspiration is trying to tell a story through song that at least sounds true to the listeners. Matt Stump says his inspiration is the music, his focus is progressions and theory, and lyrics come last in the process. Sam Fochtman's songwriting style is all about getting as many women to pay attention at one time as possible.
Isaac: What can fans expect from your latest CD, you are working on currently? What is the inspiration behind the CD?
Matt: Our latest CD is simply a glimpse into our music, a snapshot of what The Royal Greens are all about. The songs on the album are the first seven songs we played together, and we are proud of them.
Our upcoming CD will hopefully show the progression of the band and how we have grown to write songs and compose our music. More than anything we want fans to listen and draw their own conclusions from everything we do. That doesn't mean we expect fans to buy our CD, you can come make an opinion at one of our live shows that happen at the very least around 100 times a year.
