Royel Otis

One Liner:  Aussie fellas recreating new wave sounds in some fun indie pop

Wikipedia Genre:  Indie pop, post-punk, pop rock, psychedelic rock

Home: Sydney, Australia

Poster Position: 11
Weekend Two Only.
Friday at 5:10.

Miller Lite Stage.

Thoughts:  The very first guitar tones put me in the mind of new wave classics by the Cure or The Smiths.  "Sofa King" is so perfectly British that it is amazing.  That drum/tambourine line, the Cure guitars, the Cure synths - nails it.  And yet, they are from Sydney!  Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic had known of each other around the Byron Bay area, which is a beautiful area about 500 miles north of Sydney on the east coast of Australia that became very popular with hippie surfers in the 60's and 70's.  This is the kind of place that used to be simple and cheap and populated by folks looking for natural beauty without overdevelopment, but now is a place with expensive homes and over 2 million tourists a year.  Strangely, despite Wikipedia saying it is home to less than 5,000 residents, it is the home of Zac Efron, Chris Hemsworth, Jack Johnson, Paul Hogan, Elle Macpherson, Olivia Newton-John, Naomi Watts, and many others.  Seems like a really high number of beautiful and famous people from a town of 5k?

But anyway, they kind of knew of each other through mutual friends and Otis brought Royel a demo tape to the bar where Royel was working, then within a few months they were recording together.  According to one interview I read, they are really blowing up right now.  They had been on a tour of the US, selling out small rooms (like 200-500 capacity) but their popularity had them add another leg to the tour playing places three times as large.  I've enjoyed listening through the catalog, even though it is annoying that their list is so limited that I keep hearing the same few songs over and over as they are re-included on multiple releases.

Three EPs started their catalog - 2021's Campus, 2022's Bar & Grill, and 2023's Sofa Kings - before their recent 2024 album called PRATTS & PAIN, named after a local bar named Pratts & Payne.  The second EP boasts their top track (by a lot), the oddly named "Oysters in My Pocket," with 64.2 million streams.

Sweet ride.  Do you hear those Cure guitar comparisons?  Also, you can see why these guys were models before the music - good looking blokes.  "Oysters in my pocket, we're saving for lunch" is such a weird turn of phrase, but it sounds really neato coming out of their mouth.  Fun song for sure.  Their second-most streamed is a cover, so we will go with #3, which is the title song of that third EP and is also on the album.  We talked about this one earlier - "Sofa King," with 16.9 million streams.

SO BRITISH!  There has to be a name for that drum beat thing - it's like the British version of the Funky Drummer.  Again, really fun tune.  Just because I can, here is one more tune, which was featured on the EA Sports FC 24 soundtrack - "Going Kokomo" has 9.3 million streams.

Really funny to think, as you hear those opening notes and immediately think you are about to hear a classic new wave song from the 80's, that these are new dudes still using those same moves.  But I am enjoying the schtick!  

Ahhhh, come on.  Weekend Two only!  Boooooooooo!