It’s good that bands like yourselves are going against the grain and doing something a bit more grandiose than your average rent-a-chord guitar band.
Somewhere on the London Underground, a rather perplexed Adam Billing, frontman of The Outside Royalty is trying to work out why his prospective interviewer rang him to simply hang up. Sitting at home in North Wales, you’re humble interviewer is wondering why Adam would cancel his call.
‘Hey, is that Adam?’
‘Hey, yeah, how’re you?’
‘I’m good thanks, you ok to talk now?’
‘Yeah, sure.’
‘Sorry I’m late, I couldn’t get through to your mobile.’
‘Oh, how come you didn’t let it ring for longer? I didn’t even notice it and then it just stopped.’
‘Strange.’
‘Yeah.’
Communication breakdown averted, we crack on and find Adam to be an extremely pleasant interviewee. For a man who upped sticks and headed across the Atlantic for the good of the band, he’s remarkably relaxed. The Outside Royalty faced an uncertain future after the closure of a number of music venues in their native Pittsburgh. Seeing bands with no place to play led to some in the local music press implore the band to seek pastures new, and is one reason why Adam and the rest of the ‘Royalty are holed-up in a shared North London dwelling.
‘We were in an article in a paper called the Daily Music Guide. I picked it up at a time when a lot of venues in the area had been closing, and it was describing the dire situation the scene was in and it was just telling us to just get out and get to a bigger market if we wanted to make something of the band. It was a shame because there’s a lot of great music there and some good bands. The funny thing was that there was this giant picture of us with the article and we weren’t even mentioned in it! It all worked out with what we were planning at the time. It was kinda poetic.’
So why head to London as opposed to a big American music city like New York?
‘Well, our other option was New York. The biggest one was we knew that if we went to New York and things got rough, it’d be an easy thing to turn tail and head back to Pittsburgh, it’s pretty much just down the road. Everyone kinda said lets got for it; pack up, drop everything we got and cross the ocean. I mean, it was a big thing to do but it was a collective leap of faith.
‘The reason we chose London, was because we had a good friend (Ric) in the Polyphonic Spree and they had really just popped in the UK as opposed to his home market in the US. It wasn’t the main reason we moved but he had a lot of good things to say and it just made sense.’
We’ve spoken to a few US bands in the past, and some seem to head over here almost out of necessity to get noticed. Do you find British/European audiences more receptive or the American market increasingly difficult?
‘Man, I think it depends a lot on what you’re doing. We’re not doing mainstream music so it’s harder for us to reach the little clusters of people in the cities who are probably going to get it the most. We did a tour with the Young Knives and that was amazing. The best thing about Europe and England was we hit 12 major cities in 12 days. It was so simple and the drives were only three or four hours long and we’re hitting these major groups of people. If you wanted to do that in the states you’d have to fly.
‘Being over here has just made it better for us from that perspective because it’s just easier for us to get out there. It’s not so much taste – we were doing great in Pittsburgh but nothing gets in or out of it which is a shame. It just exists in its own little bubble – it’s just the difference about reaching the right audience for the music.’
With regard to the move, how are you finding the transition from the Pittsburgh to the London music scene?
‘It’s very different. People look to the London scene for making stuff happen. You have some amazing bands but a lot of them are looking for the latest trend and trying to conform to it which, if it works for them is great. We’re still outsiders to it all but we can live with that.’
Is the scenester mentality something you think will help you progress as a band or is it something that provides you with a reason to rebel against it?
‘We’re pretty much co-existing with it but at the same time we’ll play some shows at Punk or Catch, or these kind of hipster places, and we tend to go down well. We don’t take it too seriously and it’s not something we’re actively looking to rebel against.’
You’ve been likened to Pulp, Arcade Fire and a few others. Can you see the similarities and are they something you embrace or do you resent them?
‘It’s gotten to be kinda funny. I always get something like I sound like Bryan Ferry or Jarvis Cocker. It’s a little predictable because I sound nothing like either of those guys. We get the Arcade Fire because we have a string section and I can kinda see that but it’s weird, we never got the Pulp or Roxy Music comparisons but it showed up in one review, then the next review. It must be the power of suggestion.
‘Actually, it does a grate a little…if we had sat down and tried to make something that sounded like them and got caught, we would have been miserable. As cool as those bands are, we’ve never really aspired to replicate what they’ve done.’
I think I was guilty of one of those comparisons…
[Laughs] ‘Oh you bastard!’
I meant it in a complimentary way.
‘Did you really get that from it?’
Yeah, I think those comparisons have been said as compliments. I personally thought you were from the UK so it was a bit of a surprise when I found out you were from Pittsburgh. It’s good that bands like yourselves are going against the grain and doing something a bit more grandiose than your average rent-a-chord guitar band.
‘Well, you know, I think I can take that. I like that. If I got us all to sit around a table and come with a description, I’d say it’s a frantic, melodic celebration of melancholy. [Laughs] Does that work? One theme that transcends everything is that there’s always a very melancholy lyrical concept whether it’s put to anthemic music or the strings, it’s always telling a story. There’s probably some nostalgia in there too.’
So how’s the reception been on the tour?
‘It’s been overwhelming…it’s been great. We’ve been getting a lot of feedback on our myspace page with people wanting us to get back and play. It was our first experience of just showing up and playing and no one’s going to know what we’re about. It’s been great to build up all these different fan bases and we’ve had a lot of people reach out and step up for us and we really appreciate it.’
You heading out anywhere else in the near future?
‘We got back last weekend from our own smaller headline tour promoting the single. Leeds was the best night, it was a good tour. We played a load of the Barfly’s and got some good feedback.’
It’s almost a right of passage doing the Barfly tour. Any self respecting music city here should have one.
‘Yeah, we could feel the right of passage in the dressing rooms with the names of the band on the wall as well as the three or four cocks drawn on the wall. You have all these pictures and bands and people who’ve signed their names then you’ve got these giant, throbbing dicks on the wall next to them. Maybe the same guy does it at every one?’
Do you have an album in the pipeline?
‘We’re looking at either an EP or a full length. We have so much material so we’re looking to get into the studio within the next month to get some stuff down. We’ve got a ton of stuff to get through so we just need to crank it out.’
Aspirations for the rest of the year?
‘Our goals for this year are just to keep the momentum going with the recent releases and to continue working with the guys from Bloody Awful Poetry. We’d like to get some records on the shelves whether it’s a full length player or two EPs, we’ll see.’
Cool, ok, final question. What was the last thing you hated with a passion?
‘I remember hating something with a passion very recently, what was it…(long pause) you know what man, I think it would have to be a youtube link to a live Jimmy Buffet concert.’
(Long pause)
Why do you hate it so much?
‘Apparently you’ve never heard Jimmy Buffet.’
I haven’t I’m afraid…
‘If you have no idea who he is, you just have to get onto youtube and hit that link. You’ll understand.’
‘Hey, is that Adam?’
‘Hey, yeah, how’re you?’
‘I’m good thanks, you ok to talk now?’
‘Yeah, sure.’
‘Sorry I’m late, I couldn’t get through to your mobile.’
‘Oh, how come you didn’t let it ring for longer? I didn’t even notice it and then it just stopped.’
‘Strange.’
‘Yeah.’
Communication breakdown averted, we crack on and find Adam to be an extremely pleasant interviewee. For a man who upped sticks and headed across the Atlantic for the good of the band, he’s remarkably relaxed. The Outside Royalty faced an uncertain future after the closure of a number of music venues in their native Pittsburgh. Seeing bands with no place to play led to some in the local music press implore the band to seek pastures new, and is one reason why Adam and the rest of the ‘Royalty are holed-up in a shared North London dwelling.
‘We were in an article in a paper called the Daily Music Guide. I picked it up at a time when a lot of venues in the area had been closing, and it was describing the dire situation the scene was in and it was just telling us to just get out and get to a bigger market if we wanted to make something of the band. It was a shame because there’s a lot of great music there and some good bands. The funny thing was that there was this giant picture of us with the article and we weren’t even mentioned in it! It all worked out with what we were planning at the time. It was kinda poetic.’
So why head to London as opposed to a big American music city like New York?
‘Well, our other option was New York. The biggest one was we knew that if we went to New York and things got rough, it’d be an easy thing to turn tail and head back to Pittsburgh, it’s pretty much just down the road. Everyone kinda said lets got for it; pack up, drop everything we got and cross the ocean. I mean, it was a big thing to do but it was a collective leap of faith.
‘The reason we chose London, was because we had a good friend (Ric) in the Polyphonic Spree and they had really just popped in the UK as opposed to his home market in the US. It wasn’t the main reason we moved but he had a lot of good things to say and it just made sense.’
We’ve spoken to a few US bands in the past, and some seem to head over here almost out of necessity to get noticed. Do you find British/European audiences more receptive or the American market increasingly difficult?
‘Man, I think it depends a lot on what you’re doing. We’re not doing mainstream music so it’s harder for us to reach the little clusters of people in the cities who are probably going to get it the most. We did a tour with the Young Knives and that was amazing. The best thing about Europe and England was we hit 12 major cities in 12 days. It was so simple and the drives were only three or four hours long and we’re hitting these major groups of people. If you wanted to do that in the states you’d have to fly.
‘Being over here has just made it better for us from that perspective because it’s just easier for us to get out there. It’s not so much taste – we were doing great in Pittsburgh but nothing gets in or out of it which is a shame. It just exists in its own little bubble – it’s just the difference about reaching the right audience for the music.’
With regard to the move, how are you finding the transition from the Pittsburgh to the London music scene?
‘It’s very different. People look to the London scene for making stuff happen. You have some amazing bands but a lot of them are looking for the latest trend and trying to conform to it which, if it works for them is great. We’re still outsiders to it all but we can live with that.’
Is the scenester mentality something you think will help you progress as a band or is it something that provides you with a reason to rebel against it?
‘We’re pretty much co-existing with it but at the same time we’ll play some shows at Punk or Catch, or these kind of hipster places, and we tend to go down well. We don’t take it too seriously and it’s not something we’re actively looking to rebel against.’
You’ve been likened to Pulp, Arcade Fire and a few others. Can you see the similarities and are they something you embrace or do you resent them?
‘It’s gotten to be kinda funny. I always get something like I sound like Bryan Ferry or Jarvis Cocker. It’s a little predictable because I sound nothing like either of those guys. We get the Arcade Fire because we have a string section and I can kinda see that but it’s weird, we never got the Pulp or Roxy Music comparisons but it showed up in one review, then the next review. It must be the power of suggestion.
‘Actually, it does a grate a little…if we had sat down and tried to make something that sounded like them and got caught, we would have been miserable. As cool as those bands are, we’ve never really aspired to replicate what they’ve done.’
I think I was guilty of one of those comparisons…
[Laughs] ‘Oh you bastard!’
I meant it in a complimentary way.
‘Did you really get that from it?’
Yeah, I think those comparisons have been said as compliments. I personally thought you were from the UK so it was a bit of a surprise when I found out you were from Pittsburgh. It’s good that bands like yourselves are going against the grain and doing something a bit more grandiose than your average rent-a-chord guitar band.
‘Well, you know, I think I can take that. I like that. If I got us all to sit around a table and come with a description, I’d say it’s a frantic, melodic celebration of melancholy. [Laughs] Does that work? One theme that transcends everything is that there’s always a very melancholy lyrical concept whether it’s put to anthemic music or the strings, it’s always telling a story. There’s probably some nostalgia in there too.’
So how’s the reception been on the tour?
‘It’s been overwhelming…it’s been great. We’ve been getting a lot of feedback on our myspace page with people wanting us to get back and play. It was our first experience of just showing up and playing and no one’s going to know what we’re about. It’s been great to build up all these different fan bases and we’ve had a lot of people reach out and step up for us and we really appreciate it.’
You heading out anywhere else in the near future?
‘We got back last weekend from our own smaller headline tour promoting the single. Leeds was the best night, it was a good tour. We played a load of the Barfly’s and got some good feedback.’
It’s almost a right of passage doing the Barfly tour. Any self respecting music city here should have one.
‘Yeah, we could feel the right of passage in the dressing rooms with the names of the band on the wall as well as the three or four cocks drawn on the wall. You have all these pictures and bands and people who’ve signed their names then you’ve got these giant, throbbing dicks on the wall next to them. Maybe the same guy does it at every one?’
Do you have an album in the pipeline?
‘We’re looking at either an EP or a full length. We have so much material so we’re looking to get into the studio within the next month to get some stuff down. We’ve got a ton of stuff to get through so we just need to crank it out.’
Aspirations for the rest of the year?
‘Our goals for this year are just to keep the momentum going with the recent releases and to continue working with the guys from Bloody Awful Poetry. We’d like to get some records on the shelves whether it’s a full length player or two EPs, we’ll see.’
Cool, ok, final question. What was the last thing you hated with a passion?
‘I remember hating something with a passion very recently, what was it…(long pause) you know what man, I think it would have to be a youtube link to a live Jimmy Buffet concert.’
(Long pause)
Why do you hate it so much?
‘Apparently you’ve never heard Jimmy Buffet.’
I haven’t I’m afraid…
‘If you have no idea who he is, you just have to get onto youtube and hit that link. You’ll understand.’