Q: I’m well aware of Greg Hoy’s other projects. How did The Royal Panics come together?
Mark (bass): Greg's other projects? What do you mean "Greg's other projects"? Greg, is there something you're not telling us? How many "other projects" are there?
Greg (vocals/guitar): Thanks Matt! I'm a music addict (you can blame my love of Uncle Bob / Guided By Voices for this). Our friend Craig and his amazing list introduced us. Almost two years after my relo from NYC, I signed a lease on a rehearsal space share, placing an ad looking for a drummer in the musicians category. Once we got in a room, most responders were woefully scant on chemistry and common musical language. I switched the ad headline to 'Bass Player.’ Mark sent a well-worded, polite, grammatically correct response to the ad. Anyone that uses Craigslist with any regularity can immediately spot a winner! We met for drinks and hit it off socially. He knew Dennis already so the three of us 'had a jam.’ It sounds cliche but things clicked from the first song we played.
Q: The new self-titled album The Royal Panics is pure rock. Can you talk about what your thoughts were in pro-production mode? Did you have an idea of what you wanted the album to sound like?
Mark: The repertoire was built up organically over the preceding months. We experimented with some other recordings along the way, including a cassingle, and a four-track EP recorded at Acme Hall in Brooklyn. So by the time we hit Tiny Telephone, we had a strong idea of how we wanted the record to sound.
Greg: Like most bands, we started with cover songs — except in this case, they were covers of my solo + prior band's songs. I'd recorded a few albums by myself in the first few years living here. Going to rock shows, I began to notice a lack of simple, melodic, loud rock bands. My favorite bars became Bender's, Thee Parkside, Bottom of the Hill, Hemlock, Winters Tavern in Pacifica… venues that could accommodate Marshall amps and drums. One of the issues with the real estate market here (and everywhere) is a lack of rooms that can handle the loudness. It felt like a worthy challenge to get folks to come appreciate melody with big drums & guitars again. In the first three years, we honed the 25 or so songs down to the ones that resonated the most with us and the crowds. Anytime a sound person offered to record us, we said yes. We played Stanford radio twice and listened to those performances critically. We demo’d the entire recording in the rehearsal space prior to the session. We really worked on the arrangements, tempos and vocal harmonies, and we talked a lot about the bands whose recorded sonics we wanted to embody.
Dennis (drums): I think there was an understanding that the album would be more disciplined and controlled than our live shows. For example: the daft idea that the tempo at the beginning of a song should more-or-less match it at the end. Or that the back-up vocals could be catchy and well-defined, and not unpredictable blasts aimed at a dented SM-58 onstage. If any live energy was sacrificed for the recordings, it was to highlight the song craft.
Q: The album doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously. Lyrically where does the album fall?
Greg: There's a Tom Waits album and play called 'Franks Wild Years' that affected me in my early years in NYC. Lots of the narrative is first person with the usual Waitsian (is that a word?) down and out characters hitting the big town while trying to chase some dream & suck the marrow out of life... you know, 'beat the parade drum, hit all the bars, I want the moon and stars'. For me, the lyrics on The Royal Panics LP stem from the other side of that pendulum. What happens on the other side of that feeling? How do you dig through the rubble of failed expectations to get excited again? With so much of the world's issues outside of our control, there's never been a better time to lighten up about life enough to actually enjoy it. Music is the panacea.
Q: The recording quality is exceptional. Can you tell us about your experience in the studio?
Dennis: The pace of tracking was relaxed yet it felt consistently productive. Tiny's East Bay location is a great environment to work in.
Greg: Thanks for saying so: it means a lot. This is my 5th or 6th recording with Jacob and John at Tiny Telephone. The Royal Panic’s LP was tracked at their amazing Oakland room. A lot of the live sound on the record comes from it. We mixed it months later (on Election Day, natch) at Tiny Telephone Studio A in the Potrero Hill section of the city. So many bands whose albums I love have recorded there: Spoon, Trans Am, Sleater-Kinney, John V's stuff... there's magic there. The pre-prep and live shows mileage paid off with fast, effective takes. Vocals and dubs took another two days tracked in Studio A, and mixing took three days. We were being methodical about things, and wanted to do the raw tracks justice.
Mastering is another matter. I mastered the album myself. Working on other people's recordings tends to be easier due to my objectivity or lack of self-awareness. This was not the case for Royal Panics. We went through about five 'official' rounds of the master between Mark, Dennis, and myself including one we did together drinking whiskey (you can imagine how that one came out). Personally, I went through a good dozen rounds of pure hell. I was staying up nights re-reading Bob Katz's 'The Art and the Science' along with every issue of Tape Op with a mastering engineer's interview trying to figure out where I was losing the magic. Jacob is a superb engineer and exciting mix artist, and he'd captured all of our spirit to tape. Add the fact that we really wanted the vinyl-version of the LP to shine and... I think I kind of psyched myself out. Luckily, I think it worked out in the end. The vinyl version in particular is infectious (if I do say so myself).
Mark: I don't think you can make a lousy record at Tiny Telephone especially with someone like Jacob Winik at the helm. The record was recorded, mixed and mastered in different batches so we really took our time and made sure to enjoy the process each step of the way. If you make a record and pour a lot of heart, energy and fun into the project then I think that's what people hear when they play it back.
Q: This music was made to see live. Where can fans catch the performance?
Greg: This year, we've got the incredible Ivy Room in Albany CA in late November & Winters Tavern in Pacifica in December. In the spring, we may do SXSW again along with another trip to LA and San Diego.
Q: Are The Royal Panics a one and done deal or can we expect more music at some point?\
Greg: We have five songs that we're just working on in rehearsal, peppering the live set lists as it makes sense. I predict The Royal Panics II: Electric Boogaloo by fall of next year.
Mark (bass): Greg's other projects? What do you mean "Greg's other projects"? Greg, is there something you're not telling us? How many "other projects" are there?
Greg (vocals/guitar): Thanks Matt! I'm a music addict (you can blame my love of Uncle Bob / Guided By Voices for this). Our friend Craig and his amazing list introduced us. Almost two years after my relo from NYC, I signed a lease on a rehearsal space share, placing an ad looking for a drummer in the musicians category. Once we got in a room, most responders were woefully scant on chemistry and common musical language. I switched the ad headline to 'Bass Player.’ Mark sent a well-worded, polite, grammatically correct response to the ad. Anyone that uses Craigslist with any regularity can immediately spot a winner! We met for drinks and hit it off socially. He knew Dennis already so the three of us 'had a jam.’ It sounds cliche but things clicked from the first song we played.
Q: The new self-titled album The Royal Panics is pure rock. Can you talk about what your thoughts were in pro-production mode? Did you have an idea of what you wanted the album to sound like?
Mark: The repertoire was built up organically over the preceding months. We experimented with some other recordings along the way, including a cassingle, and a four-track EP recorded at Acme Hall in Brooklyn. So by the time we hit Tiny Telephone, we had a strong idea of how we wanted the record to sound.
Greg: Like most bands, we started with cover songs — except in this case, they were covers of my solo + prior band's songs. I'd recorded a few albums by myself in the first few years living here. Going to rock shows, I began to notice a lack of simple, melodic, loud rock bands. My favorite bars became Bender's, Thee Parkside, Bottom of the Hill, Hemlock, Winters Tavern in Pacifica… venues that could accommodate Marshall amps and drums. One of the issues with the real estate market here (and everywhere) is a lack of rooms that can handle the loudness. It felt like a worthy challenge to get folks to come appreciate melody with big drums & guitars again. In the first three years, we honed the 25 or so songs down to the ones that resonated the most with us and the crowds. Anytime a sound person offered to record us, we said yes. We played Stanford radio twice and listened to those performances critically. We demo’d the entire recording in the rehearsal space prior to the session. We really worked on the arrangements, tempos and vocal harmonies, and we talked a lot about the bands whose recorded sonics we wanted to embody.
Dennis (drums): I think there was an understanding that the album would be more disciplined and controlled than our live shows. For example: the daft idea that the tempo at the beginning of a song should more-or-less match it at the end. Or that the back-up vocals could be catchy and well-defined, and not unpredictable blasts aimed at a dented SM-58 onstage. If any live energy was sacrificed for the recordings, it was to highlight the song craft.
Q: The album doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously. Lyrically where does the album fall?
Greg: There's a Tom Waits album and play called 'Franks Wild Years' that affected me in my early years in NYC. Lots of the narrative is first person with the usual Waitsian (is that a word?) down and out characters hitting the big town while trying to chase some dream & suck the marrow out of life... you know, 'beat the parade drum, hit all the bars, I want the moon and stars'. For me, the lyrics on The Royal Panics LP stem from the other side of that pendulum. What happens on the other side of that feeling? How do you dig through the rubble of failed expectations to get excited again? With so much of the world's issues outside of our control, there's never been a better time to lighten up about life enough to actually enjoy it. Music is the panacea.
Q: The recording quality is exceptional. Can you tell us about your experience in the studio?
Dennis: The pace of tracking was relaxed yet it felt consistently productive. Tiny's East Bay location is a great environment to work in.
Greg: Thanks for saying so: it means a lot. This is my 5th or 6th recording with Jacob and John at Tiny Telephone. The Royal Panic’s LP was tracked at their amazing Oakland room. A lot of the live sound on the record comes from it. We mixed it months later (on Election Day, natch) at Tiny Telephone Studio A in the Potrero Hill section of the city. So many bands whose albums I love have recorded there: Spoon, Trans Am, Sleater-Kinney, John V's stuff... there's magic there. The pre-prep and live shows mileage paid off with fast, effective takes. Vocals and dubs took another two days tracked in Studio A, and mixing took three days. We were being methodical about things, and wanted to do the raw tracks justice.
Mastering is another matter. I mastered the album myself. Working on other people's recordings tends to be easier due to my objectivity or lack of self-awareness. This was not the case for Royal Panics. We went through about five 'official' rounds of the master between Mark, Dennis, and myself including one we did together drinking whiskey (you can imagine how that one came out). Personally, I went through a good dozen rounds of pure hell. I was staying up nights re-reading Bob Katz's 'The Art and the Science' along with every issue of Tape Op with a mastering engineer's interview trying to figure out where I was losing the magic. Jacob is a superb engineer and exciting mix artist, and he'd captured all of our spirit to tape. Add the fact that we really wanted the vinyl-version of the LP to shine and... I think I kind of psyched myself out. Luckily, I think it worked out in the end. The vinyl version in particular is infectious (if I do say so myself).
Mark: I don't think you can make a lousy record at Tiny Telephone especially with someone like Jacob Winik at the helm. The record was recorded, mixed and mastered in different batches so we really took our time and made sure to enjoy the process each step of the way. If you make a record and pour a lot of heart, energy and fun into the project then I think that's what people hear when they play it back.
Q: This music was made to see live. Where can fans catch the performance?
Greg: This year, we've got the incredible Ivy Room in Albany CA in late November & Winters Tavern in Pacifica in December. In the spring, we may do SXSW again along with another trip to LA and San Diego.
Q: Are The Royal Panics a one and done deal or can we expect more music at some point?\
Greg: We have five songs that we're just working on in rehearsal, peppering the live set lists as it makes sense. I predict The Royal Panics II: Electric Boogaloo by fall of next year.