Royal Bangs are an indie rock group from Knoxville, Tennessee. The band is composed of

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Chris Rusk, singer and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Schaefer, and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Sam Stratton.

History

While attending high school in 2001, Schaefer and Rusk began performing together and using the moniker Royal Bangs when Stratton joined in 2005. The band recorded ''

We Breed Champions In Modern English, ''we'' is a plural, first-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''we'' has six distinct shapes for five word forms: * ''we'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''us'' and ': the accusative (object ...

'' in their basement preceding Schaefer's departure to France and an indefinite hiatus. During the time apart,

Patrick Carney Patrick James Carney (born April 15, 1980) is an American musician and producer best known as the drummer of the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. Early life Carney's father, Jim, is a retired reporter for the '' Akron Beacon Journ ...

of The Black Keys discovered the band on Myspace and signed them. Royal Bangs released their debut LP ''We Breed Champions'' in 2008 through Carney's independent

Audio Eagle Records Audio Eagle is a recording studio opened in 2001 by musician Patrick Carney. The studio was located in Akron, Ohio and consisted mostly of a digital 12-track recorder. It went through many incarnations and configurations and was mainly used to r ...

. The following year, German label

City Slang City Slang is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany. History The label was founded in 1990 by former tour agent Christof Ellinghaus, exclusively to release The Flaming Lips' '' In A Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine S ...

released the album in Europe where British music publication ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' described the record as "one smart and super-confident package, rather like a chirpier, younger, less navel-gazing

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

." Their second LP, ''

Let It Beep ''Let It Beep'' is the second album by Royal Bangs. The album was released on September 15, 2009 on Audio Eagle Records, but was also released on City Slang Records. Reviews Reviews for the album were positive. Rick Anderson of AllMusic noted, ...

'', was released in late 2009 by both

and City Slang. BBC Music editor Mike Diver reviewed the record, describing it as "varied but never lacking cohesion, Let It Beep is a charming and entirely unforeseen hit for tastes demanding their rock a little rough-hewn and happily unaffected. That it makes KoL ( Kings of Leon) sound as sonically redundant as U2 and Oasis is merely an accidental bonus." The band signed to Glassnote Records in September 2010 and released their third album, ''Flux Outside'', on March 29, 2011. Royal Bangs played at Bonnaroo in 2008 and in 2010 they played the Bonnaroo and

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

festivals. Royal Bangs made their TV network debut on ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

'' on April 1, 2011. In early 2012, Royal Bangs made an addition to their lineup by bringing Dylan Dawkins to play bass guitar. On June 24, 2013, '' Rolling Stone'' premiered the video for "Better Run", a song from the upcoming LP ''Brass'', recorded with Carney in May 2012 and set for a September 17 release.

Discography

Albums

*''We Breed Champions'' (2008) *''

'' (2009) *''

Flux Outside ''Flux Outside'' is the third studio album by rock band Royal Bangs Royal Bangs are an indie rock group from Knoxville, Tennessee. The band is composed of drummer Chris Rusk, singer and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Schaefer, and guitarist Sam ...

'' (2011) *''Brass'' (2013)

Singles

*Better Run (2013)

References

External links

Myspace profileFacebook profileRolling Stone magazine featureSpin Magazine feature

Nashville Scene alt-weekly feature
{{Authority control 2005 establishments in Tennessee Indie rock musical groups from Tennessee Musical groups from Knoxville, Tennessee Musical groups established in 2005 American musical trios Glassnote Records artists City Slang artists