FEATURE: Spotlight: The Royston Club

FEATURE:

Spotlight

The Royston Club

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THE tremendous Glued to My Bed…

PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Crowston/Press

is one of my favourite singles of year and it sort of recently drew me to The Royston Club. It is not often I get to spotlight and celebrate a Welsh band. Tom Faithfull, Ben Matthias, Sam Jones and Dave Tute make up The Royston Club. Hailing from Wrexham, North Wales, their second studio album, Songs for the Spine, was released in August. It is a tremendous and faultless album I would urge everyone to check out. I am eager to get to some interviews with the band. If you are new to them or have heard their name in passing, this should give you a more complete picture of a sensational quartet who are clearly bound for greatness. I am going to end with When the Horn Blows’ review of Songs for the Spine. In August, NME spoke with vocalist Tom Faithfull and guitarist and main songwriter Ben Matthias about this tremendous new album from a bright hope. A band that are really in demand right now. When speaking to NME, they were preparing for their debut slots at Reading & Leeds. Also, we learn how The Royston Club were expected to live up to the hype when releasing their debut album, 2023’s Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars:

“NME: Hi Ben and Tom. You’re back with a new album after reaching the UK top 20 on the charts with your 2023 debut. What has it been like to work on the follow-up after seeing such a big response?

Tom Faithfull: “I think there was always going to be a bit of pressure, but not pressure from anyone else. The label is pretty sound, and it wasn’t pressure chart-wise; it was more from us wanting to make sure we didn’t fall into that second-album-syndrome thing that you hear so many bands going into. Luckily, when we heard the mixes back, we were really, really happy with them.”

Ben Matthias: “[Seeing the response] did catch us off-guard, especially with the demographic. It wasn’t a certain group of people, and it wasn’t just a teen girl fanbase that was resonating with it. We’d have middle-aged men and women coming up to us at gigs and saying how much it had affected them as well. It was really nice to see, and it had a big impact on us.

“It was those people who were in our minds while we were writing the second album. We wanted to write a good album for them… as corny as that sounds!”

How are you feeling about tackling the main stages at Reading & Leeds this month?

Faithfull: “They’re the shows of the whole summer that we’ve been really looking forward to. There have been loads of great gigs this summer, but that’s the festival that we all went to when we were 16. I know it’s a bit of a cliché that all bands up north say, but it really was the first one we went to and the first one we really loved! We’ve played other stages there before, so to be on the main one with all these other amazing bands that we looked up to… It’s gonna be really special.

“There definitely are going to be some nerves, because of how big an occasion it is for us… and because it’s going to be televised too, but that makes it even more exciting. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

What is one thing that you hope listeners take from the new album?

Matthias: “I hope that they can resonate with the lyrics and really find something to latch onto in some of the songs. Also, I’m gonna sound corny again, but I hope you can feel how close we are as people through this music. We’ve grown up together and, especially over our time in the band, we’ve got so close. We can hear that in the songs, and I hope the fans can hear it as well.”

Faithfull: “I hope you can hear how deliberate some of the parts are, and how much we worked on some of the stuff in the practice room. Like we said before, with the first album, there was a lot of like throwing stuff at the wall and hoping that it sticks, but this really felt like we were being a lot more deliberate with how we did things. I really want people to hear that a lot of thought has gone into it, and tell that we care”.

There are a couple of other interviews from this year that I want to include here. Indie Is Not a Genre caught up with The Royston Club’s Tom Faithfull about the band’s progress and the extraordinary Songs for the Spine. If some artists feel pressure on their second album and there is this weight of expectation, Wrexham’s The Royston Club have shown no nerves and answered any doubters there might out there:

Catching up with The Royston Club’s frontman, Tom Faithfull, meant discussing gigs, growth and what we can expect from the band’s upcoming new album. With a quiet confidence, he spoke proudly of what the band has created, clearly energised about the album’s release and the chance to bring it to life on stage. Tom is someone who genuinely cares, and it’s clear the band have put serious thought into what this new record represents. Following the success of their 2023 debut, Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars, the Wrexham-formed four-piece found themselves staring down the infamous second album question — and they’ve answered it with Songs for the Spine, a record built for the long haul. Deliberate, emotional, and grounded in the kind of sweat-soaked indie rock that’s slowly clawing its way back into the UK spotlight.

He joked about the pressures of the second album, “you have your whole life to write your first one and then the second one, they want it in a year, and you’re like… oh shit”. Rather than rush it, they opted for a more measured approach: “We had the mindset that we want to make an album we really love, and if it takes a bit longer, it takes a bit longer”, so two years after the debut, Songs for the Spine is here.

Written in late 2023 and 2024 and recorded in Liverpool during the winter, it was a first-time collaboration with producer Rich Turvey (known for his work with Blossoms and The Coral), who honed the sound and direction of the record, a move that helped steer the sound in a new direction. “He got what we were after,” says Tom. “He pushed us in a direction we wanted to go; we didn’t want to make just another indie record. He wanted to push it a little bit further.”

If their first album captured the energy of a band newly out of the gates, Songs for the Spine feels tighter, more lived-in. “There’s less padding,” Tom explains. “We’ve stripped stuff back. Every part on the record feels deliberate, like it’s there for a reason. So hopefully that translates when it’s just the four of us on stage”.

The band’s rise has been steady but significant. From sweaty pub gigs around Wrexham to festival slots at Leeds, Reading and Glastonbury (where I have it on good authority in 2023 they blew the roof off Bread & Roses at 11 am). They’ve developed a reputation for raucous, whole-hearted live sets and so it’s no surprise that Tom lights up when talking about what’s to come, especially their upcoming slot on Reading & Leeds’ main stage, “this feels like a bit of a step for us, it’ll be the biggest stage we’ve played … that’s one we’ve kind of had in the back of our minds for a while now.”

For all the hype around the bigger stages, there’s still magic in the chaos of more intimate spots. “Two days ago, we played Tramlines on one of the smaller tents and it was amazing, actually. Sometimes with those smaller ones, you get the kind of sweaty, boxed-in feel that you miss on the vast stages. So that was a lot of fun.”

Now based in Liverpool, Wrexham remains more than just a hometown footnote; it’s the place they were given a chance, and they owe a lot to the town in North Wales. “It’s a place we look on incredibly fondly,” Tom says. He spoke poignantly about the opportunities they were given and how that impacted the band’s development, getting chances from pub landlords who knew they weren’t looking at the bottom line, but putting on live music for their love of it.

Tom is clearly passionate about small venues and is worried about the regular closings that provide a springboard for so many UK bands. Tom summed it up perfectly, saying, “venues that have only 40 people on a Saturday are the ones that might have your next favourite band on”. Fittingly, their album release show is set for The Rockin’ Chair in Wrexham on the 8th August, a full-circle moment that promises to be one for the ages.

Before finishing off with a review of The Royston Club’s new album, there is an interview from Liverpool Noise that is quite recent and gives us another look into the band. There will be people out there who have not heard of them, so I hope that this feature has given you enough information and impetus to follow The Royston Club. As I said, although there are some great Welsh and around, they are not talked about enough. A nation we need to shine more of a light on:

The band’s debut album Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars got a top 20 finish in the UK Charts.

Guitarist Ben Matthias states they aren’t too concerned about where they finish this time around, as long as they hit their personal goals.

“The most important thing is just to sell records, because every week it’s a different milestone for what you need to get into the top 20, top 10, top five,” he stated.

“As long as we sell as much as we want to, which is what we’re doing at the moment, then that’s more important to us than chart position, but that being said – a top 10 would be nice. We’ll see what happens, but we’ll be happy either way.”

Matthias states there were certain differences between creating the second album compared to the first. “It had to be a lot quicker, that’s the main thing,” he added.

“There’s less time to deliberate over things in certain songs. The period of them coming together from the initial point of writing the song to playing with a full band is really short, and because of that, the songs are a lot more stripped back.

“With the creative process being so quick, you think of things you’d never think about. Pressure is a good thing in music. We knew we had a year to write it, and we had no other choice, so it was fun. It’s a good kind of pressure.

“We’ve got something to go off because of the first album, and we knew what people liked, but at the same time we wanted to show things that we didn’t show on the first one. We wanted to show more depth, and I think we’ve done that.

“We’re really happy with how we’ve progressed from that first album, while keeping the sound that people liked. It was something we were conscious of, but we’ve got the balance just right.

“We’ve had the songs for a year, a year-and-a-half. We started playing Cariad as a band in January of last year.”

“I think the first time we played it was at the Zoe’s Place gig,” Faithful noted.

“I vaguely remember trying to remember the lyrics about an hour before we went on. It got a good reception then, which is a good indicator of how it’s going to go.

“We’re quite lucky having a producer who understood what our first album sounded like, and got the memo of what we wanted the second to sound like so he could gradually push us in the direction he thought we wanted to go in.”

Another Liverpool gig The Royston Club have done in recent times was at Sound City – where they topped the bill at Grand Central on the opening night.

“Outside of our home town, it was the first headline we did,” Matthias said.

“It was a class night actually. It was a beautiful venue, an amazing crowd, and the first of the year – so it felt good. Since starting a band, it’s what you want, so it’s great.

“When you think of festivals, you think of a field, but we were really happy with that.”

Not too far away from Liverpool, the band remain very proud of their home roots in Wrexham. The Welsh city has been recognised internationally in recent years due to the involvement of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at the local football club.

“It’s always been the coolest place,” Matthias joked.

Let’s finish off with a review from When the Whistle Blows. They provided their opinions on a terrific album from a band who can go all the way in music. Songs for the Spine is a wonderful album that demands to be heard. Blending Indie Pop and Alternative Rock, you do not necessarily need to be a fan of the genres to appreciate what they are putting out there:

“Songs For The Spine releases 8th August and is a huge step forward for the Wrexham four-piece. Their debut album Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars reached an impressive #16 in the charts and was an excellent example of a really strong indie debut, but this next effort represents a shift in maturity and an advancement in songwriting.

Alongside the album, the band will be embarking on their biggest UK headline tour to date, featuring an impressive London show at the O2 forum Kentish Town. The boys are excellent live, bringing a passionate liveliness to every gig which results in a fervent energy around the crowd and a right singalong.

The album’s opener is the band’s darker answer to their debut’s closing track. It utilizes the same loud, intense, at times majestic sound, but where ‘Cherophobe’ called out for help, ‘Shivers’ begs for it. It’s double-entrondric hook hints at the dangers of partying a little too hard, a reference that would feel out of place on their first outing but sets the tone here. The dual vocals in the final chorus create a frenzy of emotion and energy. It’s the band telling us their debut was just the start.

‘The Patch Where Nothing Grows’ is more classic Royston Club. A solid riff kicks things off and is sprinkled throughout, there’s a catchy chorus and a bridge to keep us on our toes. As the first single, it was released a year prior to the album, a considerate amount of time for a young, developing band. This track would feel at home on Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars but also fits in here. It acts almost as a checkpoint as to how far the band has come since.

‘Glued to the Bed’ is a good mixture between these two feelings, acting as an effective and natural stepping stone between the albums. It’s gritty and sweet at the same time and describes love as both thrilling and disappointing, wonderful and painful. About the song, guitarist Ben Mathis said, “I wanted to write about the cynicism towards love that heartbreak can bring, the bittersweet memory of a relationship and the raw aftermath of a breakup. It's about the push and pull between needing to forget and wanting to hold on to what was lost, about how grief can become your entire atmosphere and distort your sense of self.

“Looking back, I see a lot of what I wrote as a defence mechanism after being hurt. I dismiss love as this pretentious, performative thing and in the chorus I sound afraid, pleading for the next relationship not to leave me in the same state.”

Lead singer, Tom Faithful delivers all these more sensitive and emotional lyrics with the same earnestness as ever. He’s simply a very likeable frontman that fans can really relate to.

‘Spinning’ illustrates this perfectly, at the same time displaying his vocal versatility. It starts as a very sweet, slower, more ballad-y track which comes as a great surprise. Where often their guitars are heavy, they are more tender here. The song builds louder and more impactful, a showcase of the huge leap forward in the quality and complexity of the songwriting. It’s a rollercoaster in only three minutes.

It was about time that The Royston Club had a real colossal epic, and album closer ‘The Ballad of Glen Campbell’ certainly fits that bill. It’s every advancement we’ve seen in the new album, all come together to fruition. It rises and falls, builds up to be cut down and is packed with passion, intensity, pain and joy in all of its six minutes. For this song to be in a second album is nothing short of impressive, and really speaks for how far this band could go.

The Royston Club have swapped upbeat, catchy indie tunes detailing night outs and run ins with girls with genuinely heartfelt, more complex and emotional tracks about love and loss. It’s a huge and vital step forward, whilst not abandoning their distinct sound and still remaining very recognisable to their fans. They have simply begun to grow and develop. Everyone loves a garage debut that's more like a soundtrack to a bender, think Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks or even The Strokes, but each of these bands had to evolve and grow from these roots, not just to stay relevant and popular, but to build their legacies. That looks like what the band are doing here, and it seems like this is just the beginning for them”.

A heralded and award-nominated group who have been tipped for big things, we will be hearing a lot more from Tom Faithfull, Ben Matthias, Sam Jones and Dave Tute next year. Even though they have pumping out music a while now, I think that this year has been one where they have garnered a whole new wave of attention. I think that will only heightened and increase next year. Considering how talented and brilliant the band are, it is so…