Rock music is supposed to be transgressive. It’s supposed to go beyond limits and entertain or upset people in an extreme, often irresponsible manner.
Nowadays, however, rock’n’roll has lost a lot of its coolness and problematic nature. Everyone, from Kanye West to freaking Miley Cyrus is described in the media with the word “rockstar”.
So you ask yourself: what is the world coming to?, and you start thinking about possible solutions.
Well seek no more, because the guys from ROYAL REPUBLIC have already found them.
This Swedish band is a “text-book”, “dictionary” rock group that revives all the beautiful stereotypes of the genre, laying special emphasis on awesome, raw songs and an attitude that can conquer the world.
Royal Republic puts “rock” back into the word “rockstar” and shows humanity what rock’n’roll is actually about. It’s sex, it’s loud guitars, it’s intoxicating tunes, it’s great hair and crazy handsome dudes, it’s fun, it’s groupies & sailors, but first and foremost it’s music.
RR will win the fight against posers, because they are the real deal.
Read an exclusive interview with Hannes Irengård (guitars)and find out more about the end of the world and the bands we must rescue, Royal Republic’s future plans and being cool.
First of all, Hannes, thank you for agreeing to do this interview. It’s an honor. My pleasure Alexandra!- What’s it like to be the coolest, most awesome, most rock’n’roll band in the entire Universe? Do you ever feel like becoming your own groupies?
Wow…Keep going like this and I’ll be an egocentric asshole by the end of this interview! But to answer your question; no. We’re super proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but this band is all about the next album, next tour, next video, next song. Always moving forward, trying to push it to the next level. That’s probably a good thing although it might be a good idea to sit down and reflect on what actually happened these past five or six years. Come to think of it, we didn’t even have a proper release party for either of the two albums. Maybe we should set one up in Romania!
You released your latest album, „Save The Nation”, exactly one year ago, in August 2012. Do you have any plans for a follow-up or is it too early?
We’re constantly working on ideas and there are definitely plans for a follow-up. We still have one more run to go of the “Save the Nation” tour and after that we’ll start doing some serious song-writing. Whatever that means…As for release dates and stuff, your guess is as good as mine.
Royal Republic is a super-touring band. You guys never stay put. How do you keep up with the crazy rhythm?
The rhythm on tour is a weird thing. There are days when you’re being dragged from one interview to another and playing one radio station after the next. Then there are days when you’ll just stay in bed until 2 p.m. and play ping-pong for the rest of the day. The trick is to even it out as much as possible and try to stay semi-busy every day, rather than being super busy one day and doing absolutely nothing the next. But the hardest part about being on the road as much as we are is keeping in touch with family and friends. I made a conscious decision to always try to hook up with friends whenever I’m at home. Since I’m the one being away all the time it’s kind of my responsibility to make it work. So far so good.
Your band is nothing like the others out there. You’ve created a unique blend of garage rock, rock’n’roll and indie. What’s your recipe and what inspired you at the very beginning, when you developed this style?
Thank you! The funny thing is we never really talked about what kind of music we were going to make. We all grew up listening to rock’n’roll, so obviously we weren’t going to do euro-techno. Apart from that there never was a musical agenda. I guess what happened was we took the stuff we liked from the bands we loved, and somehow managed to put it together in a way that sounded more like Royal Republic than like anything else. In other words; we stole and got away with it!
Do you see your style as a „genre”, or do you think that you’ll be pretty much „lone-stars” on the sky of rock’n’roll? Have you seen copycats out there?
Yeah. I keep hearing about this Danko Jones dude trying to rip us off!Seriously, the rock’n’roll genre is just too big for anybody to be considered a lone-star these days. It’s all been done before. The most innovative „band” I heard lately is made up of these robots playing “Ace of Spades” and stuff. I love it! I heard they’re actually going on a world tour! Gonna be kick-ass!
There’s a lot of sexual imagery in your music – from BDSM, to the “metaphor” of the sailor. Just how important is it for a rock band to have that overtly sexual element?
Ha! Metaphor of the sailor. Yeah, you’re probably right! Well, sex and rock n’ roll have always gone hand in hand. When served raw, hard and without inhibitions, magic happens.
What is the most stupid, banal, creepy, idiotic question a journalist has ever asked you?
It’s actually more about the stupid stuff that journalists expect us to do. People sometimes seem to be under the impression that we’re willing to do all sorts of stupid shit cause it would „make for a good story…”.
If you were to save three bands from extinction, after finding out that the End of the World is coming, which would those bands be? What bands would you take with you?
Well, this kind of scenario forces you to consider one very important aspect: all other bands from that day on will have their musical origin in these particular groups, which means you just put a huge responsibility on me. Anyway, these are the bands I would save from extinction:Destinys Child, Queens of the Stone Age, and PSY.
How has rock’n’roll changed in the last years and how have you contributed to that change?
Whether we had an impact on rock n’ roll or not is not for us to decide. We’ll just have to say what the history books say like 30 years from now…And it’s really not that important. Having someone walk up to you, saying that you’re the reason he picked up the guitar means the world.
What does autumn look like for RR? What about 2014? Any plans for the following year?
In November we’ll be heading out on the last leg of the “Save the Nation” tour, which we’re excited about! 2014 will mostly be spent writing songs for the upcoming album and some other cool stuff that you will know more about soon enough!
Some salutations for your Romanian fans!
Romania! Can’t wait to bring the Royal Republic circus to your beautiful country! See ya’ll as soon as humanly possible!
Thank you Hannes!
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