Away Team

Royal Bliss- Waiting Out The Storm

Air Castle Records

Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed By: Jay Rybak

 

 

 

 

Salt Lake City’s own Royal Bliss are just the latest band in a long line of those self-releasing their music on their own label.  At first listen, I was admittedly, a little on the fence, but that’s why we listen more than a few times.  My first introduction to the aforementioned came in the form of their single “Save Me”, off of 2009′s Life In-Between;  having been a fan of such 90′s era bands as Candlebox and The Nixons, I was immediately drawn to them.  In fact, the first few times I heard the song, I swore I was listening to a new band formed by Jimmy Newquist of Caroline’s Spine. Surprised? I think I just heard a collective ‘WTF? You’re a fan of that stuff?’ but what can I say, I’ve always had an appreciation for some of the more obscure rock bands of the 90′s, call it a guilty pleasure of mine.  This album is no different.  Waiting Out The Storm, the follow up to the band’s 2009 major label debut will be hitting stores this Tuesday, January 24th, and it promises not to disappoint.

Who says you can’t start out in fifth gear?  The debut single “I Got This” warms up the engine for what promises to be a wild ride.  Neal Middleton’s dynamic vocals are the perfect compliment to Taylor Richards’ screaming guitar which at times bears a remarkable resemblance to the play of Tony Rombola (Godsmack).  The pace continues through the next track, “Monster”, before downshifting to the anthemic ballad “Bleed My Soul”. 

Middleton and Co. then ask ‘Why don’t we “Wake Up”  in what could easily be a cut off of My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade. The album again slows it down for traffic through the next few tracks, before driving head on into what is perhaps my favorite track off the album.  “Sunburn” is the perfect blend of Our Lady Peace-meets-Fuel that leaves our ears screaming for more.

All in all, Waiting Out The Storm is the quintessential blend of melodic rock and poppy hooks that packs more punch (and better teeth) than an Elton John vs. Madonna cage match.  This album comes very highly recommended, and if you’re not at your local record store on Tuesday to purchase it, you deserve to have your ears gnawed off by both of them!

For more Royal Bliss visit the band’s official website here.

 

 

 

 

January 2nd, 2012 – Salt Lake City, UT band Royal Bliss is gearing up for the release of their new album Waiting Out The Storm on January 24th, 2012. The new single “Crazy“ will be impacting rock radio in January.  The band will be hitting the road on a co-headlining tour with Bobaflex starting January 6th.

Royal Bliss has been making their mark across the country for years now. Constant writing, recording, and touring have helped build the success of the band. The wide variety of influences from Johnny Cash to Snoop Dogg to Led Zeppelin and the Toadies with everything in between have melded a sound that cannot be denied. In 2009 their Capitol Records debut Life In-Between charted in the Billboard top 200 and was #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.   The album produced 2 top 25 songs (“Save Me” and “We Did Nothing Wrong”). Touring with acts such as Buckcherry, Candlebox, Chevelle, Kid Rock, and Papa Roach has only increased the demand for the dynamic band from Utah. From the on-stage antics of front man Neal Middleton, to the energetic live shows, Royal Bliss continues to win fans over, all over the globe.

The band’s new album Waiting Out The Storm was produced by Brian Virtue (Chevelle, Deftones, 30 Seconds To Mars) and is a healthy dose of timeless rock energy combined with sing-a-long pop hooks, poetic and heart-felt honest lyrics that has been missing in rock radio for quiet some time.

ROYAL BLISS / BOBAFLEX TOUR DATES (more dates to be announced)

FRIDAY, 1-06-12  IDAHO FALLS, ID    RED LION

SATURDAY, 1-07-12 MISSOULA, MT    LUCKY STRIKE

SUNDAY, 1-08-12  SPOKANE, WA    A CLUB

WEDNESDAY, 1-11-12 YAKIMA, WA           THE REC ROOM

THURSDAY, 1-12-12 RICHLAND, WA    RAYS GOLDEN LOUNGE

FRIDAY, 1-13-12  WENATCHEE, WA           HURRICANES

SATURDAY, 1-14-12 SEATTLE, WA            THE JET BAR

MONDAY, 1-16-12          PORTLAND, OR                             TIGER BAR

FRIDAY, 1-20-12  SANTA ROSA, CA    LAST DAY SALOON

SATURDAY, 1-21-12 RENO, NV     CARGO ROOM

MONDAY, 1-23-12  SALT LAKE CITY, UT   GRAYWHALE

TUESDAY, 1-24-12         SALT LAKE CITY, UT   THE COMPLEX

FRIDAY, 1-27-12  MANKATO, MN    BUSTERS

SATURDAY, 1-28-12 BURLINGTON, IA    THE EVENTS CENTER

THURSDAY, 2-02-12 OTTAWA, IL     RURAL OAKS

FRIDAY, 2-03-12  JANESVILLE, WI    BACK BAR

SATURDAY, 2-04-12 KENOSHA, WI            BRAT STOP

TUESDAY, 2-07-12   LANSING, MI            THE LOFT

FRIDAY, 2-10-12  BATTLE CREEK, MI   PLANET ROCK

SATURDAY, 2-11-12 FLINT, MI             THE MACHINE SHOP

WEDNESDAY, 2-15-12 MARION, OH            TINK’S ROCK

 

For more ROYAL BLISS, visit the band’s official website here.

Atlantic recording artists Shinedown formed in Jacksonville, FL in 2001.  Since then, they have released three albums full of countless hits, such as “Fly from the Inside”, “45″, ”Save Me”, and more recently “Devour”, “The Crow and the Butterfly”, and who could forget their brilliant cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Simple Man”.  All the while they have been touring their asses off, and playing in front of packed houses, and surprisingly enough none of them have included me.  I don’t know how it came to be that I never had the chance to get out and see these guys, but I can’t believe what great shows I’ve missed.  That being said, it should come as no surprise that when the opportunity arose to interview guitarist Zach Myers at a stop on this summer’s Carnival of Madness tour, I jumped at the chance.  Here’s how it all went down as Zach and I talked about everything from the tour, to Ozzy, to oil spills.

AWAY-TEAM:  First off, I’d like to congratulate you on the tour, and the success of the fifth single off “The Sound of Madness” , “The Crow and the Butterfly”.  I saw that it just hit number one on the Active Rock charts, and it’s poised to do the same on the Mainstream Rock chart.

ZACH MYERS:  Thanks.  That’s five number ones on this record, we’re so very blessed, and we’re really excited.  And now we just found out they’re gonna release one more single, so we’re gonna go for six.

AWAY-TEAM:  Can you tell me what that’s gonna be?

ZACH MYERS:  I think it’s gonna be “Breaking Inside”, but I’m not sure.  I can’t confirm that, but I think that’s what it is.

AWAY-TEAM:  So six singles AND you’re gonna knock Ozzy off the top spot.  That’s pretty cool.

ZACH MYERS:  Yeah.  We did already, actually, on Active Rock.  Sorry Ozzy.

AWAY-TEAM: (laughs)  Back to the tour, you guys have assembled a killer lineup, how did this all happen?

ZACH MYERS:  The idea came up…Brent (frontman Brent Smith) wanted to do a festival tour, our manager also wanted to do a festival tour, our manager manages all of these bands.  So it was pretty easy to put together, ya know what I mean, it was all in house.  It was cool man.  It was something that we asked all these bands, we picked the bands.  It was a fun idea, when we put it all together, and ya know the best thing about the summer is festivals.  And these are all bands that would be on a festival anyway, so we went to every single one of them and said “Why don’t we put on a festival.  Our own festival, and travel around”  The backstage vibe is way cooler like that.  Festivals are just like class reunions, you get together and see all your friends again, so why not have that for a couple months.  So it was a very easy idea to put together.  It was a no-brainer.

AWAY-TEAM:  You mentioned that you thought summer festivals were fun.  Is this something that you plan to do annually? 

ZACH MYERS:  It is gonna be an annual thing.  But it’s gonna be almost like when Limp Bizkit did the uh…

AWAY-TEAM: Family Values?

ZACH MYERS:  Yeah.  We’re not gonna be on it every year.  I know that we probably won’t be on it next year, but the following year we’ll probably do it. 

AWAY-TEAM:  So kinda “One on, one off”?

ZACH MYERS:   Yeah.  But it will be an annual thing.  The Carnival will be an annual event, but who headlines will be different from year to year.

AWAY-TEAM:  With Ozzfest kinda winding it’s way down, it seems like the perfect replacement.

ZACH MYERS:  Yeah, and you never know, maybe we could move it to like two or three stages.  We would all love that.

AWAY-TEAM:  That’d be great.  In ten words or less, what can a fan expect to see at the Carnival of Madness?

ZACH MYERS:  Madness.  It’s a carnival. (laughs) Um.  Loud. (pauses) Five of the greatest live shows you’ve ever seen.

AWAY-TEAM:  You guys had a Live DVD that was scrapped back in 2007.  Any chance we’ll get a Live DVD/Album from this tour?

ZACH MYERS:  I can tell you that we’re gonna record a couple shows.  DVD’s are so hard pressed now with labels, because they don’t really make any money off of them.  They put money into them but they really, no matter how many you sell of them, it’s not like the old days where when you sell a concert DVD, you can’t really sell a million copies of one.  Ya know what I mean? I couldn’t tell you the last person who did that in the last ten years, so.  We actually talked about doing it ourselves, and funding it ourselves.  This is way too cool of a show to not put out a DVD of some sort.  If there’s not a DVD, after this we’re doing an acoustic tour and we’re definitely gonna film alot of that, so…

AWAY-TEAM:  Now, five singles off “The Sound of Madness”, you said you’re ready to release a sixth, it’s been about three years when can we expect to see a new Shinedown studio album?

ZACH MYERS:  Umm. At the earliest, I would say at the end of 2011.  At the very earliest.  We’re gonna take October off, and go write in L.A.  We’ve been writing alot anyway, we wrote the Alice in Wonderland song (“Her Name is Alice”), we’ve written “Diamond Eyes” for The Expendables.  But yeah, we’re gonna go write in October, then we’re gonna go do this acoustic tour, and then I think we’re gonna wind it down in about mid-December.  Kinda take a break, take about a month or two off, and then start it all back over again.

AWAY-TEAM:  You guys recently joined the ever growing list of bands that are boycotting BP Petroleum…

ZACH MYERS:  I don’t know where this is coming from. 

AWAY-TEAM:  Not true?

ZACH MYERS:  No.  We’ve been asked that like five times.  I don’t know where… I disagree with it, I think it’s completely fucked.  We all live in the south, so ya know that’s our home…Do I get gas at BP when I’m home? No.

AWAY-TEAM:  So I guess the question still does apply.  If you had the podium at a BP board meeting, what would you say to them?

ZACH MYERS:  What can you say?  Who’s fault is it?  It’s really not their fault.  In all honesty, it’s not their fault when something like that happens.  It’s a natural disaster, they didn’t pop the cap off the thing.  But it is their fault for not fixing it sooner, or not having a plan in place.  They really, if they would’ve kept their mouths shut, then it would’ve been fine.  But this guy kept going on and saying things like “There’s more shrimp in Louisiana”.  This guy’s an idiot, ya know what I mean?  He’s put his foot in his mouth so many times.  When you’re the head of a company and you have to have security to escort you back to Europe so people don’t kill you, it’s because you’ve opened your mouth too much.  But no, as a band we can’t get involved in that.  It’s not our place, we’re not a political band.  The most political we’ve ever been is “Devour” and that’s just us talking about what WE saw when WE were in Iraq.  But other than that, we’re not a political band, it’s not our business.  Eric (bassist Eric Bass) and I are very political as people, but we don’t bring that into the band.  You don’t talk about politics, and you don’t talk about religion, that’s just something that you don’t do. 

AWAY-TEAM:  This is your work.  You don’t talk politics at work.

ZACH MYERS:  Yeah, and bands that use 45 minutes of their 2 hour set to talk about politics should be shot!  I’m sorry, it’s people that pay to hear you bitch? So what? No one cares!  U2 is one of my favorite bands of all time, and yeah Bono will slip things in here and there, but he doesn’t take half an hour.  And that’s the thing about it, it’s finding that line, ya know.  Some bands don’t do that.

AWAY-TEAM:  Well thanks, man.  I’m looking forward to the show tonight, and thanks for your time.  Have a good show.

ZACH MYERS:  Thank you very much.  We’ll do our best.  This is only our third show of the tour, so we’ll see how it goes.

AWAY-TEAM: Just warming up.

ZACH MYERS:  Just warming up, and my whole body hurts already. (laughs)

AWAY-TEAM:  Well, hey Zach thanks alot.  It’s been a pleasure.

ZACH MYERS:  Thanks.  I appreciate it.

For more Shinedown, including Tour Dates and to purchase their music visit http://www.shinedown.com/

Special thanks to Zach Myers for so graciously giving me his time, and to Julie Lichtenstein at SKH Music for making it all happen.