A thread for Australian garage-pop-punk-soul geniuses ROYAL HEADACHE, the best rock band of this decade, occasioned by their forthcoming 2015 album HIGH

I'm surprised that more reviews don't mention The Saints debut (a vastly underrated classic) when discussing this band.

I can't stop listening to this record. One of the best of the year.

yeah it got under my skin too

Weird fact: I saw them three times on their U.S. tour, and they didn't do "Little Star" once. In fact there were three or four songs from the new album that didn't get played at any of the shows I went to, whereas every non-instrumental song from the first album got a hearing.

I was a naysayer to this but I'm coming around. Some retro mod garagey cuts don't wow me, but there's good stuff on here I am liking.

They're gonna be on Seth Meyers this Wednesday. Also playing shows in NYC Wednesday and Thursday night.

I used to live in a world
Of rock 'n' roll
And tons of girls
Here in my own fantasy
It was my own fantasy

They posted a new t shirt on Facebook, maybe they are still going?

They're on tour in North America right now! I saw them in DC this past weekend. They added a keyboard player and have a new rhythm section.

They're playing a show with the Marked Men in LA in a few days, which just seems unfair.

It took me awhile but I finally am onboard with these folks (right after missing that DC gig cuz I had to work). Not sure I am ready to take it this far yet-- Chr*s richards in the Washington Post just proclaimed them the greatest rock band out around...

When I read "garage-pop-punk-soul" I immediately thought of Green. High is ok, hardly monumental, but not bad, but doesn't approach Green's debut, particularly not where the vocals are concerned:

https://youtu.be/VXBjiPkZsHM

Green are/were more power pop; Royal Headache are more garage mod punk

They just posted “2008-2017” on their Facebook page. Too bad but I guess it’s nice to go out on a high note.

Coincidentally My Own Fantasy came on my phone on shuffle on Thursday and I thought I like this song I wonder if those guys are still going. Oh well

They've broken up (or nearly done so) before, so I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the end. But if it is, they've got some really great unreleased songs that I hope come out in some form.

Shogun's new band https://shogunandthesheets.bandcamp.com/

awesome...thanks for the heads up

very Mott/Ian Hunter

Sounds great. Thanks!

Pissing Blood's the standout for me

I like the sonics and I like the label head- ILX0r oriain is buddies with him- and I like some tunes, especially “Love Her If I Tried,” which brought me here, but yeah, so far the songs mostly still sound a little generic to me.

Does seem to split the difference between The Undertones and The Reigning Sound in an intriguing way, with some Bob Pollard vocal stylings in the mix.

Seems to have forgotten to mention the Buzzcocks

we should poll threads on new bands where the thread starter is, uh, extremely enthusiastic about them

most of them vanish into the ether, it's only threads on like shabazz palaces where the thread title sticks around to embarrass everyone

not down on the concept mind, i kind of love declaring a band to be the greatest band in history on the basis of really liking their first single on first listen, i think it's totally valid!

I remain extremely enthusiastic about Royal Headache. I love both LPs and both 7-inches. I saw them live nine times (the best was Baltimore in 2015, the worst was DC in 2017--they had a new, more technically proficient drummer, which didn't suit them at all).

I admit the thread title was (intentionally) hyperbolic, but I still think they were great.

Okay, it’s starting to click

"My Own Fantasy" is one of the only good "rock n roll" songs in decades

Yes, that is one problematic type of song.

My Own Fantasy should probably be the last one tbh

Still like this, and prefer to put this on rather than digging through the thousands of post-Alien Lanes GBV spinoffs, reunions etc, even in distilled playlist form, sorry.

Totally forgot about this band but just got a reminder.

You ate my face
To take my place
So you can shine
In another world

Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl9H_2eN2vQ

Shogun's incredibly dumbly named new band sounds great!

also Royal Headache updated the cover image on their Facebook page 3 days ago

https://finnogunswake.bandcamp.com/album/stay-young

Enjoy the song Shogun sings, might need to spend more time getting used to the other guy!

I saw talk on social media somewhere that there's a live album in the works on What's Your Rupture, which includes some songs they never got to record before they split up. I'd be pretty into that and it would explain the Facebook update.

*bump*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecM24hsY_vY

Did we comment on GBV similarities upthread?

shogun has a new band - https://antennnnna.bandcamp.com/album/antenna-2

yep this is good