Filled with funky feels, intricate instrumentals and versatile vocals, Royal Coda’s latest album, “To Only A Few At First,” pushes the envelope for the post-hardcore genre.
The LP marks the third release from the Sacramento-based band, which came out on August 12.
Despite dropping the album recently, the band wrote it over the course of two weeks in September 2020, according to this “ask me anything” Reddit thread with the group.
Joseph Arrington, the band’s drummer, talked about the creation of the album and some of the difficulties the group faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the members wanted to write new music, they did not know how to market an album with the future looking so uncertain.
At the time, the band just had its largest planned tour cancelled (which was going to feature the likes of Dance Gavin Dance, Animals As Leaders and Veil of Maya), and the members did not know when they would be able to perform live shows again.
“We just didn’t know the angle yet; we didn’t know how to make this work,” Arrington said. “It was impossible to know how this would pan out.”
But knowing that the album release process would take longer than usual, the band decided to take a “leap of faith” in starting a new project, according to Arrington. The drummer said that guitarist Will Swan wanted to trust the group’s musical instincts and not overthink the composition, challenging the band to write a song a day.
After being cooped up and finishing writing, the band headed to Portland, Oregon, to record with audio producer Kris Crummett. Out of a total of 14 songs drafted, 10 made the cut, according to Arrington.
Kurt Travis, the group’s vocalist, talked about how his experience in Portland heavily influenced his lyrics and the album’s themes of political turmoil, technological influence and emotional estrangement. He explained how navigating through COVID-19 precautions during recording and witnessing the riots in response to George Floyd’s murder shaped his writing.
“The lyrics definitely reflect an apocalyptic, dystopian era of how everything was feeling,” Travis said.
Travis also touched on how the housing crisis in Portland, the murder of Breonna Taylor and the country’s fractured political state affected his mentality.
“Thoughts of giving up just flooded my head,” Travis said. “I tried to shroud it in metaphor, but it’s pretty apparent.”
While the record still includes elements of love and heartache traditionally found in Travis’ music, he said that he focused on what weighed on him the most: the state of the world.
In terms of the instrumentals, bassist Steffen Gotsch addressed some musical inspirations, specifically citing Tower of Power as being an integral influence for the intricate, groovy rhythms at the backbone of the new songs.
Gotsch also noted the impressions found from the various projects that the band members are and have been involved with, spanning from post-hardcore bands like Dance Gavin Dance and A Lot Like Birds to indie-pop groups like Gold Necklace.
“We’re pulling from all the bands that we’ve played with — all the experience that we’ve gained from that,” Gotsch said.
But even with the styles that each member brings, Gotsch said that the group strived to produce something distinct that blended genres and brought a new sound.
“That’s what we were trying to go for: something that had some grit and some funk and some pop at the same time,” Gotsch said.
Looking forward, Royal Coda plans to finish its current tour alongside Dance Gavin Dance and Body Thief, and the members are excited to put something else out.
“I want to write a new one,” Travis said.
Check out the band’s website for vinyl and CDs, and stream the new album here.
