It's feature album time again. You may have noticed the name change from "Album of the week" to "Feature album". This is because these have been coming out less frequently then initially intended and rather than trying to change that we've decided to just subtly lower the expectations.
This week we are featuring the most recent offering from Port Macquarie's Royal Chant. Yes that means this is the third time this year that Mark Spence has been featured in some shape or form, but he's been busy releasing lots of stuff!
In this the band's 9th album, Royal Chant continue producing infectiously catchy tunes delivered in a raw garage rocking fashion topped with Mr Spence's poetic and cryptic lyrics.
13 years. 9 albums. Royal Chant get around. Royal Chant (often abbreviated as RC) is an Australian indie rock band formed in 2009 in the small coastal town of Port Macquarie. The band has made frequent personnel changes but has always maintained the presence of principal songwriter & singer/guitarist Mark Spence. Taking his initial songwriting cues from Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Robert Pollard, Shane MacGowan, & Michael Stipe (to name just a few), Royal Chant's extensive songbook contains trace elements of Sonic Youth, GBV, the early proto-punk of Idlewild, and basically anything with heart, a good melody, and a fuzz pedal or two. Of course the Beatles are lurking in there somewhere as well, all thrown together over the years into a fuzz-box blender and fused with a blue-collar work ethic, good manners, and an odd penchant for being on time and reading the worksheet before live shows.
The current line-up consists of Mark on guitar (or baritone guitar) and vocals and Wade Mobbs behind the drums, with guitarist and multi-instrumentalist James Carthew remaining a contributing member of the band both on record and on stage despite living and designing killer space robots in Ann Arbour, Michigan in the U-S-of-A.
Check out Royal Chant's website to find out more!