Interview with Royaljag
San Bernardino sweethearts, Royaljag have finally come out of hiding with the release of their new EP, ‘I Don’t Know How I Got Here’. As they hit the stage for the first time in a few months, we caught up with them to learn a bit more about their new music and favorite 90s nostalgia.
The 'Chameleon' EP was more of a collection of songs, and now 'IDKHIGH' is a full body of work. How did the process of this EP's creation differ from the last?
Jay: With this EP it felt like we were writing /for/ the record. Even though we had ideas that lived before 'Chameleon', we were getting together now to actually hash it out. It felt like we were an actual band. We had a timeline for this EP because we booked a session for a single with Jesse Barrera then as soon as we finished it, he booked the EP recording session for the next year. David: We finished 'Foreign Exchange' in July and he booked the session for March. We were like, "Uhhhh we don't have any ideas really, but ok!". He wanted us to do the EP with him so we did! We had come up with these songs all together with him as well.
You guys tweeted "Pay attention to the transition between 'Dangerous' and 'Division'", so are you also going to focus on transitions in your new live set?
David: I really want to! We have one for 'Afterglow' but we don't do that for all of them. We want to think about it, and it would definitely be cool if we could do it for every song. Jay: That stuff is a cool idea that we would definitely want to do. With the album and stuff it'd be exactly how you heard it recorded in the live show. We love transitions, if we can make it sound cool, we're all about it.
For everything starting with '909', the VHS tape, the music video, the album art, etc. is extremely different from your past visuals. Did you pick the shift for a specific reason?
David: For the '909' music video, that mostly came from our love of the 80s/90s. We just love that time period because everything seemed happier and we wanted to make people feel happy. We also went back to that time period because there are so many great things to get inspiration from like music, dancing, and styles. We really wanted to channel that but in our own Royaljag way.
Are we going to get a neon Royaljag sign for the stage next?
Jay: That would be so tight!! We would love that! David: Or a TV! We should put 'Space Jam' behind us!
Going on nostalgia, if you could describe this EP as one of your favorite 90s snacks, what would it be?
Roland: Bugles! David: Fruit Roll Ups! Jay: Nilla Wafers!
Is there anything specific about 'IDKHIGH' that you don't want fans to miss?
Roland: I think it's important that people see that this whole EP was based around our struggle of having to drive everywhere from San Bernardino. '909' was the perfect single because it talks about our experience of driving out then going back home then driving back out and so forth. A lot of the songs are about experiences we had while doing that so it all got tied together. We want people to kind of live that experience a little bit. David: You can see through the EP art that this is kind of a record you're meant to listen to in the car. For the long trip to wherever you're going. Like he said, for us it's for nights like tonight where we're in LA but going back to San Bernardino. Jay: We didn't really think of this as a concept record, but it kind of is? We want people to remember this EP as the one where we cut in and made something very different from what we had been. David: To us, the title 'I Dont Know How I Got Here' is that feeling of when you zone out on your way home when you're so used to that commute that you don't even realize how you got home. Jay: When David said that title, it all just made sense to us.
https://www.royaljagband.com/
Photos and interview by Ashton Carr
