The Royston Club – Songs For The Spine: New Music Friday

Artwork for the royston club's album songs for the spine

The Royston Club have released their second studio album on New Music Friday – revisit Live4ever’s review and stream it right here.

In much the same way bands from Liverpool either talk about their home first or not at all, you sense that The Royston Club will soon have to decide what they’re going to do about Wrexham.

It still feels very weird writing this, because the newly minted city in North Wales has if not physically then in profile been transformed over the first half of this decade.

The process has largely driven by the success of the American owned football team (who wouldn’t want Deadpool on their side after all?), but the halo effect means using it in your origin story might not now result in just a shrug.

The quartet’s origins lie in a joining together of like-minded school mates Ben Matthias (guitar), Tom Faithfull (lead vocals, guitar) and Dave Tute (bass), with the later edition of Sam Jones on drums.

It was this line-up that played their 2019 debut gig in the tiny Saith Seren pub, but the four-year journey to their outstanding debut album Shaking Hips And Crashing Cars was punctuated by many acts of kindness from the people they never left behind.

The Royston Club’s growth fails to dispel the idea that this sliver of the British music market is mainly a provincial, grass roots affair; the band are part of a new generation of groups with similar backgrounds such as The K’s and The Reytons.

This particular waiting room has a glass ceiling though, one which takes more than good will and pub toilet graffiti to break through.

Recognising this, The Royston Club wrote out on a whiteboard a high concept for the material on Songs For The Spine to which they would always have in mind – ‘De-indie-fy’.

Click here for the review in full