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Sometimes being with the right person can make all the difference, even if everything in the world around you seems to be falling apart. Milwaukee-based rockers Royal Mill make that declaration on their latest single “Falls Apart,” which will be released this Friday, January 19.
For singer-songwriter and guitarist Matty Timmons, the “fun and bouncy” song’s message about “finding a person that you can get through all the highs and lows of life with” is deeply personal.
“The song is pretty biographical for me. The verses talk a lot about real events in my life. I met my wife in 2018 when I first moved here. We got married in 2020 and had a Covid wedding, which is a great excuse to disinvite all the weird aunts and uncles. Anyone who's getting married, I highly recommend doing it during a global pandemic,” he says.
“But we got engaged a week before shutdown. So there’s kind of all this weird “what’s going to happen in the world?” stuff in the background of our story and I think that’s what I'm trying to capture in the writing section of that is, ‘hey, it doesn't really matter what happens when you got the right people in your life when you’re around the right person and you got the love to get you through it all.’ If it falls apart, it just falls apart and you’re going to be OK.”
The song is one of many that Royal Mill have written since they formed two years ago. They hope 2024 is a busy year full of new music releases and shows. The band also features Brian Nielson (guitar and synth), Mark Soriano (bass guitar) and Bailey Fiste (drums and percussion).
Prior to the band’s performance on January 19 at Ope! Brewing Co. in West Allis in celebration of the single’s release that day, the Shepherd Express caught up with the group to find out their experience writing music, using their diverse influences to create a dynamic sound and using music to connect with others.
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How would you describe your experience writing and recording “Falls Apart”?
Timmons: It was very kind of all over the place in a lot of ways. I think we recorded drums in our friend's basement. We recorded some guitars in my basement, some guitars in Brian's living room. We recorded vocals just all over the place, so it was very piecemeal. I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like we're a very DIY band and the song in a lot of ways reflects that and it's always helpful. We sent the song to Jake Beyer who mixes a lot of the Doubter and the LO/ST and Endless Era stuff, and he worked some magic on it, and it sounds really great. I think he is the man. Brian and I always talk, we’re generally the biggest roadblocks to finishing things … And I think Bailey could just churn out a full album's worth of songs in about a week and we'd spend the next three years finding as perfect guitar parts as we're able to play.
Nielson: I guess the one thing I'd talk about with this song in particular is going back to Matty’s theme when he wrote it about the world falling apart and not knowing what's going on with it. A lot of the guitars sort of resemble that as well. There's an instrumental part for a bridge and the guitar in that if you listen to it starts to break up and go different ways on the left and right side of it. And that was something I did intentionally to go for that feeling of it not being connected and not being so clean. It feels like it's going to fall to pieces in a lot of ways.
What’s the story behind the band's name?
Timmons: I moved here from North Carolina in 2018, having met Brian on Instagram mostly. And the band's name comes from the street that I lived on in North Carolina, just outside Raleigh. Brian and I met, and we started playing music right away. We were working for, it felt like months, man, to figure out what we should call this project and we went through a bunch of horrible names. Just any street we drove past was like, “oh, maybe that'll be a good name.” And finally, we just settled on Royal Mill. That's kind of cool and it's a little fun homage to where I came from.
The band started about two years ago. Can you tell me a little bit about how everyone came together to form the band and why it seemed like a good fit?
Nielson: Matty and I have been writing music together since 2018 and around the time the pandemic hit, we were looking for some sort of outlet. We were both living together, so we started writing some stuff together. At that point I think Bailey jumped on with us, and we were sort of a three piece for a year and a half before we found Mark and asked him to join the band as well. It's been the four-piece for the last year or so, right?
Timmons: Yeah, we were the unholy trinity of two guitar players and a drummer for a long time and I think we invited Mark to play one show with us and immediately it was like, “oh yeah, this guy's it, this the man.”
How would you describe the band’s chemistry?
Timmons: I think for me, this is my favorite project I've ever been a part of because of how much it seems like every single person can bring their own influences and thoughts and ideas. Every person kind of brings their own vision to a song in some ways. I think that's what makes it so much fun for all of us is I can kind of write these weird folky love songs and Bailey can play crazy pop punk drums on it and Brian can do Shoegaze-y stuff. And I think it all comes together to be something kind of weird and fun and different than what any of us could do on our own.
Soriano: Yeah, it's cool because every time someone's like, “oh, have you heard this record?” I'm like, “I don't know what you're talking about.” And I think that's really fun because we're all listening to something different where it's like…oh, hey Bailey, I see your face.
I think Bailey turning on his camera the way he did is a pretty good example of our friendship is just we're always just laughing and just geeking out and like, “oh, what are you listening to right now?” It's nice not having four of the same personality in a band.
How would you describe the band’s sound? How do you think the band’s sound is unique compared to similar groups?
Timmons: I think it kind of goes back to indie rock by default. I don't really know what else to call it. In some ways I feel like I write these very poppy melodies that are very, I don't know, I'm kind of humming in that moment. But then Mark kind of does the real drive-y bass thing and Bailey does these crazy almost metal inspired drum fills sometimes and these crazy kick snare hat grooves that I don't even really know what to call the song or what to call the band's genre in a lot of ways. I think we talk about that often. Like, “Hey, what do we even sound like?”
Fiste: I feel like each song kind of has its own feel too. It’s indie rock in general, but each song kind of lets each of our influences shine in a little bit different way too.
Soriano: It kind of goes back to everyone just listening to a whole bunch of different things and there isn't too much talk about like, “oh, Bailey, do this drum beat or Mark play this bass part.” It's kind of just like someone will show an idea and then we just start playing and then just whatever comes out comes out.
Timmons: I guess it feels very intuitive to me and I think the guys would say the same thing, it's just kind of playing out of intuition. And I think we all have some shared overlaps in stuff we listened to. I think we all love the peak era Coldplay stuff. We all have tons of respect for the Tom Pettys and the classics, but I feel like we all kind of also diverged off. Bailey last night was showing us just the gnarliest heaviest screamo stuff and then I would show some acoustic singer songwriter and you couldn't be more opposite polar ends in some ways. And I think at our best, our music captures some of all of that in some ways.
I imagine it's pretty nice to have multiple songwriters to be able to draw ideas from.
Soriano: That’s one of the favorite parts for me, is I like hearing everyone's ideas and it's the kind of thing where everyone has so many ideas that it's just kind of inspiring. You know what I mean? Where it's like there's nothing worse than just sitting there showing someone an idea and everyone being like, “oh, that's fine.” Usually, everyone in here will react with whatever their next idea is. And I think the word Matty used was intuitive. I would say it's intuitive and really fun because it's a very creative space.
Timmons: I think we have an unspoken band policy of whatever idea you have, let's get to the end of it. Let's not leave any thought half-baked if you want to try a different way of singing that line or what that line even says or playing that part a certain way. We spend a lot of time really letting each other finish an idea and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. And I don't think there's a lot of ego in that either, which is great.
Nielson: Yeah, there's not a lot of fear of feedback coming from the group. I feel like everyone can say that's a good idea, that's a bad idea. And we take it with the best intentions.
Timmons: I have a lot of bad ideas.
Soriano: I think we all have a lot of bad ideas, but no one’s like a jerk whenever a bad idea comes out.
Beyond this new song, what are the band's plans for releasing new music?
Timmons: We actually just wrapped production on the next single, so we're excited for that one as well. And then I think we have, by last inventory, there's like a half a dozen or so more that kind of just live for the live show. And I think this spring and summer we are really hoping to start churning those out as singles and really put them out into the world.
They've been a ton of fun to play live, but you take them to the studio, and you start workshopping them and sometimes it breeds a whole new life into songs you've been playing for a year and a half. So, a little bit of that. And then I think in the spring we're trying to organize a couple regional out and backs and we've been playing in Milwaukee for about a year now and that's been a ton of fun but hitting some of the spots in Madison and Oshkosh, Sheboygan, all the Milwaukee party schools.
So, the plan is to release singles instead of a formal release like an EP or album?
Timmons: What we did for our debut EP was we put them all out as singles but then collected it as a cohesive EP. And I think I see us doing something very similar for this next batch as well. You want to give each song kind of a moment and put it out there and get it in the world. But I know we're all pretty big fans of having a certain level of cohesion as well, and I think finding that right collection for everything is kind of key.
What are you most looking forward to with the single release concert on January 19?
Nielson: For me, it's sharing the stage with some guys from Chicago, a band called Midwestern Dirt. We played with them last year and it was probably my favorite show that we played, a really cool band, great musicians, really cool guys. So, I'm happy to bring them back again and play a little bit bigger venue this time around and give them a little bit more taste of Milwaukee.
Timmons: Yeah, I concur a hundred percent. The Midwestern Dirt guys are great. They just put an album out themselves I think just a few months ago. Great listen, really fun and great live shows. I'm also looking forward to just being at Ope! Brewing Co. Great brewski, great room, dog friendly, always friendly, and kid friendly. And I just heard from Kyle over at Ope! that they have a bingo night going immediately prior to the show, so I'm looking forward to hopefully winning big on some bingo cards. I think that'll be fun. Maybe pay for the next single.
Soriano: Yeah, dude, that's dope.
What's one of your favorite moments with the band of late?
Fiste: I think how good this new single sounds, honestly, I feel very proud of how professional it sounds. I think it's the best song we've written, and I really like the direction that these new songs are going, so that's something I'm really proud of and excited about.
Soriano: Yeah, I'd echo that. I would say one of the most distinct memories I have is figuring out the bridge part to “Falls Apart.” Just being so stoked on the halftime part, just that discovery moment of “oh yeah, that's what this should be.” Moments like that mean more to me than an actual show or anything, you know what I mean? Just because of the creative side and there's so many little moments like that with these dudes that I'm just thankful for. But figuring that section out was really good for me.
Nielson: It’s funny because mine dovetails off of that. I was going to say, all our practice sessions and rehearsals that we have where we figure out these new parts to songs or we come with new songs. It’s exciting to have something new brought to the group and see where it goes from that moment. And a lot of the moments that make me want to continue being a band happen in those rehearsal spaces.
Timmons: I guess I'd round it out. I love sharing the songs with people. For me, the highlights are always the 10 minutes after we play the last song of a set, and the adrenaline hasn't quite worn off and I generally just completely black out on stage. I have no idea what even happened. So, coming down from that and realizing like, “oh man, I just got to share all this art that I made with my friends, with more of my friends and people that aren't friends yet.” I love the live show. For me, that's the bread and butter.
What are you most looking forward to in the year ahead? Any exciting things in the works?
Fiste: I think playing more shows in different cities
Around Wisconsin?
Fiste: Around Wisconsin, Midwest specifically. But yeah, just in front of new people and new audiences.
Timmons: Yeah. I love meeting new bands. Every time we play a show with someone new, I love connecting with the new folks and hanging out with people during the other people's sets. And personally, we've got a goal, a certain number of shows we'd really like to play this year. And to me those are just opportunities to get to know new people and get to know more people. And that's what it's about. I love the way that being in a band can really help you meet new folks and new friends.
