Milwaukee’s rock scene is by and large a dirty, disheveled little thing, and we like it that way: Our clubs aren’t literally smoky anymore, but the smoke is still implied, and even our relatively polished musicians usually look like they just finished a long shift and/or are battling a lingering hangover. The Royals, then, are outliers. The clean-cut five piece band plays pop music in the truest sense of the word, mirroring Top 40 radio with sticky melodies, shiny production and programmed beats (in lieu of a drummer they have a drum machine guy named Jonny The Maschinist). This is alien territory for most Milwaukee rock bands; offhand I can’t think of any other local groups that could be compared to One Direction, but I’m pretty sure that’s what The Royal are going for on their latest single, “Head First.”
The band, which claims 14,000 singles sold and more than a half million plays on YouTube, released a video for that track last month. You can watch it below.
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