What I Am Listening to: Royal Headache

One of my favorite recent discoveries is the Australian band Royal Headache. 

I can almost definitely ascribe them to algorithm-based streaming. An Australian garage rock band would hit a lot of my favorite listens. I know algorithm based listening isn’t perfect. I compare it to listening to a commercial radio station (albeit one that plays your favorite bands). There’s a lot of repetition and it some times it feels like some bands get pushed more than others. A revelation that came when it was discovered one of the most streamed songs out there was a B-side recorded in the 90s by Pavement. 

That Royal Headache’s streaming stats stay high after they broke up in 2017 does not surprise me. I don’t want to get off track though. They released two albums - one in 2011 and one in 2015. Both are great though I will give the edge to High, the second album which was Steve LaMacq’s album of that year. There are very few albums that capture the band’s energy here. 

At just under 30 minutes, it’s a mix of punk angst and good ol indie rock longing. The NME (in its review of the band) namedrops The Dead Kennedys, the Smiths, Oasis, the Jam and the Sex Pistols. While those aren’t perfect descriptions, one can see the influences from those artists that helped the band straddle the throwback American Garage Rock sound (King Tuff, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees) with more modem noise rock like Japandroids and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. 

While the band has a standout legacy, it hasn’t (as often is the case) transferred to the ensuing band. Singer “Shogun” Tim Hall has started a band with singer/guitarist Finn Berzin called Finnoguns Wake which released its debut EP in 2024. (Finnoguns Wake doesn’t quite capture Royal Headache’s ferocity, at least not of yet, but it’s still early. 

Also, sadly like many acts, has only attracted a slight fraction of the listeners too) 2024 also saw the release of a live Royal Headache album “Live in America” consisting of eight songs recorded at WMFU in June 2012 and nine songs recorded during a concert at the Empty Bottle in Chicago in August of 2015. The band is insistent that there are no plans for a reunion but it’s a solid document for what was surely a magical band that gave us some magical moments