Shall we take a little trip to Essex? It’s east of London but it’s definitely not east London, the land of Blur, Depeche Mode, The Prodigy, Dr Feelgood, wheeler-dealers and dodgy geezers, Maldon sea salt, blokes who wash their Ford Mondeos religiously every Sunday morning, Tiptree jam, Grayson Perry, nosey neighbours, rowdy clubs, Joey Essex, Dermot O’Leary, Squarepusher, Basildon Man, a place where ring road towns lazily bleed into beautiful stretches of countryside underneath widescreen skies. It’s down the A12 and to the birthplace of radio that we’re headed. Keep going past Brentwood and all its TOWIE tanning beds and take a left into Chelmsford, the home of RAT BOY. After a decade of global tours as far afield as China, Japan and the US, a period that has included diversions into hip-hop, US-influenced ska-punk, RAT BOY have come back to base. Their excellent new record ‘SUBURBIA CALLING’ is all about returning to their roots.
Royale Lynn brings a signature blend of hard rock and country to life with fearless ambition. A small-town girl turned Nashville singer/songwriter, Lynn grew up with Avril Lavigne and Breaking Benjamin in her CD Walkman and makes music with gutsy abandon and charm. Lynn’s songs resonate with folks equally cozy at Stagecoach Festival or Sonic Temple. Heralded by Billboard as “a ferocious newcomer with ceiling-scraping vocals,” Royale Lynn’s boundary-smashing amalgamation of hard rock and country demonstrates the growing appetite for her brand of genre-bending. “I know there are a lot of people who grew up in the country that love rock, and vice versa,” Lynn reasons. “I want to bring together a community of people who embrace being different and who are open to talking about mental health in small towns.” That coming together is already well underway, as evidenced by the success of self-released singles like “Six Feet Deep” (which blew up on TikTok and Instagram) and “Redneck Rockstar.” Over one million people around the world listened to Royale Lynn on Spotify alone in 2023. “Six Feet Deep” acquired over 20 million social media views between Facebook reels, Instagram and Tik Tok. It shot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Sales chart. The earnest resolve, huge hooks, and catchy melodies of songs like “Rocket Man,” and “Runs in the Water” are undeniable. She played dozens of shows in 2023, including support slots with Luke Combs, Eli Young Band, and Jarrod Niemann, as well as a slew of headlining gigs across the country. In November 2023, she signed a worldwide deal with Epitaph Records. The sky’s the limit as Royale Lynn shares more of her music and herself with the world. “I just want to create,” she says. “If I sound more rock on some days and more country on others? Who cares? Why stay in a box? I won’t stay in a box. It’s just not something I can do and remain authentically myself.”