Royal Thunder Drops The Hammer!

The first time I heard of the band Royal Thunder I immediately thought of the hammer-brandishing Norse god, Thor, who not only can bring the thunder, but also sell tickets at the box office. When I was a kid– or last week, I read Marvel’s “The Mighty Thor” comic books and contemplated letting my short blond hair grow in to a flowing mane of glory. As a child, I looked more like a floppy mopped-Beatle than a Norwegian god. If I let my locks grow now my appearance would probably resemble a redneck version of Nick Cave, accompanied with a subtle southern accent.

Josh Weaver and Mlny Parsonz of Royal Thunder, also have southern accents, but don’t let that fool you in to thinking they play Lynyrd Skynyrd covers. When I actually heard their self-released EP back in 2009 I felt like a had been transported back to England in the early 70’s and should be lining up the rails and having my Tarot read. Now that Royal Thunder has teamed up with Relapse Records, the sky is the limit or maybe even their source of power as they set out to release their first full-length album.

All joking aside, as long as Royal Thunder follows in the footsteps of their seven-track debut EP, all of their future releases will have a place in my record collection, right next to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid.

Purge: Last year you re-released your self-titled EP on Relapse Records. What’s it like being signed to one of the biggest metal labels out there?

Josh: They’re a really hard working label. It seems like they’re really trying to broaden the type of music they have on the label, which is awesome. We got to go up there in November and meet a lot of the people and go to the warehouse and see how hard they work. They’ve gone above and beyond helping us out. We’re really excited about working with them.

Purge: The second track on your EP is called “Sleeping Witch”. Is that a Left 4 Dead video game reference?

Mlny: No. “Sleeping Witch” is something within someone. It’s something inside of them that they’re trying to push down. There’s all these things that call out to it. It’s pretty vague, but I don’t like to explain lyrics too much because I feel like it ruins it for people if it has a totally different meaning for them.

Purge: What are your plans for releasing a full-length album?

Josh: We’re in the process of getting the bass and the drums done. We’re getting ready to start doing the guitars and vocals. We’re shooting for a fall release.

Purge: What’s the album going to be titled?

Mlny: No idea. I was just thinking about that the other day. I was like “Ahh Shit, I gotta start thinking about the title of the album”!

Purge: You just got back from SXSW. What was it like experiencing it from a band’s perspective?

Josh: We had a couple of hours to walk around and it was crazy because bands we’re playing in every single bar, but the funny thing was, the bands that caught our ear were Atlanta bands. We saw some sets with Ponderosa and Biters. I had never seen either one of those bands and it was great. I was actually surprised about how much heavy music there was. I like heavy music, but I don’t really listen to much of it anymore. It was kind of overwhelming.

Mlny: I’ve never been to Mardi Gras, but it kind of felt like what I would imagine it to be like. There were tons and tons of people. Anything that you can imagine, it was happening. There was this band from Portugal and this guy had a long didgeridoo looking instrument that he was talking in to and they had a crazy drummer. They were really captivating. I was thinking “What do you even fucking call this?”. It was amazing. There were bands like that everywhere.

Purge: What’s your favorite color?

Mlny: Burnt vintage yellow!

Josh: I don’t even know.

Mlny: You don’t know your favorite color?

Josh: Nah, I just like all colors. I guess, whatever mood I’m in.

Purge: It’s funny when you’re a kid how you’re like “Blue is my fucking favorite color!”, but when you get older it’s whatever colors that you’re wearing.

Mlny: It’s like music, when people ask you what you’re listening to and you’re older, you just listen to whatever fucking sounds good.

Purge: Other than releasing your full-length, what do you guys have planned for this year?

Mlny: We hope after releasing the album we hit the road.

Josh: That’s basically the plan. Get the album out, hit the road and stay busy.

Royal Thunder will be headlining Purge ATL’s Friday the 13th show at The Basement.

$10 Admission, Doors @ 9pm

Join us if you’re not too superstitious!