Royal Republic

To fully understand Royal Republic’s drive for rock ’n’ roll redemption, you have to go back a bit. Before forming late in 2007, all four members studied at Malmo’s prestigious Academy Of Music. As Adam points out, this has ensured that the communication between them “is like lightning”, but for all their musical sophistication, there’s another key reason why Royal Republic rule: each member is one-hundred-percent in touch with his inner Viking.  “My whole education at university was about holding back”, explains Per, who has a masters degree in classical percussion.  “It was always: ‘keep it down’; ‘cherish your sound’, but I just wanted to hit things harder and louder. When Royal Republic came along, it was a great release.”“And the same for me”, says Adam. “After years of having to be perfectly in-time and perfectly in-tune, being in this this band has helped me to drag out all the grit, all the real emotion.”One can certainly hear that on “Walk!”, another of Weekend Man’s plentiful stash of potential singles. Adam clearly relishes wrapping his tonsils around the song’s insistent command to, well, Walk!. With its ballsy, thrill-a-second riffing, you could say the song is a masterclass in simplicity. “We had to tread carefully so as not to stomp all over its initial genius”, says Hannes. “Is Walk! particularly smart? No. Is it freaking awesome? I’d say so!