All wet: The Royalty's Daniel Marin, Mike Hernandez, Nicole Boudreau, Jesus Apodaca and Joel Quintana. Why the pout? Read on.
It's been a busy year for El Paso rockers The Royalty.
The quintet, who'll return to the Neon Desert Music Festival on May 25, have toured steadily since the release of their Victory Records label debut, "Lovers," on May 8, 2012.
In that time, they've seen audiences start to grow, CD sales pick up, hired a booking agent, Rocky Road Touring, and replaced departed bassist Will Daugherty (now fulltime lead guitarist with The Lusitania) with Mike Hernandez.
The band, which plays the Mack Massey Stage at 5:15 p.m. May 25, has more of the same in store for the summer. They also will make an appearance at the new Whataburger autograph tent at 10 p.m. that day.
The only announced dates so far include June 20 in Kansas City, July 8 in Los Angeles, July 14 in San Francisco and July 20 at the Texas Tattoo Showdown Festival at the Coliseum here. But there will be plenty more, says singer Nicole Boudreau, she of the alluring voice.
"Last year was good and this year looks good, too," she said, adding that they'll be "working hard and traveling a ton" this summer.
The band — guitarist Jesus Apodaca, keyboardist Daniel Marin, drummer Joel Quintana, Hernandez and Boudreau — has begun to notice the inroads it's been making on the road, be it adjectival praises like "invigorating" that press outlets are using to describe their blend of '60s girl pop and alt-rock sensibilities, or audiences, be they in LA or at SXSW, that are getting into their songs, which are as catchy as a cold.
"At the end of last year, we were starting to see a difference," Boudreau said. "People in San Francisco were singing along in the crowd, or I'd walk down the street and Philadelphia and someone says, 'Oh, you're that girl.' It's weird to see."
The band's been so busy performing that it hasn't had much time to write new songs. In fact, interest in it's self-released, self-titled 2010 album has picked up as a result of all that road work.
But Boudreau said they'll start planning a new album this summer, but they'll have to find out if they can write on the road, since they won't have the luxury of writing at home, as they did with "Lovers," recorded early last year in Los Angeles with producer Cameron Webb.
"I get inspiration from where I'm at, like sitting downtown somewhere and watching people. I think that's helpful for me lyrically, but I haven't seen how the guys (on tour) or what they need to get inspired," she said.
This will be their second NDMF appearance, having played the first one. "I was surprised that it was executed as well as it was," she said.
The group was on tour last year, so its members didn't get to take in the second NDMF.
"Three years into it, I can't wait to see how it's improved," said Boudreau, whose band has been around since 2005.
While things have been royally good for The Royalty, one of the group's newer publicity photos depicts a grim-faced Boudreau surrounded by the rest of the band at a hot tub.
The story behind that, she said, is she's wearing a slip, not a dress, and "felt very uncomfortable."
"The look that came out on my face was pouty," she said, sounding embarrassed. "I'm in my underwear."
That's rock 'n' roll for you.
Doug Pullen writes about the national music scene for elpasotimes.com.
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