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Underground > Radio & Music >

Royal Trux: dirty, like that bastard

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:59 / 25.04.03

You ever have that thing where you've heard of a band but somehow never managed to hear their music, even though you kinda knew already that you'd really, really dig them?

I just discovered Royal Trux.

Royal Trux, motherfucker.

It all started with Flux telling me if I liked The Kills, I needed to hear the Trux - this was important. So he sent me a CD with 'Sunshine & Grease' on, and it's automatically up there, y'know, just up there with my favourite songs that encapsulate a feeling, in this case the feeling of sitting in the sun feeling pleasantly hungover, unwashed, wistful, oversexed and probably about to get wasted again. It's just pretty much perfect.

Now I've heard a bunch of their other stuff, and it's a real mixed bag, innit? Much of it brilliant. I'm trying to decided which album I need to buy. I'm leaning towards one of the following: Thank You (on the basis of hearing 'Ray O Vac', 'Map Of The City' and 'You're Gonna Lose'), Pound For Pound (on the basis of 'Blind Navigator' but even more so, 'Sunshine & Grease' and 'Small Thief', however I have read somewhere that the rest of this album is nothing like these two songs - true?). Or Accelerator (but probably not - is it all as gloriously silly as 'Juicy Juicy Juice' and 'The Banana Question'? I dig that, but I might make this my second choice...).

So any advice/recommendations = welcome (hint: I like the duelling-vocal, bluesy, scuzzy, sexy beast stuff the best, closely followed by the Exile On Main Street-style collapsed-country-rock-beast slower stuff). Or other people can just talk about why they love Royal Trux (motherfucker), or why they don't...

16:49 / 25.04.03

Holy shit. You've just made me realise that I've lost my copy of Thank You. Crap.

I was just talking Trux with someone the other day. Accelerator was the first I got and remains my favourite. The tracks you've mentioned are standouts, definitely (the opening I'm Ready is in the same vein), but you need to get it for Stevie, if nothing else; a lazy, warm, Stones-style blues cod-tribute to Seagal. The whole album's a joyous exploration of creative freedom after the Virgin deal and feels fresher than any of their others as a result.

Next up on my list would be Thank You, then maybe Cats And Dogs. I've still not heard any of Pound For Pound, as the previous effort, Veterans of Disorder, was an extremely hit and miss affair that I've only recently started to enjoy to any great degree (although the first two tracks - Waterpark and Stop are a couple of the best they've recorded). Anyone want to comment on whether PfP is any better?

On a related issue, Fly, you might want to give the Weird War album a listen. It's Hagerty with Nation of Ulysses/Make-Up mainman Ian Svenonius and it sounds exactly like you'd imagine.

Matthew Fluxington

17:05 / 25.04.03

If it helps, the songs on the Trux cd I sent Flyboy goes something like this:

I'm Ready / You're Gonna Lose / Stop / Yo Se / The Banana Question / Sunshine & Grease / Blind Navigator / Blue is the Frequency / Back To School / Stevie / Let's Get Lost / Ray-O-Vac / Map of the City / Inside Game / Juicy Juicy Juice / Small Thief / Dirty Headline / Funky Son / NY Avenue Bridge

The more I listen to Trux, Veterans of Disorder becomes my favorite LP along with Accelerator. Veterans just holds up so well, I think it is extremely cohesive. I can see how a song like "Sickazz Dog" could be offputting, but I think it all flows naturally.

Now that you mention it, Accelerator is a pretty silly record, but a lot of Trux music is - they have a lot of songs all through their catalog which are just giddy and weird. I think that one of the best things about them is that they have this contagious enthusiasm for life's little details. To me, it seems like they have this never-ending curiosity, and find thrilling and interesting things everywhere. Sometimes it's just the sound of words together or a weird sound they've made or an obscure in-joke - they have a real child-like sense of wonder.

Matthew Fluxington

17:11 / 25.04.03

Oh yeah, and I must buy this.

Matthew Fluxington

17:14 / 25.04.03

...and this too.

17:22 / 25.04.03

Flux played that "Sunshine & Grease" song at a bar a few weeks ago, and I flipped for it, too, Flyboy. Fucker's been on my mp3 player ever since. I must have heard it every day for the last month.

I've downloaded a lot of the other stuff, but I haven't gotten around to listening to it yet.

Flux, you should post that link to the interview with Jennifer here. That was pretty amazing.

Matthew Fluxington

17:43 / 25.04.03

This is the interview that Todd is talking about. It's very interesting and very inspiring, and it stands as my argument for why I think Royal Trux is the Most Barbelith Band Ever.

I've yet to read an interview with either Jennifer or Neil that hasn't been cool and interesting. There's plenty more linked from this site.

Murray Hamhandler

18:20 / 25.04.03

Maybe I just haven't heard the right stuff. I dunno. RT always seemed good to me in a local band scene sort of way. I'd go see their shows if they were playing in town every couple of weeks for $5 a pop, but the stuff I've heard of theirs doesn't have enough...I don't know what to really engage me.

But I'd be willing to give them a go. Where to start (keeping in mind that I already own the second self-titled album and am pretty "eh..." about it)?

Matthew Fluxington

18:27 / 25.04.03

Ah, the self-titled records aren't so great.

Singles Live Unreleased, Accelerator, Veterans Of Disorder, Thank You, Cats & Dogs, Pound For Pound - you can't go wrong with those albums.

If they sound like a "local band" to you, what planet are you on? It must be fucking awesome there, Deric! They are a pretty far-out band most of the time!

Murray Hamhandler

18:40 / 25.04.03

Well, you know. I meant it in more of a "I like this band because they're cool people and they're fun to watch and drink a few beers to on a saturday night, but they're never going to be among my really favorite artists" kind of way. But when I think about it, they probably would fit in pretty well w/the scene here. Bloomington's a fairly underrated cool music town (w/some exceptionally far-out bands).

Thanks for the album rundown, by the way, but I'm probably going to have to stick w/downloading songs for the time being (financial strain and whatnot). Any choice cuts?

Matthew Fluxington

18:42 / 25.04.03

Well, I did post the tracklisting to the cd I gave Flyboy a little up in the thread. That would give you a good impression of the band, I think. It's mostly my favorites, and it worked for Flyboy...

Matthew Fluxington

18:49 / 25.04.03

I never saw Royal Trux play live, but I can kinda see what you mean, Deric. I think that the Trux are very much a 'headphones' kind of band, and the studio is a big part of their craft. In interviews, Neil and Jennifer mention that they are more interested in the albums because people listen to those over and over, and they will always be there. I think that it shows on most of their recording output. I have no idea how good they were live (I'm sure that they were fab), but it seems almost besides the point in a lot of ways.

19:43 / 25.04.03

You'd expect me to love Royal trux, wouldn't you?
So would I in fact - I think they're fuckin' brilliant in theory and have gone out of my way to listen to them on several occasions (recording a live peformance off the radio, copying a friend's copy of 'Veterans of Disorder'), but when I actually listen to their music, I'm just .. "what? is this it?"

It's really got me scratching my head - "everybody says this is badass rock and roll greatness .. but.. I don't understand.. it just sounds like some really lazy monotonous jamming.." What's up?

20:11 / 25.04.03

That "really lazy monotonous jamming" thing is part of why I've not been a big fan of Veterans. I don't think it's the best introduction one could have to them.

Matthew Fluxington

20:15 / 25.04.03

In my experience, and in the experience of virtually every other Trux fan that I know, getting into Trux doesn't happen over night. You get a taste, you get another, and then there is just this point when it clicks and it all makes sense. Royal Trux doesn't come to you, you have to go to them. They have their own set of aesthetics, their own little world. When I first heard Royal Trux, I was under the impression that they were just this scuzzy druggy bar band, but that's only one facet of their sound. They are very much the kind of band that you need to dive into to get the most out of it, you can't expect to get a feeling for them from just one of their records.

23:08 / 25.04.03

Yeah, I agree there. Why is that? It can't just be because their output is inconsistent, because I've grown to love a huge number of their tracks that I just didn't get the first few times I listened to them.

Matthew Fluxington

02:33 / 26.04.03

I think it has a lot to do with dealing with expectations and preconceived notions that you pick up from the media around you, and you sort of get programmed to take things in a roughly standardized way, and there are just some people like Royal Trux who are using all of these sounds and ideas that you know but in a way that means something different from what you've been conditioned to understand.

I think some people misunderstand a lot of the best rock music of the 90s (particularly Pavement, Sonic Youth, and Royal Trux) as being 'ironic', but I don't think that is the appropriate word for it at all. I think that what was really happening was creative people appropriating all sorts of cultural detritus and creating their own aesthetic systems, so what some people took as "oh, they are goofing on this or that because they are arch and snobby" was really just a very smart and intuitive person giving the listener another spin on a familiar idea, almost like "this is what that sounds like with my ears and filtered through my head." I think that right there is a key part of Royal Trux's appeal.

Matthew Fluxington

02:35 / 26.04.03

...so in other words, you need to come around to thinking/hearing like Royal Trux to really get it.

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:34 / 28.09.04

Has anyone heard the RTX album yet? It's Jennifer Herrema and a couple of guys, and the reviews so far have been mostly favourable, if a little impenetrable. Cover's classic though:

Murray Hamhandler

21:07 / 16.11.04

After ingesting everything Royal Trux that I could get my hands on for months on end and, ultimately, growing to love them very much, I have to say that the RTX album seems like a natural progression, at least on the Herrema side of the equation. Hagerty fans will grouse, I'm sure, but it gets the job done. And (in my humble opinion) out Trux-es Hagerty's solo stuff.

01:07 / 07.02.05

I went to the RTX show it kicked ass. I met and talked to Jennifer, we talked about Rudimentary Peni, she was pretty freaking awesome. She also informed me that Royal Trux is done, which is a bummer.

06:24 / 23.02.05

I love Royal Trux, I love what that were as much as what they made. Best albums: Cats and Dogs, Accelerator, Thank-you, Twin Infinitives...but there's a ton of other good stuff out there, esp. the radio video EP.

The RTX record is frickin amazing. Everyone here has to listen to it. some people hate it because the vocals are so processed but that's how i like her vocals anyway (a la radio video) and the songs are really catchy and heavy in a way that seemed to die with the 80s. It reminds me of the first time I realized guitars could be so heavy.