Interview w/ Neal Middleton of Royal Bliss

For a band who proclaimed the “unluckiest band in rock”, the guys in Royal Bliss seemed to be putting that moniker to rest in 2008 and 2009 as the band scored two Top 40 Rock singles in “Save Me” and “We Did Nothing Wrong”, from their album “Life In-Between”. But as the album and those songs started to progress, the powers that be at their record label at the time (Capitol Records) shifted and a lot of bands got lost in the shuffle, including Royal Bliss.

But instead of trying to find a new major label, the band opted to go the indie route and start work on their next album. Almost three years later, the band’s saga is reaping benefits as the band releases their brand new album, “Waiting Out The Storm” on January 24^th. When hearing the story of the genesis and the situation the album was born out of, it’s easy to see why the band called the album what they did.

The band is currently out on tour with West Virginia rockers Bobaflex for dates through March 6^th. As the band was in Portland to record some new material that may or may not end up on a future album, or something to complement the new album, I had a chance to talk with singer/guitarist Neal Middleton about how the issues with the former label shaped the album and Neal’s experience on a certain NBC music game show.
Here’s is my interview with Neal:

AM: After everything that has happened in the past couple of years, where is your excitement level at for the new album?
NM: The excitement is huge and we feel this is the best album we’ve ever done, but that’s what we always try to think. We want to go out there and prove that we can do this without a major label and we’re in control of our own destiny. There’s a new energy to the band and it feels like we’re a new band all over again.

AM: How long did the recording process take?
NM: Originally, we had written 100 songs for the album and it went through a bunch of different phases. We got it down to 40 or 50 songs before getting into the studio with Brian Virtue, then we widdled it down to 16 or 18 songs that we recorded for the album. But it probably took about a year and a half before the initial recording started, and then about another year and a half after that, so it was almost a three year process all together.

AM: In that time, how did the lyrics and music change from start to finish?
NM: I usually write from a perspective of what’s going on in my life at that time, and there was a lot at this point. We ended up leaving the label, I just had a son and some other things that were going on. I was a father for the first time and a lot of the lyrics had to do with the idea of watching him growing up and being a good father to him. Some of the songs had totally different lyrics and sounded when they were finally recorded than the pre-production stage.

AM: How did the band find new management and stay afloat in the tough time?
NM: We were out of the label management and the deal prior to recording. We had some help from some private investors that really believed in the band and what we were doing and helped us with the recording costs. When working with Brian, he basically told us that if we were just interested in writing a bunch of songs for the radio, he wasn’t interested in working with us. He wanted to be a full on Royal Bliss album. It was around that time that UEG Management, who handles Hinder, Nickelback and a few other bands found us. We were in Nashville recording at the time when we started getting all of these managers wanting to work with us. They were pretty shocked that we had no interest in going back to a major label and wanted to self-release things. They liked our music and didn’t just automatically think about how they could make money from us, so that worked out well.

AM: How did the band feel after finishing the long stretch of touring last summer?
NM: It was tough, to say the least. We paid for a lot of the touring out of our own pocket. We did two to three months with Hinder, another month with Puddle of Mudd, making as little as 250 dollars a night. But with traveling and gas prices, we were spending a lot more money than that to stay on the road. I had my son in August and we had to cancel 15 shows while I spent time with him. During that time, I went out and auditioned for “The Voice” (laughs). I actually made it to the Top 85 people on the show and performed in front of the coaches, and it should be on the show when it comes back on. At that time, I was thinking more about money and taking care of my son. But it was a really weird experience and I felt very out of place. I can’t play a character on some reality TV/game show. In a way, I’m glad it didn’t work out and it helped me finish the record.

AM: If there was anything you could go back and change about “Life In-Between”, what would it be?
NM: (laughs) To raise about an extra $500,000 to properly promote the album. It was a great album and I wouldn’t change a thing about the album itself, but we just didn’t have the capital to have the album stick around for a while. EMI got bought out and the executive that signed us left, which left us in the dark. By the time that got settled, there wasn’t a lot of money for touring and promotion.

AM: The album did yield a couple big singles; how did the band react to first hearing those songs?
NM: It was such a surreal experience. Coming from Salt Lake City, we always had a good following there, but when we started hearing the song on Sirius Radio, we started going crazy. But from there, we started going to cities on tour and we’d turn on the local radio station and see if they were talking about us. It was great to hear radio stations 1,500 miles away talking about our shows and stuff. It really does give you butterflies.

Royal Bliss play at the Machine Shop in Flint on Saturday, February 11^th. Tickets are $10 and are available at www.etix.com. Additional tour dates and band info can be found at www.royalbliss.com.