The Hype and the Hilarity

Royal Bangs win fans and critical acclaim at Bonnaroo

The first member of Royal Bangs I see at Bonnaroo is, of course, Chris Rusk. It’s Thursday evening and the drummer is stepping out of a Port-a-Potty in the guest/artist camping area. I’d tried to call him a few times the week before, but hadn’t heard back. Since I’m supposed to write about the adventures and shenanigans of the up-and-coming Bangs at the festival, I’m relieved to find him.

We exchange pleasantries, and I ask him to please wait right where he is for a moment.

When I return he is, of course, on the phone. “Hey,” he says, to whomever was on the other end. “Do you know who had our spot two years ago?” Short pause and then, “It was Lucero.”

Rusk was boasting about the band’s performance time slot. Royal Bangs is scheduled to play the Troo Music Lounge, a small but centrally located tent, at 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. Lucero played the same time and place in 2006. (The Whigs also played that spot in 2007, though I’m not sure if Rusk knew that.) It seems he may be hinting at the fact that Lucero proceeded to “make it” shortly after that 2006 show. It’s what the Bangs are hoping for as well, judging from later conversations with the members.

We walk toward Centeroo together. Rusk is chattering nonstop — though mostly to my traveling companion, Trace Bateman — about a feature article in the Manchester Daily Times that largely focused on how excited the Bangs are to be receiving so much free stuff at the festival.

“So I sounded like a dick, pretty much?” Rusk wonders. “But at our level you never get free stuff. You’re lucky to get a burger. And not get yelled at.”

They’re going onstage in about two hours, but for now the five members — Ryan Schaefer, Jason Campbell, Danny Sale, Sam Stratton and Rusk — plus myriad friends are just hanging out by their van, seated in folding chairs around a rickety table. (At some performances, Brandon Biondo joins the group when Sale is unavailable.) Several band members have some sort of stringed instruments in hand and they’re messing around with simple segments of metal songs and other intentionally dissonant tunes. Rusk is playing acoustic “slap bass,” and Schaefer is complaining about the noise. “He’s like that kid who always played ‘Chopsticks’ on the piano, but grown up,” Schaefer says.

They don’t seem nervous, although both front man Schaefer and guitarist Stratton say they are. When Stratton says he is worried about “logistics, not playing,” Schaefer chimes in: “I’m nervous about playing.” 

As mentioned in the Manchester article, the quintet is visibly excited about their artist passes, which allow entry into almost any area of the Bonnaroo complex, and entitle the bearer to free food, booze and other merchandise. “I saw a person on a horse earlier, and I was like, ‘Can I pet it?’” Rusk says. He holds up his badge, hung on a string around his neck. “Then I said, ‘Can I ride it?’”

Everyone laughs. “Who had a horse?” someone asks.

“It was a police officer,” Rusk responds. More laughter.

Though the band members banter and bicker constantly, discussing anything from uncouth, wealthy Christian bands to Stratton’s short blue shorts (“Sam’s whole wardrobe is composed of ex-girlfriends’ clothes,” jokes Schaefer), they never seem agitated. The atmosphere is brotherly, not biting.

The show later that night doesn’t exactly start with a bang. When the band launches into their first song the tent is only half full. Everyone is seated, and aside from a few head nods, not participating. Two songs in, Schaefer tells everyone to stand up and move in. The crowd obeys and after that, the show rocks, particularly during “Broke Calculator.” People jump around, scream and leap up to high-five Schaefer. The tent slowly fills to capacity.

“I thought it was one of the best shows we’ve ever played,” Schaefer says later. “We’ve never played a show like that where everybody flipped out.”

The next morning, I run into Rusk again, this time in line for a shower. “Hey!” he yells, “Check out Spin’s Web site. We’re on the front page.”

Spin magazine writer William Goodman wrote, “Our first discovery of Bonnaroo ’08, Royal Bangs hit my radar as a “why not?” late night suggestion, and now — though only one day in — rates as the best show I’ve yet to see.”

During the festival, Royal Bangs also had an interview with MTV Radio and a video interview with Rolling Stone, which will likely be used as online content. “We mostly talked about how much it smelled like tacos during the Metallica show,” Rusk says.

Schaefer adds, “It was totally laidback. I still can’t really believe that we did an interview with Rolling Stone. We were all really happy with the whole weekend.”

Leaving Bonnaroo’s beer-laden fields behind, the band departed on a two-week, East Coast tour June 17.  After a one-month stay in Knoxville, the Bangs will again hit the road with the Black Keys. You can read about their adventures in a tour blog at www.knoxvoice.com.