[ATTENDED: March 26, 2022] Oxymorrons
I hadn’t heard of Royal & the Serpent. When I looked them [her] up, I saw something that suggested that she had maybe worked with grandson–that he had produced something for her? But I haven’t been able to find it since. Whatever.
When I listened to her before the show (singer Ryan Santiago IS Royal & the Serpent–they are both parts of her personality), I thought she sounded an awful lot like grandson sonically.
When they started, first her drummer came out on stage. She crouched by the drums waiting. Then her guitarist, Brent Burdett, came out, his hair was died blue and pink and he seemed very tall. Especially compared to Royal who came bouncing out to their 2021 song “I Can’t Get High.”
Santiago had so much energy it was exhausting watching her. Her songs are fast–punk blasts with a couple of verses, a super catchy chorus and that’s pretty much it.
She has a nice balance of empowerment songs and angst filled songs. But she was very keen on telling everyone to embrace themselves–be proud of who you are and never apologize for yourself.
She played a newish single and then almost all of her recently released EP. Each song was catchier than the next and it was clear that many people in the audience were already fans of hers. Someone in the front had even made her the short that she was presently wearing (it seemed to be held together with chains).
Then she introduced a brand new song that was going to come out when this tour was over called “Happier in Hell.” It was a much quieter song. She played guitar and sand while the rest of the band took off. Then about half way through the song thy both came back and the guitarist leaned into us and sad “Are you ready?” and then the song ripped away.
Santiago’s voice has the child-like kind of quality of Eva Hendrix of Charly Bliss. But wow, what power she has–hitting high notes and belting out other notes for a long time. If there was one quibble, I feel like she relies on the word Phuck a little too much. I’m no prude, and I love a well placed f-bomb, but these were common and plentiful and felt a little lazy. Although they were effective in getting the crowd wound up (and are certainly easy to sing along to).
But when you can write lyrics like “Hey, it’s a beautiful day…to be an asshole” and “Hey, I’m fucking insane, I should be on medication, but my doctor’s on vacation” you don’t need as many f-bombs.
Then she asked us to sing along to the next song which we’d all know (Mr. Brightside by The Killers). She followed it with a cover of “Eat Spit!” by Slush Puppy which I didn’t know. I enjoyed the way her voice was processed into a demon-like state (like the original).
She ended with “Overwhlemed,” her first single and one that everyone seemed to know. It was super catchy, just like everything else. And, for nice symmetry, Oxymorrons came out and jumped around during this song, as she had done for them.
The only thing I didn’t like about their set was that the guitar sound was kind of flat, especially when compared to Oxymorrons. But overall, it was very fun and I really appreciated the messages of positivity and support and self-empowerment that she sent out to us.
- i can’t get high ©
- GO PHUCK URSELF (single)
- PHUCKBOI REJECTS ±
- I DON’T EVEN LIKE U ±
- BETTER ±
- IM NOT SORRY ±
- ALT B!TCH POSER ±
- HAPPIER IN HELL (new)
- Mr. Brightside (The Killers cover}
- EAT SPIT! (Slush Puppy cover)
- overwhelmed Ø
Ø Get a Grip EP (2020)
© Searching for Nirvana (2021)
± IF I FIED WOULD ANYONE CARE (2022)
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