Hotel Royal Single Release Party at Horseshoe Tavern - January 21st, 2012
Submitted by Mike 4 weeks 10 hours ago
By Elena Maystruk
Photos by Vanessa Markov
http://hotelroyalmusic.com/
From the sound of their instruments to the soles of their shoes on stage, the members of Hotel Royal have a natural presence. The crowd’s response reflects the band’s do-it-or-die energy as they throw themselves into their music.
After a host of previous shows and media attention, Hotel Royal is moving forward, continuing to take their music to the big city and work towards future albums. Last Saturday was definitely a good night to continue their breakthrough into Toronto’s indie rock scene. Among a pile of music lovers at Horseshoe Tavern, this Durham Region band was the headlining act.
“Love Junkie” is Hotel Royal’s quirky new single, which has the retro feel of “Ballroom Blitz” and reflects the band’s usual jazzy, rock-and-roll inspired beats but with a louder and sharper sound. In an interview, singer Chris Hepburn explains the song was born while he was messing around with a riff on his guitar and then later co-written with Jesse Smith from Cauterize. They really pulled off an original song without going completely out of their comfort zone and stayed true to the signature aspects of their music that fans have come to expect.
They played in front of a full house with a new spin to their sound, brought by new keyboardist, Kaylan Szuch. Szuch brings a cool, earthy, and romantic infusion to the music, complimenting the bands otherwise over-the top-performance while also accentuating an important aspect of the band’s performance: their intuitive communication with each other on stage.
The show was a hit, though when the band played a cover of The Kinks’ “All Day and All Night”, I was so much more into their unique work! It’s not that I don’t love the song or how they played it, but they could have gone without playing even this timeless classic and offered up another original song instead.
Live, this group shows off the talents of each musician not only through their stage presence but also through the sheer enjoyment they show while playing. There was not an ounce of shyness in this bunch when they took the Horseshoe by storm!
