Fresh off the road, Viana Newtown of Royal Street sat down to reflect a little on their time on tour. We found out how this Rhode Island band gets down in their van and let’s just say we hope a rap record is in the works.
While we may have to wait for their rhymes to take center stage, we can fill the void with their fusion of pop rock and funk on their latest Flavors. Viana spoke of more than the road as she revealed what’s next, thoughts on the Roseanne reboot and a hell of a lot more.
Kendra: Your sound straddles the line between mainstream and the Warped Tour scene like that of Panic! and The Cab. Were either of those bands you looked to when forming the style of Royal Street?
Viana Newton: It’s funny that you mentioned The Cab because I used to listen to them so much when I was younger and I just threw them on in the car the other day after years of not hearing their music! Totally still knew all the words…Same thing with Panic! While writing the album I listened to a bunch of funk, rock, pop, just about everything actually. Subconsciously, I’m sure they had something to do with the style!
Kendra: When you guys are writing new music, do you ever have long talks about whether a song is too this or that, or do things just sort of fall into place naturally?
Viana: There is a small part of us that will sometimes be like, oh this song is too slow, or not dance enough, or something like that. For the most part though, things just sort of fall into place, which is super cool.
Kendra: Going off your LP Flavors, if each of you were a flavor in one of those new, chic ice-cream shops with those wild combinations – which would each of you be and why?
Viana: HA! Welp, Alex would be one scoop of bagel and cream cheese ice cream because he’s one of a kind! Brian would be party pizza flavored because he just tried some for the first time today and was hilariously blown away. I would be some mix of cotton candy and hot sauce because I’m sweet but also firey, so watch out!
Kendra: Watching your video for “Make Believe” and some older ones, you get the sense that you’re all very in tune with technology. “Make Believe” is very Instagram-centric. With that, what is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to people posting on IG?
Viana: Some of our pet peeves are highlighted in the video, even though we all do most of the things that are in the video, so we’re just as at fault as anyone else! I guess personally, bullying or being rude on social media is the absolute worst to me.
Kendra: Ya’ll just finished up a tour out east. How’d that pan out?
Viana: We had such an amazing time! We got to see a bunch of friends that we hadn’t seen in about a year and it was long overdue. We just love being able to play on stage every night. We met some pretty interesting people in Walmart parking lots as well. You never know what you’re gonna get out on the road.
Kendra: Did you binge anything while out on the road, or are you guys more about making playlists for the trip?
Viana: Well, we listen to pretty much everything in the van, from Eisley to Destiny’s Child, DMX, and our own road raps that we make on the way, which are pretty awful. We listened to some history Podcasts too. Tryna get our learnin’ on!
Kendra: Out of left field, but I noticed you guys were fans of Roseanne. Thoughts on the comeback?
Viana: Roseanne will always be a classic, and we support her sauciness 4eva.
Kendra: Back to the music. What’s going on with Royal Street in the coming months?
Viana: Well, we are going into the studio to record an album with some acoustic versions of our songs off Flavors. We also are going to be playing some shows and hopefully getting back out on the road in the Fall! On top of that, we want to eventually make a video for most of the songs off of Flavors, so that’s on the list too!
Kendra: It seems rare to have a band representing Rhode Island. So if you had to make a mixtape to show your home state some love, what five songs would have to be on it?
Viana:
“Hot N Cold” – Katy Perry…because the weather can never make up its mind.
The Friends Theme Song…because everyone’s pretty cool.
“Skyward” – The Morgana Phase…because they’re an awesome band from Rhode Island that everyone should check out.
“Beautiful” – Christina Aguilera…because we get no credit, but we really are a kick ass state.
“Just A Girl” – No Doubt…because I’m just a girl in the smallest state in the good ol’ US of A.
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