The Eclectic Appeal of Canada’s Latest Hidden Gem: Royal Castles
(L to R) Jordan Gabriel, Katrin Sawatzky and AJ Johnson make up Canadian garage-rock group Royal Castles
Through distorted instrumentals and layered vocals, indie rock group Royal Castles is growing into a staple of the garage-rock revival of 2021. A trio whose members “aren’t afraid to sing their lil’ hearts out,” Royal Castles has a clear appreciation for all kinds of music, made apparent through the psychedelic, pop-punk and sludge-rock influences on their recently-dropped sophomore album, Just The Hits.
(L to R) Jordan Gabriel, Katrin Sawatzky and AJ Johnson hail from Guelph Ontario; “The Royal City. ”
Image from @royalcastlesband on Instagram
Hailing from Guelph, Ontario, often referred to as “The Royal City,” bandmates Katrin Sawatzky, AJ Johnson and Jordan Gabriel create music perfect for the end credits of a coming-of-age film— music that gets you up on your feet while simultaneously pulling at your heartstrings with nostalgia and longing. Royal Castles serves as a soundtrack for the big transitions in our lives. Their lyrics, simultaneously encapsulating contradictory feelings of fondness and disappointment, along with shouted, passionate vocals make Royal Castles’s music an existential rock classic.
Forming in the summer of 2017 by long-time collaborators Sawatzky and Gabriel - Johnson later joined - Royal Castles’s debut album Play It Loud! was released in 2018. It features Sawatzky’s dreamy, riot grrrl-reminiscent vocals and punchy drum beats, as Gabriel’s strong lower register harmonizes over his moody guitar riffs and Johnson’s “healthy dose of wooly bass.” The album has appearances from many a pop-punk cliché, even going so far as to have that classic shoutout to the Midwest, as seen in their song “Cincinnati,” an ode to the Midwestern leg of a road trip. Though the album dropped in mid-August, Play It Loud! conveys the melancholic angst you typically feel in the throes of an extended fall.
If Play It Loud! serves as Royal Castles’s angsty, addictively-pessimistic lovechild, the sequential album Just The Hits acts as its upbeat, adventurous younger sibling. Described by the band as “crunchy ear candy,” the album’s summery anthems and colorful aesthetics (contrasted with its November release date), paired with pool party music videos and the cozy vocal chemistry Sawatzky, Gabriel and Johnson share, is enough to keep us warm as fall comes to an end and winter weather moves in.
Just The Hits maintains the familiar garage-rock feel that is crucial to any Royal Castles tune, while mixing in elements of ’70s pop-rock and ’90s-era sludge that shouldn’t work—but do. Hard-hitting, eclectic and refreshing, Just The Hits is Royal Castles’s magnum opus. The fifth and final single to come off of the album, “Schönsee,” is arguably the album’s strongest song. Through a tale of adaptability, curiosity and determination, “Schönsee” - named after the Russian-Mennonite colony of the same name - acts as Sawatzky’s ballad for her ancestors who escaped religious persecution during World War II. Building off of a German lullaby often sung to Sawatzky as a child, the song “sparkles and uplifts, as it reminds us of our resilience as humans, and that sunnier days are always around the corner,” as Royal Castles’s Instagram post announcing the song said.
Royal Castles brings the small-town, homegrown indie rock sound of the ’90s into the 21st century. It’s clear the band is set on remembering its roots—their adoration for Guelph is the inspiration for their track “Love This Town,” and the music video for their third single, “Frickin’ Pretty,” was filmed at Far Out Flicks, one of Canada’s last remaining video rental shops. The appreciation the trio shares for their town extends to each other: Sawatzky, Gabriel and Johnson share an undeniable bond and shared love for their craft that makes for alluring music.
All of Royal Castle’s music is available for streaming through the band’s Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp. You can follow their Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to be up to date on the latest news regarding music and future gigs.