INTERVIEW: JD Liefting – The Royal

Longevity can prove problematic for a band to exist and survive in a scene as saturated as metalcore. An enticing combination of brute strength riffery and melodic fragility alongside a indisputable DIY work ethic is ensuring that Dutch outfit THE ROYAL continue to stand alone amongst a slew of genre over-rans. Their third full-length Deathwatch is available now via Long Branch Records and prior to the album’s release we caught up with guitarist JD Liefting to get the lowdown on the darkness that inspired its inception.

Deathwatch is your third album to date. A band’s debut introduces them to the world whilst their sophomore effort proves they’re not just a one trick pony. Did you feel any sense of pressure going into this album?

JD: We felt less pressure than when we made Seven to be honest. That was our first label release and we were less experienced in the whole music scene. This time we knew what to expect and what was expected. Going into this album we wanted to take the pressure off, so we went back to the way we worked in the past which was more DIY. It was a good decision.

How have the reactions to it been so far in the press?

JD: All the reviews and reactions we had so far on this release day have been great! It has been noticed that this album is a step forward for us in finding our unique sound and who we are as a band, and that is what we have been doing for a couple of albums. Although reviews are generally a personal opinion, it is interesting to see the resemblance in their reactions.

What does the writing and recording process entail for you guys? Do you have a principal lyricist / songwriter or is it a collaborative effort?

JD: We have three people in the band who write the music in a collaborating effort. We spent a lot of weekends at Tom’s (van Ekerschot, Durms) home at the beginning of last year and started writing the backbone for the album before we had a couple of long and busy tours. We finalised the rest over the course of the year and recorded it before we toured in Asia.

You guys are well known for your DIY work ethic – do you think this gives you an edge / advantage in the fact that it allows you to stay true to your musical vision?

JD: The advantage of recording an album yourself is that the first step in the creative process is already covered. You don’t have to explain your vision to someone else which is normally a hard thing to do if you are working with creativity. Like a painter who has to explain the image in his mind to another painter for him to put it on canvas. This mindset also gives you the room to experiment with the things you already know you want to experiment with. The essence of time and money also plays an important role when you are working with somebody else. Both of which are hard to come by as a young and busy touring band in this genre.

The first single to be released was Nine For Hell. Obviously, it’s an absolute banger but why did you choose to go with this particular track?

JD: Well, we wanted to pick a track that has all the elements to showcase what direction we had in mind for this album as opposed to our previous releases. We feel like Nine For Hell was that track.

Can you tell us a bit more about the concept behind the video?

JD: Our music became darker. We didn’t want it to be too complicated so we made a darker video [laughs]!

What would you say the main differences are between THE ROYAL’s sound during the Seven era and now?

JD: I would say Seven was a smoother and lighter album to listen to, which fits more to the character of that album. While with Deathwatch being a heavier album we were looking for a heavier sound to carry the songs.

Seven was incredibly uplifting in terms of its songs and those earworm riffs. That catchy side is still present on Deathwatch, but there’s this decidedly darker feel to it too. It’s incredibly raw in places – particularly on tracks like Lone Wolf. Can you tell us where this emotion is coming from?

JD: The writing process began at the start of 2018. A year that started with our former bass player leaving the band in a negative way, which almost led to lawsuits involving money. That situation left us with a bad taste to start with. Besides that, knowing we would be touring at least five months that year, had to write and record an entire album and also had to work hard to make sure all of our personal lives were in order with bills paid and our loved ones and families happy. All things considered it felt like life held us back when we wanted to move forward. When we discussed the idea of this album we already decided we wanted to make it less technical. The dark part became clearer as the year progressed and we had to get our feelings of our chest. We decided to put it on record.

Where do you get your lyrical inspiration from? Personal experiences? The world around you? God knows there’s a lot to be wary / scared of these days – Trump, economic crises, climate change to name a few!

JD: Just our day to day lives to be honest. Obviously that involves subjects like that sometimes, we write with what keeps our minds busy.

Did you go into the album with the aim of pushing your boundaries – there’s scatterings of electronica in there and some real chilling ambience on tracks like Exodus Black?

JD: No, on the contrary. We wanted to make it simpler. And we know what we are capable of, writing-wise. We just love to work with those kind of ambiences!

What would you like fans to take away from this album?

JD: We hope that people get a clearer view of who we are as a band and which direction we are going. It is a work in progress that will lead us to where we want to be.

Who would you say are your biggest musical influences if any?

JD: We have been touring a lot over the past years. We always watch and admire a lot of acts that we come across. We have been listening and looking for cool stuff and things we liked in all of those bands to be honest.

Metalcore is an incredibly saturated genre in 2019. What would you say it is about your music that helps differentiate THE ROYAL from the hundreds of other similar bands out there?

JD: That is almost impossible to answer. To each their own and what is generic to one person is unique to the next. We are not making the music from a vision of trying to be unique. We are making what we want to make and that’s all.

What’s coming up next for THE ROYAL – Shows? Festivals? World domination?

JD: As I am answering these questions we are driving to the first show of our release tour which will be going on for the next weeks. We have been booking for the rest of the year too, so we are staying out on the road to promote our album for now.

And finally, if there’s one thing that you could achieve by the end of 2019, what would that be?

JD: Coming from last year just staying alive would be awesome and some more sleep would be nice [laughs]! No but for real we just hope that we can share a lot of cool moments with our fans and enjoy making music around the globe.

Deathwatch is out now via Long Branch Records.

Like THE ROYAL on Facebook.