Roy of the Jovers

By Joe Kavanagh

There can be no denying that the Irish indie scene has suffered something of a bloody nose this year, with the dissolution of several of its leading lights, and whispers of more breakups swirling around the rumor-mill.

Acts like Delorentos, The Dagger Lees and Dry County have all decided to call time on their respective careers in recent months (although the latter have largely returned as Alias Empire), removing some of the most promising and highly-touted names from the contemporary Irish musical landscape, which begs the question of just what an act has to do to survive.

In a music market as small as Ireland's, securing a toehold in an overseas market is an imperative, if an act hopes to stand any chance of ever becoming a solvent, working band, while performing a style of music that appeals to a large group of people also obviously increases the odds of an acts survival.

While the Internet has made conditions somewhat more amenable, the sheer matter of geography puts Irish bands at an immediate disadvantage when it comes to achieving the firs of these goals.

In contrast to acts on the mainland Europe, the US or even the UK, when Irish acts wish to tour, it is not simply a matter of setting up a cluster of gigs, hopping in a van and touring to their hearts content.

The logistics of touring outside Ireland often take on the complexity of a military operation, while the prohibitive costs make that operation look like it is being run by the accountants at Halliburton.

In such cases, even if a band creates music that can appeal across the board, there still remains the difficulty of getting it to those markets.

Kind of like a tree falling in the forest and nobody being there to hear it; or, more importantly, pay for it.

Until recently, the only other option was for an act to set up base in another country, which is not without its own forbidding financial burden.

In the case of Royseven, however, the market found them, making them a true anomaly that opened up another path to Irish acts.

Signed by a German label over on a junket to Dublin their path has taken them deep into the fourth largest music market in the world (behind the US, Japan and the UK) and their distinctive melodic brand of indie will no doubt carry them further afield when their sophomore album hits stores later this year.

Although based in Dublin, most of the band's members originally hail from Clonmel, County Tipperary, a place more known for producing hurlers than musicians, and their original collective musical manifestation came in 2000 when they played under the mantle of Jove, building up a solid following around Ireland and in the capital in particular with their respectable if not hugely inspired take on rock music.

Over the course of three years their largely American-influenced sound occasionally flirted with success on a national level but never quite achieved the type of breakthrough that musicians require to convince them that lugging gear up and down staircases at four in the morning for pennies is a worthwhile pursuit.

In the event, two of their number left, leading to the inclusion of a new guitarist and bassist in 2003 and the current members all point to this moment as the true birth of their band and a move in a much more positive musical direction.

As their sound evolved (and they discovered another act called Jove), they also felt that a name change was in order and settled on the name Roy, in tribute to the title of the only Jove song that they felt was good enough to remain in their new set.

Their sense of satisfaction at the new moniker was short-lived when they learned through the Internet that there were at least five other acts using that name throughout the globe.

As debate raged within the camp they happened to catch a television interview with David Bowie where he mused that a song was never strictly a song until it was heard by a listener.

Given the fact that there are six members in the band and adding on 'the listener' the band immediately settled on their current name, plus - as they say themselves: "Roysix sounds pretty s**t."

After a couple of months rehearsing, they once again took to the Irish circuit and built an even greater following with a set of music that was far superior to anything ever created under their former incarnation.

In October of 2004, they played a gig in Dublin's intimate Crawdaddy venue, little knowing that a representative of major label, Universal Germany, was in attendance. After completing their set, the A&R man immediately approached the band and told them that Universal would be interested in signing them to an international deal.

Being men of their word and having already begun work on their album with the hugely talented up-and-coming Irish producer and soundman for Muse, Mark Carolan, the band decided to allow IRL to take care of their business in Ireland and the UK, whilst giving Universal the assignment of taking care of the remainder of the globe, an arrangement that most acts would cut off digits for.

Their debut album, The Art Of Insincerity, appeared in Germany in July and Ireland five months, taking both countries by storm with a blend of emotionally charged rock that has vast crossover potential.

Frontman Paul Walsh, is not only a songwriter of substantial talent, but is also armed with considerable vocal talent, capable of delivering his expressive lyrics with conviction and reckless abandon.

Singles like Older and Happy Ever After burned up the airwaves in both Ireland and Germany born from a sound that lies almost exactly between UK acts Muse and Keane.

Dealing predominantly with issues of the heart, the album runs through a range of emotions from highly-charged rockers, to delicate ballads, and Walsh once described it in the following terms: "There were times when, yeah, I was falling apart and nothing made me feel better, but that said there's still a lot of hope on the album. The reason it comes across as lyrically raw or honest, perhaps too honest, is that I wrote it for myself rather than other people. We all find solace in different things I suppose."

After a slew of television appearances and touring commitments that ran through last year, the band settled down to begin work on a follow-up last year, and even found a new home for their talents, with the announcement that they were picked up by hugely successful imprint, Roadrunner Records, a label that currently counts acts such as Slipknot, Collective Soul and Nickelback amongst their stable of bands.

Given the distinctly US-oriented rock edge of the other acts on the label, it's a safe assumption to assume that the band's next work will mark a slight change of direction from the more melodic indie sound of their past.

Recently they put out a video for a track called, You Can't Hide That, which is scheduled to appear on their sophomore album when it materializes this coming September.

On first listen, it seems to confirm their departure from their more emotive rock past, with a track that seems to provide evidence of a more edgy sound.

They also unveiled their new material at a low-profile gig in Dublin, this past January to an exclusive invite-only crowd, and continued to build on their success in Germany with a series of gigs there last month.

Having already made their mark in the fourth largest music market in the world, it now appears that Royseven are turning westwards, sonically and physically, in order to take aim at the biggest prize of them all.