The Royal Tinfoil Have Fed the Demons, New LP is on the Way
Checking in with the Royal Tinfoil this week, we found out that Lily Slay, Mackie Boles, and their troupe were putting the final touches on mixes for their forthcoming studio album. It sounds like it might be their most polished and menacing studio work yet.
“It’s been a long time in the making,” Slay says. “I’m getting rough cuts on Thursday, and I’m bursting at the seams. We’re so stoked.”
Slay and Boles, both singer/guitarists, have been the core songwriting team at the core of the Royal Tinfoil since the band formed five years ago. In recent years, they’ve performed with expanded lineups featuring friends from such local bands as Tickle Switch, the Flat Foot Floozies, and Happy Story Hour.
These days, the lineup features Slay on acoustic and electric guitars (and occasional cello, kazoo, and tambourine), Boles on electric guitar, Brad Edwardson on double-bass, Marshall Hudson on drums and percussion, and newly enlisted member Whitt Algar (of Gaslight Street) on organ and keys.
The Royal Tinfoil at the Pour House, 2012 (photo by Ballard Lesemann)
“The addition of Whitt has given us the ability to create dynamic swells and lulls like we were never able to do before,” Slay says. “It has allowed us to set a mood extremely befitting for the sinister intentions of the new album’s subject matter. Even our cheery rags and three-part kazoo harmonies have a veiled malice and dark magic to them.”
The band has been tracking and overdubbing at Truphonic Recording in West Ashley with engineer/producer Majeed “MJ” Fick since the spring. They’ll likely assemble the best 11 or 12 songs under the album title Feed These Demons and officially release it in January.
Guest performers at the sessions include local musicians Rachel Kate Gillon, Jordan Igoe, Jenna Ave-Lallemant, and Lindsay Holler, all of whom provided vocal harmonies.
“We also had a bunch of friends help with lots of random screaming,” Slay says. “[Guitarist] Lee Barbour also laid down what we all thought would be a rough guitar track for one of our jazzier numbers, but it ended up being so damn good, we may just have to use it. I suppose that’s up to him, though.”
Slay says that she and her bandmates tried to emphasize the darker, more sinister tones throughout the new tracks. While their previous full-length, 2012′s rascally and rustic Well Water Communion, raised hell with a sweet and mischievous sense of humor, Feed These Demons might come across as even more more devilishly.
The title “Feed These Demons” comes from a lyric from one of Boles’ original songs titled “I’m Evil.”
“This album is going to have a much more precise sound as we steer away from our raw Americana origins and delve into a more chilling, rock-based tone,” Slay says. “Well Water Communion was a testament to the sheer coarseness of our roots. Like the name ‘The Royal Tinfoil’ itself, it had that certain dingy glow that initially hooked our oldest, die-hard fans.”
“I like to think we haven’t so much polished our sound as we’ve gained a charming patina,” she adds. “Or maybe it’s more like reanimating a corpse to make it bigger, stronger, faster … scarier. There was definitely a whole hell of a lot of electricity involved. I’d be hard pressed to say, unlike our freshman album, that any two of our tracks really sound the same, while still obviously written and banged out by same band of mostly bearded heathens. It’s something of which I’m, personally, really proud.”
The next big Royal Tinfoil show is on Sat. Nov. 9 at the Pour House with Columbia’s Josh Roberts and the Hinges. The full-band quintet version of the Tinfoils will be on stage, possibly with a few surprise guests. “Expect attitude, atmosphere, and evil like you’ve never seen from us,” says Slay.
Visit theroyaltinfoil.com for more.
Top photo by Ballard Lesemann.
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About the Author
Ballard Lesemann is a musician and writer. Born and raised in Charleston, S.C., he spent years playing in bands and working for Flagpole Magazine in the bustling music town of Athens, Ga. He returned to his hometown and served more than seven years as the Charleston City Paper's music editor. He's better at drumming than he is at playing guitar.
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