We formed as the band we are with current members in late 2017, we all come from different backgrounds and countries, none of us were childhood friends, we met each other through music and one by the one the band just fell into place and we became best mates who just love making music together!

For those that haven’t heard Crooked Royals before, describe your sound for us.
I suppose a happy metalcore band would be a close description

Give us a rundown on your influences, musical or otherwise.
Musically we a have a huge range, from a lot of old school metalcore/pop punk we all grew up with to current bands such as Architects, Northlane, Erra, Veil of Maya

Are there any difficulties associated with being a band from a smaller country?
It is very difficult, for one its extremely costly to go anywhere, so touring is difficult, compared to say living in the US or Europe, a lot of people don’t even know where New Zealand is, let alone check our music, but we also like that no one really knows NZ metal, we really want to try and put us on the map!

Do you think the current success of a band like Alien Weaponry is going to help shed some light on the New Zealand metal scene?
What they are achieving is mind blowing and any attention they bring to NZ music/metal is going to be a great thing

Tell us about how you signed to Lukas Magyars management label.
We sent him a demo off our first EP, the song Opia, just an instrumental, he liked it and wanted to record us, so we flew to America purely to record our EP and walked away with a management deal from his company New Industry

Your debut EP “Intertwine” received some great praise.  Were you surprised by that so early in the bands existence?
We didn’t really know what to expect it was all very new for us, it was awesome to hear the feedback from people all around the world who were interested in what we were doing, those comments made us realise we can actually make something from this and drive us even further

The follow up “Rumination” is being released on April 19.  Did you go out of your way to release new material so soon in order to capitalise on the success of Intertwine?
We began writing straight away after USA, we love making music and knew we couldn’t ride a 5 song EP for long so why wait, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get it recorded we just wanted to keep moving forward

The first single, also titled Rumination is out now, and I have to say I really love it.  Is this song a clear indication of what to expect of the EP, or is there a few surprises in store?
I would say there are no 2 songs on the EP which have the same feel, each song stands alone as its own thing, which is what we wanted, to continue trying new things, there is one song, I think the final track of the EP, which is really like nothing we have done before

It’s already getting a lot of radio play.  That must be a really satisfying feeling to see that your music is being heard all over the world.
It is amazing, we never thought we would be on any radio station ever, so that’s all a wonderful bonus for us

Tell us a bit about your writing and recording processes.
It usually starts with a demo written by Jake (Guitarist) this is usually then sent to Lee and Christian (Vocalists) to rework the structure for how they want it vocally to make sense, then once that is finalized Keane (Drums) and Conor (Bass) will take the song template and make their parts their own

Would you say that playing this aggressive style of music takes it toll on you physically, particularly in the live setting?
Yes it sure does, we’ve never toured day in day out so we don’t know how that would go, but that is all part of it, you have to give it your all until your body wont move anymore!

Do you think the physical toll might be why so many bands (Bring Me The Horizon, In Flames, Parkway Drive) are toning down the aggression to an extent?
It depends on the band, some bands screamers lose their abilities through time, some bands mature and want to try something new, everyone has their reasons for changing their style, i don’t think its because its too hard

Can you see Crooked Royals toning down the aggression, and focusing more on the cleaner vocals eventually?
We will always just continue to make the music we enjoy, wherever that takes us, we will never write music to please anyone more than ourselves, and I can say we all love heavy brutal music full of breakdowns and circle pits so I cant see that changing any time soon

Are there any live gigs on the horizon?  Possibly a tour of Australia?
We have a full NZ tour booked for this year (12 Cities) and a short Australian tour later in the year, so yes its all go!

What could we expect to see from a Crooked Royals live show?
Hopefully a moshpit and some nice feelsy singalongs!

Lastly, do you have a message for your Aussie fans?                                           Thank you so much for your support, its time your neighbours stepped up to the playing field!