Another Form of Relief

I saw Royal Treatment Plant back in September when they were one of the supports for Los Campesinos! at their London show at Water Rats. If you had told me at the time that I would be writing about them a couple of months down the line, I probably would have laughed at you. To say my initial reaction to them wasn’t good would be something of an understatement. I pretty much decided that I hated them within the first song of their set. That may seem like a harsh thing to do, but for some reason they just didn’t click with me whatsoever. They gave an air of ‘trying way too hard’ when it came to their rocking, and their frontwoman came across as a poor man’s Madison Kellner. Feel free to Google that, I’ll still be here when you get back.

Anyway, this led to a walking out on their set after a couple of songs. Part of this was because we so desperately needed air. Believe me, Water Rats is not a fun venue to be in on a hot day when it’s absolutely packed out. All of this would have led to me not given RTP any further thought. Of course things never quite work out like that, and a few days later I received their new single, ‘Carry Me’ in the post with a nice little note. Without the note I probably wouldn’t have bothered playing it, but I’m a sucker for when bands try the personal touch so I actually gave it a couple of plays. An act which led to a somewhat shocked feeling when I found myself really enjoying it.

I’m not sure there’s a moral to this story or anything. If there is, it’s probably to not judge bands entirely based on two songs at one show. Below you’ll find two songs from their demo that was recorded earlier on during the year. Both songs are really good, and I wish I’d been able to catch them at the show. They are both full of driving guitars and some fantastic passive-agressive vocals sung with an urgency that doesn’t often seem to crop up from female fronted British bands.

MP3 Royal Treatment Plant - You Don’t Need Me
MP3 Royal Treatment Plant - Trained

I’d love to be able to post material from the aforementioned ‘Carry Me’ single here, but I know that bands need to make money somehow. As such, it comes highly recommended. I can’t say enough good things about b-side ‘Playing Dumb’, which is certainly amongst my favourite songs of the year. Man, I’ve been saying that a lot lately, haven’t I? Anyway, you can purchase it for the bargaintastic price of £3.99 from our brand new Store section. Wow, wasn’t that subtle?

Royal Treatment Plant: Website || Myspace

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