Royal City was a Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band from

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

History

Royal City were formed in 1999 at Jim Guthrie's house in downtown

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The band was fronted by Aaron Riches, known in the local all ages punk scene for having booked and opening up for

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their style-tr ...

, his releases on DROG Records, and for being the subject of a

Robert Munsch Robert Norman Munsch (born June 11, 1945) is an American-Canadian children's author. Personal life and career Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 11, 1945. He grew up in a family of 9 children. He graduated from Fordha ...

book as a child. The band's first album, ''At Rush Hour the Cars'', was released in 2000. Originally called The Royal City All Stars, the band moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

after signing with

Three Gut Records Three Gut Records was a Guelph, Ontario, Canada based independent record label. It was founded in 1999 by Lisa Moran and Tyler Clark Burke as a vehicle for releasing albums by their friends; it became an influential player in Canadian music with ...

. At Three Gut, Royal City joined label mates

Cuff the Duke Cuff the Duke is a Canadian alt-country band from Oshawa, Ontario. They play a blend of traditional country and folk music with indie rock influences. History Cuff the Duke formed in Oshawa, drawing their name from a shirt purchased by front- ...

and

The Constantines Constantines is an indie rock band from Guelph, Ontario, Canada. History Constantines was formed in 1999 by vocalist and guitarist Bryan Webb, drummer Doug MacGregor and guitarist Paul Bright, all of whom had played together in the emo band Sho ...

in Toronto's early 2000s music scene. While working with many collaborators, the core of Royal City consisted of Aaron Riches, Lonnie James, Simon Osborne and Jim Guthrie. James replaced original drummer Nathan Lawr in 2002. During their time as a band, Royal City toured across Canada, playing in

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, and opening for

Sarah Harmer Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist. Early life Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sis ...

. They performed at the 2002

South by South West South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

festival. In 2002, a then-unknown

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...

opened for the band on a series of tour dates, and in 2003 the band played in

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...

' living room as their first show in New York City. The band was also host to a number of notable collaborations, including

Leslie Feist Leslie Feist (born 13 February 1976), known mononymously as Feist, is a Canadian indie pop singer-songwriter and guitarist, performing both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene. Feist launched her solo mu ...

Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...

Gentleman Reg Reg Vermue is a Canadian indie rock singer from Guelph, Ontario. Born in Trenton, Ontario, he has recorded music under the stage names Gentleman Reg and Regina Gently. His musical style has been compared to Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, The Smiths ...

and

Bob Wiseman Robert Neil "Bob" Wiseman (born 1962) is a film composer, songwriter, author and music teacher. Wiseman discovered or produced many artists including Ron Sexsmith, The Lowest of the Low, Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall, Anhai, and former ...

. After disbanding in 2004, Aaron Riches went on to study

radical orthodoxy Radical orthodoxy is a Christian theological and philosophical school of thought which makes use of postmodern philosophy to reject the paradigm of modernity. The movement was founded by John Milbank and others and takes its name from the title ...

under

John Milbank Alasdair John Milbank (born 23 October 1952) is an English Anglican theologian and is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he is President of the Centre of Theology and ...

at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. Nathan Lawr continues to release music as a solo artist and with his band the

Minotaurs In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "pa ...

. Jim Guthrie has achieved considerable success scoring the video game '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP''. and the film Indie Game: The Movie. He's also been a member of

Human Highway ''Human Highway'' is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a ...

, and has toured as part of

Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. Lonnie James went on to release two critically acclaimed solo records on Teenage USA records ( This Land is your Land, Dee-o). In early 2009,

Asthmatic Kitty Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local coll ...

records released ''Royal City'', a collection of outtakes and

b-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

Members

* Aaron Riches –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Jim Guthrie –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Simon Osborne Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Nathan Lawr –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(1999–2002) * Lonnie James –

(2002–2004)

Collaborators

– Guitar *

– Glockenspiel, Production *

Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album ''He Poos Clouds''. Pallet ...

– Violin *

– Guitar *

– Keyboards

Albums

* '' At Rush Hour the Cars'' (2000) * '' Alone at the Microphone'' (2001) * '' Little Heart's Ease'' (2004) * ''

Royal City Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

'' (2009)

Singles

* "Small Singles Club" ( EP) (2001) * "I Called" – ''City of Music''

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products *Compilation thesis M ...

(2002) * "There's a Hole in My Heart" – ''Ten; Ten''

(2002) * "14.12.01" – ''Recordings From CKLN’s Wired for Sound: 2001–2002'' (2002) – A live recording of the song "Spacy Basement" * "That My Head were A Spring" – ''Comes With a Smile'' issue 13 (2003) * "Is This It" – ''Stop Me If you Think you've Heard This One Before'' – Various Artists Rough Trade (2004) * "Tarry – "Comes with a smile" issue 16 (2004)

Covered by

– "Raw Youth" – Young Lions EP (2004) *

The Wooden Sky The Wooden Sky are a Canadian indie folk band based in Toronto, Ontario. The band originated after lead singer Gavin Gardiner, of Morden, Manitoba, wrote songs for a school project while attending Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan Univ ...

– "I Am A Raw Youth" – Bedrooms + Backstreets EP (2009)

References

External links

Review and samples
on

Epitonic First launched in 1999, Epitonic was a source for independent music across multiple genres from both signed and unsigned artists. Featuring free and legal MP3 downloads, radio streams, and many full album streams, at its peak it amassed content fr ...

Royal City and the Beauty of the B-Side
;

CBC Radio 3 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which lanuc ...

story by Vish Khanna
Lost Classics: Royal City “Alone At The Microphone”
''Magnet'' magazine.
The Secret's Out: Royal City's Surprising Success

Session; story by Michael Barclay
Asthmatic Kitty Records Royal City: S/T

Asthmatic Kitty Records Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, coug ...

; story by Vish Khanna
Guelph Quartet's Country Crack-up
; story by

Matt Galloway Matt Galloway (born 1970/1971) is a Canadian radio personality, who debuted in January 2020 as the host of '' The Current'' on CBC Radio One. Previously, he was the host of '' Metro Morning'' on the network's Toronto station CBLA-FM from 2010 to ...

Interview with Aaron Riches
by !earshot
Remembering Three Gut Records
by

Stuart McLean Andrew Stuart McLean, (April 19, 1948 – February 15, 2017) was a Canadian radio broadcaster, humorist, monologist, and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio program ''The Vinyl Cafe''.CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

Vinyl Cafe The Vinyl Cafe is an hour-long radio variety show hosted by Stuart McLean that was broadcast on CBC Radio and was syndicated to approximately 80 U.S. public radio stations through Public Radio International. It aired on Sunday at noon EST and T ...

An Oral History of Three Gut Records
story by Michael Barclay
Royal Treatment
story by Dylan Young
Questionnaire with Aaron Riches

"Bad Luck"
music video at Bravo!FACT {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal City Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 Musical groups from Guelph Canadian indie rock groups Rough Trade Records artists Asthmatic Kitty artists 1999 establishments in Ontario 2004 disestablishments in Ontario Low Transit Industries artists