Royal Teeth originated in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2010. Since the band’s debut, they’ve grown exponentially in popularity from their song “Wild,” having it featured in a Samsung Galaxy S5 commercial and getting the chance to perform it as a musical guest on “American Idol” last year. The Daily Reveille sat down with vocalist Nora Patterson to discuss the band’s upcoming New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival performance.
The Daily Reveille: With y’all being from Louisiana, how did the band form?
Nora Patterson: The band started with Gary Larsen and Joshua Wells. Their previous bands had both kind of dissipated, so they met and decided to start something. They were living in Lafayette at the time, so they moved together and started the band. Then Josh Wells, Thomas Onebane and Josh Hefner were all in a band together before this one started, so that’s how they all knew each other. I went to University of Louisiana at Lafayette, so I knew a couple of the guys that way. They heard that I could sing, but I don’t think any of them had actually ever heard me sing. I think they looked up YouTube videos or something, and they sent me a Facebook message and asked me if I wanted to be in a band. I’d never been in one before. So we all got together. Now, half of us live in Lafayette and half in New Orleans.
TDR: How does being apart influence music writing? Is it easier between the five of you?
NP: It’s a collaborative process, since we can’t all get together very often. So let’s say Gary and I will write something individually or work on something together, we’ll then email it to Thomas, who writes the samples and plays the guitar. He’ll come up with a great, more complete package and then Josh and Joshua will have their input when he’s building the song, as to what they want their parts to sound like. So if we can’t all get together and practice and build something together, we’ll do it through email.
TDR: Where does the band’s inspiration come from?
NP: It’s different for everyone I think. We all generally like the same kind of music, but we usually all like something different. We’ve all been hooked on The Cure and Talking Heads lately, so maybe for the new album that’s going to be inspirational.
TDR: What ages do you think yourself and the band members decided to pursue music as a career?
NP: I actually had a 9 to 5 job. I was working selling flooring and draperies because I graduated in interior design. I sang sometimes in high school with my brother, but I never really pursued it as a career until they asked me to join and we got signed and were able to quit our jobs because it seemed like something that was actually possible. I know that with Gary, this is what he’s wanted to do forever, same with Josh Wells. They all grew up playing music and were in bands together a long time ago, so I think from a really young age that was what they all wanted to do.
TDR: Do you have any new music in the works currently?
NP: Definitely. We’re actually in the process right now of writing a new album. We’re hoping to record late summer/early fall. There’s no set date yet, but that’s what we’re looking for. We’re getting together as much as we can right now and writing new songs.
TDR: What’s it like playing larger festivals like this one?
NP: I love the energy of the festivals. People are out there and no matter what the weather is they’re there for the music and they’re going to have a good time, so it’s always a fun atmosphere. It’s a little more difficult connecting to a crowd the way we like to when it’s so far away and there’s so many people, so we just kind of have to bring up our energy to match theirs and hope that it comes across.
TDR: What’s the biggest concert the band has played so far?
NP: I think it’s actually still Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette. We played it a few years ago and we had a great time with a great stage and somewhere around 5,000 people showed up. That was the most fun.
TDR: Anything else?
NP: We just announced it Tuesday that we got signed to Elektra Records. We’re all really excited about it. We’ve been working with Jeff Castelaz, who first signed us to Danger Bird. He left Danger Bird and now he’s the president of Elektra. We’ve been working with him basically since we got started, so it’s good that we get to work with him again.
Gary Larsen of Royal Teeth performs April 27, 2013, at Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette, La.
