Royal Baths
Royal Baths is: Jeremy Cox and Jigmae Baer
Jeremy Cox and Jigmae Baer started Royal Baths without a plan in mind but soon the foundation for their writing found inspiration from Cox’s interest in the alternate and open tunings of delta blues, their shared fascination in the African rhythm of early Chicago blues, and Baer lyrically attempting to reflect with black humor and little judgment, and the thrills and troubles they stumble through.
Recording on whatever cheap four or single-track cassette recorder they could find, they eventually borrowed a Tascam 388 to make their first 7″. The unexpected encouragement of the 7″ drove Cox and Baer to perform their first show in a basement in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Six months later they began work on Litanies, their debut full length released on Woodsist.
The band began touring before the album was released, opening for bands the first two of which Baer had previously been a member: first with Thee Oh Sees, next Ty Segall, the Fresh and Onlys, and Wild Flag. The Royal Baths went on their first headlining tour after that, where they found inspiration to write their second full-length record, to be completed this time in a studio on higher quality 2? analog tape. They declared the recording process complete only when their meager bank accounts were drained and they had borrowed too much money. Although the Royal Baths developed amidst the encouragement of friends in San Francisco’s garage scene they felt stifled by comparisons to a movement where their sound didn’t belong to, so they upped and moved to New York to assert their sound. The album Better Luck Next Life is set to be released by Kanine Records on February 7, 2012.
• BLURT ONLINE INTERVIEW “STAY DIRTY Royal Baths”
• NY TIMES (SXSW) “I was happy to get an infusion of roiling psychedelia from Royal Baths” (Jon Pareles)
• SPINNER (INTERVIEW) “Royal Baths on Tour: Food Isn’t an Option for Rising Grunge Band”
• POPMATTERS (REVIEW) “Royal Baths delivers a solid record front to back”
• HASH MAGAZINE (LIVE FEATURE)
• EASTERN SURF “They’re trying to freak you out and make you really uncomfortable. It’s a campaign of shock and awe. And it works.”
• COLLAPSE BOARD (REVIEW) “The new Royal Baths album is fantastic. It’s in the grime, the crust and the dirt, of the blues without any of the clichés that come with it.”
• FRONTIER PSYCHIATRIST (INTERVIEW)
• CMJ “While the duo can’t really escape its Bay City influences, the dark and gloomy nature of New York is a perfect fit for Cox and Baer on their second album”
• EMUSIC REVIEW “An album of both black humor and brooding grooves….However grim the music’s timbre, the Royal Baths capture the mumble and moan of big city troubles without deflating their wit.”
• ALLMUSIC “Royal Baths’ singing and playing have grown significantly since their debut.”
• VICE/NOISEY.COM (FULL ALBUM STREAM) “The nine songs on their new record are expertly narcotized anthems, mucky downers about hate, voodoo, and psychic torture.”
• PITCHFORK (MP3 PREMIER: FASTER, HARDER)
• PITCHFORK (MP3 PREMIER: DARLING DIVINE)
• CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND REVIEW “Though an average listener may not identify with striking deals with the devil or daydreaming of murder, it’s hard to deny Royal Baths are having a damn good time.”
• PITCHFORK REVIEW “Whatever pop pretenses Royal Baths harbored, they’ve mostly let them slide, ditching verse-chorus-verse for static Diddley rhythm tracks that buoy Jigmae Baer’s seedy monologues.”
• BROOKLYN VEGAN “Royal Baths are kind of a bad trip acid rock, dark and seedy but not atonal. But it’s definitely down the rabbit hole. In a good way.”
• PITICHFORK REVIEW (Litanies) “Litanies draws from the noisier, more freaked-out side of early garage rock. It also takes cues from Neil Young’s lightning-struck guitar sermons and the Velvet Underground’s creeping paranoia.”
