For anyone who ever knew they were watching the world’s greatest band in that specific time and place, we bring you evidence of Royal Headache’s live performances in America in the 2010s.

Kicking off the East Coast leg of their 2012 American tour, they made a stop off at the vaunted WFMU studios in Jersey City, where they recorded the live set for Terre T’s Cherry Blossom Clinic program, comprising side A of this release. As was customary, these guys simply turning on their amps generated a cyclone of bracing, scratched up noise pop, lifted to even higher peaks with Shogun’s vocals, emotionally soaring out of traps and circumstances to push an already careening band over the top and off the edge. Mostly comprised of material from their first album, Royal Headache debuted “High” on this show, and closed with “Stand and Stare,” a rarity recorded for a 7” single.

Side B moves the chains to 2015, and a rainy August night in Chicago, when Royal Headache was making even more significant inroads to the ears of savvy, with-it fans in America, Europe, and Japan, as well as back home. On this night they graced the Empty Bottle with a set focused on their second album High, and a blues ballad called “So Low” that makes its recorded debut here. Royal Headache had no issues meeting the spotlight on this evening, as this board recording attests. They were on fire, smoked the sold-out room sideways and back, and if the FMU session got in your face, this set grabs you by the collar, taking everything society had thrown at or accoladed them with and distilling it into piercingly melodic, throttling rock ‘n’ roll.

If you can play like this, do it. If you can sing like this, step up. The world has been without Royal Headache for far too long, and unless they return, proof such as what you got here will be all you have. Take this and let it push you into whatever needs to happen next. 

• Format Type: 12"
• Year: 2024