by Erin Sullivan
It’s amazing when a group of friends start making beautiful music together and finally get the chance to release a well created album for adoring fans. That’s how it all began for LA based band Regal Degal. Josh da Costa on guitar and vocals and Josiah Wolfson on bass began practicing music together when a neighbor gave the name of Jamen Whitelock, a local drummer. They moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and the rest is history.
Their second full length studio album Verifiable Who’s Who was just released today and the band is happy to have it released, but some of the excitement has dwindled and this is what Da Costa had to say the following about the album release. “We started recording it a year ago in our basement in Bushwick and finished it at the beginning of 2012, so I think that any sense of anticipation there would be has been eliminated due to the passing of time. It’s really nice though, we are simply happy that it’s coming out on a fine label (PPM) and that it looks and sounds interesting, to us at least. Almost a year on and we’re not sick of it… yet,” says da Costa.
One of the first songs on their album “Winning and Breaking” starts out instrumental with drums and guitars. It has an unusual beat to it and sometimes it sounds as if the beats are off a little bit. It’s really happy, upbeat and sounds like it must have been a fun song to record and to perform live on stage for fans. According to da Costa, this is the equation for Regal Degal when they perform on stage “Three people on stage plus a lot of information equals TMI rock”.
When listening “Voice To an Island” with headphones it sounds like the music is circling you. It fades in an out and it goes from one ear to the other, but it sounds so interesting. Wolfson enters playing bass randomly. The music is kind of all over the place, but you will quickly realize this is how all of their music sounds. Da Costa’s voice is very quiet and monotone at times, which is so contradictory to the music, because it’s so off the wall. It’s just a unique combination. “As for where the sound comes from, I’d say that sometimes there is a sort of resonant melody in my mind and once put in the context of our group, it gets thrusted into a dense rock sound. That’s how it went for a couple of years, although lately we’ve been toying with our creative process,” said da Costa.
At first it doesn’t even sound like their song “Jews” is playing. You have to really listen carefully and you’ll hear quiet notes. It gets louder and louder in the first few moments and you can hear Wolfson strums along to Whitelock’s beat and da Costa playing a chord every few moments. Then da Costa enters singing very deeply and once again their music sounds a little weird at times and everything is mixed together all at once.
Verifiable Who’s Who is the most unique, odd and most interesting album listeners will ever listen to. The music and vocals may be a little disjointed, but that’s just the way Regal Degal makes their music. They’re one of a kind.
Unfortunately they don’t have a tour to celebrate the release, but they are visiting the east coast to give New York City natives in the words of da Costa a “Regal Reminder” that they released their album and they’re back. They also have a Halloween show in Baltimore on October 27th. They don’t have any plans at the moment to visit Philadelphia while they’re in New York, but they would definitely be willing to play here.
“If anyone wants us to come out and play in Philly, get at our man Adam “Stretch” Gerber. Thanks!” says da Costa
