by Erinn Fortson
Gary Larsen and his band members don’t call themselves Royal Teeth for any particular reason. Regardless of its significance, the name has certainly turned heads this past year. Last May, Royal Teeth released their EP Act Naturally. Between the popular single “Wild”, the song’s haunting video, and the group’s cover of “Heartbeats”, the response from listeners was immediate.
Royal Teeth has been on the road for over a year. With summer now here and their headlining tour beginning, the band members are looking forward to the debut of their first full-length album, Glow.
“We’ve had a few weeks off here and there at home to kind of relax,” says Larsen. “But for the most part it’s been pretty go, go, go, which is good though. I think with everything going on with the CD coming out it’s good that we’re staying focused and busy and I think we’re definitely ready to release something. We’ve been on the road for a while.”
All members of Royal Teeth currently reside in Louisiana, forming the band three and a half years ago in New Orleans. Joshua Wells, Nora Patterson, Josh Hefner, Stevie Billeaud, Andrew Poe, and Gary Larsen all met each other through various projects and networking in the local music community.
“In Louisiana there’s a lot of musicians all over the place,” says Larsen. “So, it’s kind of easy to just meet a lot of people that are in different bands. That’s kind of how this band started.”
Royal Teeth spent its early years performing locally, before venturing out on the road to do a tour. One of these performances in particular is what caught the attention of Jeff Castelaz, the co-founder of Dangerbird Records. After watching a Royal Teeth show on Halloween night, Castelaz offered the band a deal with the record label.
“I think it’s kind of a crazy situation the way it all kind of just worked out for us,” says Larsen about signing with Dangerbird. “Even after that, we were kind of very cautious. We took our time making sure that was what we wanted to do. We waited and then went and did SXSW. And then right after that, we decided that Dangerbird was the place for us.”
Royal Teeth will be in town tomorrow, doing a free show as part of Radio 104.5’s Summer Block Party Series. The band will perform alongside Metric and Goodnight Lights.
