The Royal Crowns Volume 3

The Royal Crowns, Toronto’s favorite roots/rockabilly/party band, recently held two nights of a CD Release party, and the place was packed in anticipation of this much awaited new offering titled simply: Volume Three.

Original members guitarist-singer Danny Bartley,(former member of Shotgun Shack and the Razor Backs) and drummer-singer-professional wisecracker Teddy Fury (former member of the seminal rockabilly band the Bopcats) recruited Jason Adams in 2010, fellow pomade aficionado from Buffalo NY on the upright bass, and the rejuvenated swing/surf/rockabilly/country/roots band sprung into their third decade raring to go. With Volume One and Volume Two behind them, this band has enough creative to release a baker’s dozen if they should chose to do so.

The Royal Crowns are the true nitty gritty rock ‘n’ rollers at heart. Teddy is a great solid drummer, who most of you Torontonian rockabilly fans will remember from The Bopcats writes half the tunes on the CD, Danny Bartley, a down to earth forklift   by day and music rebel by night, writes the other half. ‘3 Dollar Cologne’ plays on the idea that women like cheap cologne on musicians, while ‘Pickeled Beats’, an instrumental, shows off Danny’s brilliant guitar licks, played on a Gretch thru a Fender amp you can’t get much more authentic than that. Teddy writes some great dancin’ tunes and ‘She’s Got It and I Want It’ can fill up the dance floor. ‘Heavy Baby’ was written while cruising in his ’59 Desoto to Montreal.  Jason Adams ties it all together on bass, both electric and upright, with mighty fine backing vocals to boot.

Photo: Gordon HawkinsIn the summer of 2011, The Royal Crowns were armed with 15 new songs and ready to record Volume 3. They were eager to work with well-known producer John Critchley (Dan Mangan/Elliott Brood) at his studio, Green Door Studios, in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood. Teddy explains: “We were leaning toward working with John, especially having listened to the fantastic acoustic sounds achieved on records coming out of the studio from bands like Elliott BROOD and The Warped 45s. Once they had met John and see the studio, the deal was sealed.

This CD was going to be the closest thing to recording ‘live off the floor’ as possible. And you can tell. The result is magic. Mastered by industry veteran Peter Moore, who did their first record, this is ‘must have’ for any music fan’s collection.

Visit www.theroyalcrowns.ca