Sebastian Danzig talks the end of the Boom Boom Room era and what he would do if he was gifted an elephant

We had the opportunity to sit down with Sebastian Danzig from Palaye Royale to ask him about the end of the Boom Boom Room era and what he would do if he was gifted and elephant and had to keep it.

You guys have had a pretty eventful year with the release of Side B; but not just an eventful year, an eventful career. Can you explain that from your point of view?

Yeah, you know, starting as a band it was just the three of us figuring this out and like something that we wanted to be passionate about and making music was obviously our outlet. But, I think it was like, we knew exactly who we wanted to be as a band and what we wanted to represent but I think time has told the story and every day it’s kind of changed my outlook on what I’ve wanted and what my exceptions and needs in life are. It’s funny because as touring has gone extensively and we went from playing to nobody and there was a bunch of old dudes holding beer cans watching us to us opening up for really cool, iconic people at the beginning of our career. But the reality didn’t hit until we started touring and that was like 2015, November and we haven’t stopped since. So, I think we’ve just like really found ourselves in that process because we were sleeping in our mom’s car, we were homeless at the time, we didn’t have a record deal. We were just trying to like make a place for ourselves in this big music business and it’s been a climb and to see like us go to Amsterdam and I can play to 1,500 people or I can go to London and play for 2,000 people. That I respectively could sell out venues almost anywhere I want in the world right now is just from the hard work, the diligence of us understanding what we want in this life and what we want to build in this career that we wanted to build and the audience that we’re really thankful for. So, you never know what you want until you have it and you want more and you want more and I think that’s the good thing about being an artist. You’re never satisfied.

Now that you guys have a decent track list, how do you guys choose which songs end up in your setlist and which ones don’t?

That’s the difficult part because we’re all at that point right now. Like, when Side B came out that was supposed to be put out with Side A, there was only supposed to be one album but our label wouldn’t allow like 30 songs on an album for our first album. Which I now understand their viewpoint because we toured and it built our career with Side A and then Side B came out and it added even more which was cool because we did that for over four years. But now we’re at the point where we’re just so sick and tired of playing this music unfortunately because a lot of the lyrics are Remington talking about him being 19. Now he’s 25. So, the thought of conceiving a song, and then recording it, and then putting it out into the world; by the time it’s out in the world it’s already been out of my mind for a couple years. Then you have to relearn the songs and play them and you find love through it because of watching how people react to the shows. And that’s the only reason that I still really truly enjoy because no one’s really seeing Palaye Royale as the band we are sonically and musically on recordings because we’ve gone through this process from just touring and being who we are.

If you could change anything about the music industry what would it be and why?

I think the music industry just needs to realize that the fans are the gatekeepers to allowing success for anything in the business and they keep on f***ing forgetting that. It’s unfortunate because we’ve built something because of the people that are here at our shows. It’s only because of them I am able to travel the world. It’s only because of them we can make enough money to pay for going on tour. It’s because of the fans and I hate that these corporate ideas of people believing that ten guys in a board room know exactly what a generation will like because the only people that know what a generation’s going to like is usually the people that are in that generation. We’re traveling the world and we’re seeing kids, and young adults, and people in their 20s all around the world with viewpoints that are very strong and people treat it as like they’re just a customer. But in reality music is just an emotion and you’re conveying emotion to people and sometimes its going to make them feel happy or feel sad. I think the labels just have to realize that their system is so skewed and it worked years ago; but now they don’t know what the hell’s going on.

What emotions have come along with the end of the Boom Boom Room era? Especially now that you’re a few shows into The Funeral Tour.

I think it’s like kind of a pat on the back because when you come to cities and to see like everything selling out. Like tonight was a smaller show, it was only about 500 people. But we go to LA and I used to pass out flyers at the venue. We’re playing The Fonda and it’s like a 1200 cap room and Gerard Way was playing there like 4 years ago and we were passing out flyers at his show. So to like kinda wrap up 4 years of stress and handwork and to see it actually pay off its kind of emotional at times because you’re like “I wrote these songs and every kid sings the songs. It’s effective to them, it means something to their lives.” I hear from parents how much their kids have changed into better people because of our band and the friends they’ve met through it. So, you end up doing more for people than you realize when you just wanted to play music. It’s like a really cool place to be in our life.

What do you feel is the best song you’ve ever released and why?

Currently I think “Dying in a Hot Tub” or “You’ll Be Fine.” I really loved actually “Clockwork” and “Too Many People” from Side A. I thought that those were songs that were overlooked because we put too much content out. Unfortunately, the only songs that go paid attention to on Side A, unless they’re like deep cuts and fans found them, were “Doctor Man,” “Don’t Feel Quite Right,” and “Get Higher” because those had music videos and we live in an age that people don’t listen to records but we grew up knowing how a record should be played from the first song to the last song. But in reality we live in a world where people only listen to one song at a time so I wish people gave “All My Friends,” “Too Many People,” “Clockwork” more of a chance when it came out. And “Ragdoll” it’s like a 5 1/2 minute f***ing crazy idea of like 4 songs but it’s so cool. Even like “Die for Something Beautiful” off our EP I don’t even know how we created that because I would’ve never even thought of how to do that but we were so naive and genuine with our thoughts and we didn’t care. We just made it for ourselves. Now we come in with more of a conscience like we know how lives shows are, you know what’s going to work. Not all the time but for the most part, we’ve done this enough. You can’t go up there and play a song like “Die for Something Beautiful” and it conveys to an audience that quickly. It’s grows on you so unless you’re a diehard and you know the songs it’s a different thing but that’s the only thing I’m a little annoyed about. We wrote so many cool songs that I’m obsessed with and will never see the light of day even though they’re out there.

If you were given an unlimited budget for a tour, what would you envision your production to look like?

It would be f***ing insane. Travis Scott basically has a rollercoaster in his venue when he plays. We would have Emerson’s artwork like moving almost like breaking apart and building a whole story behind us while we’re playing. One of my favorite bands I ever saw live was Sigur Ros and the lead singer Jonsi did a show and he had these moving it was like a dark nature thing that he had on stage, but he had someone on the ground playing a piano but that piano was triggered to control all these animation things happening. There’s so many things you could do if you have the money to do it, like we would probably spend all of it and I would be okay with that.

Are there any songs that you wrote that didn’t make the cut for either album that you now wish they did?

It’s weird like “Revolutionary Eyes” we released when we used to do the Boom Boom Room at our house in 2013/2014 in our basement. Kids would come and get smashed and do drugs and party. And it was really cool because we were playing the songs that are out now for these people that were just chilling in Hollywood and it was fun. It was a crazy time but there were songs like “Revolutionary Eyes.” There were a few songs that we all had disagreements to that did not come out.

You’ve been gifted an elephant. You can’t give it away or sell it. What would you do with it?

I’m such a father figure in the sense of my dog I’d probably like bring it on my tour. Instead of throwing water out I would just have him like spray water on the crowd.

What’s next for you guys now that this era is ending?

There’s a bunch and we’re happy because this is the most honest we’ve ever been with our music. We’ve said so much on Side B and I hated saying dates and this and that because no one was able to put it out when we wanted to so I’m sick and tired of lying to people when it comes with a date.

If you had one message to give to your fans what would it be?

Honestly, our whole live has been dreaming of wanting to do what we’re doing today and to see that we’ve actually built an audience of people who are true, authentic human beings and I can say for the most part genuine. It’s cool because you don’t realize the effect when you first start a band so I’m just super thankful that the life I wanted has happened and now that is inspiring a bunch of other people. On any level just them having a good time at the show or changing their life for the better or them getting a friend out of this. It’s just really cool. It’s something that is so personal to me and that means the world to so many people; and I get to see the world so that’s amazing.

Looking for THE scene podcast? Look no further. Unplugged w/ Tyler Winters & John Pearman is exactly what you need. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Follow or Subscribe below!

or another podcast platform.