It’s a funny old time to be in a guitar-driven indie band.
On one hand, you have Instagram accounts dedicated to the revival of Indie Sleaze, bands like Fontaines DC selling 45,000 tickets at Finsbury Park and of course the Gallagher brothers globetrotting up and down the country, reigniting the appetite for guitar music in the mainstream. Yet, on the other, streaming payouts haven’t moved an inch, the cost of touring has risen exponentially and every two weeks a grassroots music venue closes in the United Kingdom. So, while bands may be in vogue again, ironically, it’s never been harder to be in one.
For mid-level sized rock bands that have built a respectable following but haven’t quite cracked arenas, the margins are even smaller and in the last two years we’ve had Sundara Karma, The Magic Gang and a host of others all calling it a day and bowing out from the financially draining world of playing 02 Academies. For Wrexham bred four-piece The Royston Club, they find themselves in a position in which they must follow up their brilliant UK Top 20 debut ‘Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars’ in a musical climate in which having a UK Top 20 album does not guarantee your future as a band. With that in mind, on their sophomore effort ‘Songs for the Spine’, there is a clear ambition to write bigger, festival-ready songs, filled to the brim with anthemic type arrangements. While there is no doubting that The Royston Club have succeeded in what they set out to do, you are left wondering if a degree of subtlety is sacrificed because of it.
If bringing indie super-producer Rich Turvey (Blossoms, Courteeners) to the helm wasn’t a sign of the band’s ambition on ‘Songs For The Spine’, try opener ‘Shivers’ driving bassline and Ben Mattias stadium adjacent guitar tone, setting the scene for 37 minutes of music that barely leaves you a moment to catch your breath. Even the rare moments of restraint throughout the record are short-lived, often met by Sam Jones’ kick-drum to signal that any lull in tempo was just a tool to build to an even bigger arrangement. On their 2023 debut ‘Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars’, the bands tender moments were some of their most endearing, such as the gorgeous drum-free ballad ‘A Tender Curiosity’ that features singer Tom Faithful and guitarist Ben Matthias beautiful interlocking harmonies at the forefront of the song. However, on ‘Songs For The Spine’, even the acoustic-guitar led tracks such as ‘Cariad’ and ‘Spinning’ falter from the bands attempt to leave no stone untoned in their pursuit of an anthemic feel, despite both songs better suited to a slower, ballad like structure.
While the anthemic energy of each track is enjoyable when you take them on face-value, it begins to wear thin as the album progresses. With that said, when they lend the larger, stadium-like arrangements to songs that warrant it, the result is undeniably brilliant. Lead single ‘The Patch Where Nothing Grows’ is a prime example and may just be best thing the band has put their name to since forming in 2017. Frontman Tom Faithful’s falsetto is gorgeous, as is core songwriter Ben Matthias delightfully clever turn of phrase. ‘Well, if it’s always February/ And this love’s not necessary/ I’ll fall gently in this grove/ In the patch where nothing grows.’ Clever one-liners are littered throughout the whole of ‘Songs For The Spine’, with Matthias’ kitchen-sink realism a big reason in what separates The Royston Club from their contemporaries. Matthias’ songwriting chops are best highlighted in another album highlight ‘Glued To The Bed’, as his construction of melody combined with a gem of a line in ‘This sunken room surrounds me / But I don’t push against the walls / On the Blu Tack stains above my drawers’ has a hint of Alex Turner’s early work to it.
Elsewhere, ‘30/20’s guitar tone and coming-of-age feel channels the unlikely inspiration of early 2000s emo-rock, a song that wouldn’t feel out of place fronted by The All-American Rejects or even Simple Plan. While I’m not sure how much the band will appreciate that comparison, it’s a suit that The Royston Club wears quite comfortably and highlights their sonic progression from album one. Yet, by the time we make our way to the 6-and-a-half-minute mammoth closer ‘Ballad of Glen Campbell’, there is a feeling that it falls a little flat. While hearing a piano in the mix is a welcome surprise and Faithful’s emotive vocal delivery is worth noting, the overblown cinematic outro would have likely landed better if the prior nine songs didn’t follow the exact same song structure and arrangement.
Just like being in an indie-rock band in 2025, The Royston Club’s ‘Songs for the Spine’ finds itself in a tricky predicament. The record is filled to the brim with several great songs, interesting lyrics and tight musicianship but ultimately suffers in its overblown nature. Yet, as the boys from Wrexham gear up to tackle some of their biggest shows to date later in the year, culminating in a headline at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town, I have no doubt that new life will be breathed into songs clearly designed with a live setting in mind.
Ultimately, The Royston Club show no signs of slowing down and if the biggest criticism that can be levelled at them is that some of their arrangements are perhaps a bit too ambitious, that’s likely the sign of a band that’s going to be alright.
Words by Romesh Cruse