Greg Ginn and the Royal We

Greg Ginn and the Royal We
Greg Ginn and the Royal We
	; The Royal We.
Background information
Also known as	The Royal We
Origin	Austin, Texas, USA
Genres	Electronica, Electro-Industrial, Psychedelic Rock, Experimental Rock, Trance, House
Years active	2010 - Present
Labels	SST Records
Associated acts	Black Flag, October Faction, Gone, Confront James, Mojack, Good For You
Website	Facebook
Current members	Greg Ginn

Greg Ginn and the Royal We is a solo project by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn, deviating into instrumental rock with influences of psychedelic, industrial and electronica. The project has actually taken the live stage for a string of years with Ginn performing by himself among a wall of amps, video projections and surrounded by Theremin, Synthesizers and Guitar.

History[]

Greg Ginn began the project sometime in the late 2000s, citing an interest in trance and house music along with doing a project for himself to enjoy, admitting that it wouldn't appeal to fans of his iconic punk band. In an interview with LA Weekly, Ginn explains the project:

“

"There's just a bunch of electronic stuff and me and a guitar and a computer. What I'm doing there with Greg Ginn and the Royal We doesn't have any appeal to old Black Flag fans. There will be plenty of reunion shows or whatever they can go to. I doubt they're going to get what they're looking for at my set. There's not much crossover between old Black Flag fans and what I'm doing now and that's fine. I'm really excited about it and looking forward to it and I'm honored to have been asked to play. Hopefully I can get across some kind of vibe and focus on giving the audience the best I can do.

There isn't any crossover. I know what I'm talking about. This is something I've known for a long time. I'd say 95 to 98 percent of my older fans rarely if ever listen to anything that's less than 30 years old or if it's newer it doesn't have newer influences than 30 years. It's not a cynical statement on my part, it's an accurate representation from a large sample. I'm not sure if it's people being into the music of their youth or whatever. But really there's a small number of music fans who are into different stuff. You like it, you're in the two percent, or the one percent if we want to use the 99 versus 1 model. You're in the 1 percent that sees a connection throughout my entire career. It's not my job to educate them about music and I'm not even sure they can be educated. But it's not my job. My job is to play music the best that I can do and to be inspired myself. 30 years ago is a long time ago and a lot has happened in music in that time. Get over it. Computers are culture. Big deal.

[In regards to touring] I didn't do any touring for a while, but for the last three or four years I've been touring quite a bit. I think part of the reason is that I've been playing instrumental music for a while. That's a pretty low profile field. But I've been touring quite a lot, so I guess one person's low profile is another person's electric profile.

My music has been a constant evolutionary process for a long time. There's not really a "then and now" story to it. "Black Flag guy is now playing electronic music" isn't the story. I've been playing instrumental music since I started playing music and I've been releasing stuff for 30 years or so. I view it differently than the narrative of somebody coming back from something.

[In regards to possible frustrations as a musician] It doesn't frustrate me because it doesn't surprise me, I just look at it as boring. I'm not big on judging people. I don't say "why aren't you blah blah blah?" That's their business. I just do my thing. It's not terribly surprising. My peers would tell me that Black Flag sounded like Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. They thought it was old music because they couldn't hear it. I learned very early on that you can't bring people into the future. A lot of people, their only reference to what I'm doing is Can or Kraftwerk. I'm inspired by stuff I heard last week.

”

— Greg Ginn, LA Weekly ^[1]

Ginn would tour with the project throughout Texas and other states throughout 2010 and 2011, the latter year with Cinema Cinema. Around the same time Ginn would release a debut album in We Are Amused and a single in We Are One via his own label SST. In 2012 it was announced he would be performing at Coachella Music Festival with a short tour surrounding it.^[2] Ginn would tour again with Cinema Cinema throughout the USA in 2012. In late 2012 Ginn would finish and release a second album entitled Fearless Leaders, released the next year with sporadic appearances after a tour with a reunited Black Flag was finished, notably an appearance at Louisville Experimental Festival. The Royal We would then tour in 2014 as support for Black Flag.

We_Are_One_-_Greg_Ginn_and_the_Royal_We_(official_video) — We Are One - Greg Ginn and the Royal We (official video)

Discography[]

We Are Amused (Studio Album) (2011, SST Records)
We Are One (Single) (2011, SST Records)
Fearless Leaders (Studio Album) (2013, SST Records)

Members[]

Greg Ginn - Guitar, Bass, Organ, Synth, Theremin (2010 - Present)

External Links[]

References[]

↑ LA Weekly Greg Ginn On Black Flag Nostalgia and Coachella, accessed 22 August 2017
↑ Speakeasy PRAccessed 22 August 2017

[1] LA Weekly Greg Ginn On Black Flag Nostalgia and Coachella, accessed 22 August 2017

[2] Speakeasy PRAccessed 22 August 2017

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