Royal Headache was an Australian punk rock and garage band from Sydney. The band was formed in 2008 and was composed of Tim "Shogun" Wall (vocals), Lawrence "Law" Hall (guitar), Joseph "Joe" Sukit (bass), Chris "Shortty" Shortt (drums) and Gabrielle de Giorgio (keyboards, organ, percussion, vocals).
The band released two albums, Royal Headache (2011) and High (2015), both of which earned critical acclaim, and toured the US and Europe.
In June 2018, the band announced its dissolution via a post on their Facebook page.
History
Royal Headache was born in 2008 in a boat shed in Putney, a suburb of Sydney, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It was here that Shortty and Law started jamming. "We just wanted to do something more stripped back," said Shortty of the band's beginnings. He also described it as "[a] back-to-basics rock and roll sensibility".
On a trip to Melbourne's Flip Out festival, they handed out copies of their rough instrumental demo hoping to find a singer, which piqued the interest of Shogun who had known Shortty from the Sydney punk and hardcore scene. Royal Headache's first show was in late January 2009, at a warehouse space called Maggotville.
Royal Headache's first single, "Eloise", was released in 2010. Prior to its release, the track was featured on Pitchfork, who said the song "recalls the fuzz and stomp of the Buzzcocks."
The group's 2011 self-titled debut album was a big word-of-mouth success for an independent Sydney band not backed by a major label subsidiary. The album earned rave reviews from critics, particularly for Shogun's vocals, which were often compared to soul singers. As one review said, Royal Headache "infus[ed] a vibrant, Motown-indebted charm to raucous punk rock." In 2012, the band toured the US in support of the album, selling out shows in Chicago and New York City. At the AIR Awards of 2012, they were nominated for three awards, winning Best Independent Album. That fall, they played several arena shows in Australia as the opening act for the Black Keys.
In 2013, the band released the single "Stand and Stare." Although seemingly poised for greater success, the band split abruptly shortly afterward when Shogun left the band. In an interview with Mess+Noise, he said "We were a pretty dysfunctional band, mostly because of me. I was drinking a lot and being an asshole, and I was never happy with anything." Despite breaking up, Shogun indicated that the band planned to finish recording their second album.
After not playing live for nearly a year and a half, the band reformed in November 2014 for a gig at Maggot Fest in Melbourne, and went on to play a handful of sold out shows. Keyboardist Gabrielle de Giorgio joined the band around this time and the band completed recording their second album.
Royal Headache was well known for their unpredictable live shows. During a performance at the Sydney Opera House, during the Vivid Sydney Festival in May 2015, the band forced to end a performance early after 60 fans stormed the stage and were dispersed by police and security guards. An Opera House spokesperson said "Towards the end of the Royal Headache performance, some members of the audience made their way up on stage. Security attended and assisted patrons back to their seats. The performance resumed and the band completed their set." The incident resulted in widespread news coverage.
In August 2015, the group released their second studio album High. Vice Magazine said "In just under 30-minutes the record is short but full of joy and hopelessness with touches of sadness." In response to Vice Magazine's review, lead singer Shogun said "To be honest, they are all sad songs. There's no other reason to write a song. A song for me is someone trying to deal with a rift between themselves and reality. Singing a traditional love ballad to a bunch of Sydney punk kids is one of the most hardcore things you could do. Sing a pretty song to an Australian set of heteronormative people. Miss the mark and you're really in deep shit." High was again critically acclaimed, and the band toured the US and Europe during 2015 and 2016, including an appearance at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.