Royal Steamline The Blog | Inspiration for Brides & Grooms

The Lady A. and I found ourselves spending Halloween night with the Vagabond Opera at The Woods. Let’s see…a Gypsy/klezmer/opera cabaret performing on All Hallows’ Eve in a former mortuary? Yes, it was as exciting as it sounds. The band was in fine form, alternatively belting out raucous music hall sing-a-longs and weaving sweet sonic spells that bewitched and beguiled. The crowd – who was almost uniformly in costume – was game to participate and, to me, it seemed a grand time was had by all.

… J

We just wanted to say thanks to those of you who have been ordering 10/6 — we’re pleased to be of service to fellow Alice fans!

So, by way of celebration, here’s Bigelf with The Mad Hatter. (If you’re a fan of heavy music, watch for the fields of Orange amps that materialize around 2:35. A dream come true!)

When we were Angelenos, we saw Bigelf several times at Spaceland — always a fun show. You have to love Damon Fox’s twin organ attack (which he painstakingly recreates at all live shows, too)! While an underground act for almost two decades, the fellas are finally getting some good exposure via a recent tour with Dream Theatre. It’s about time, guys!

Ever since I discovered them via 1998’s amazing Halloween Hootenanny (released by Rob Zombies’s perennially semi-defunct Zombie-A-Go-Go label [why did you have to switch to unnecessarily remaking horror classics, Rob?]), I’ve enjoyed the spooktacular surf sounds of The Ghastly Ones. (Yes, Satan’s Pilgrims are on the comp, too, and Around the World with Satan’s Pilgrims turned me on to the Northwest kings of the surf scene, but there was/is just something about the Ghastlys that I really like.)

{The Ghastly Ones}

However, over the past decade, I never managed to catch The Ghastly Ones live; it seemed like they rarely ventured outside of their home base in scenic Van Nuys. I was, then, delighted to see that they were opening for the Pilgrims at their Portland record release show for their latest, Psychsploitation. The Ghastlys didn’t disappoint, delivering a blazing set of both their classics (including the eponymous rocker “The Ghastly Stomp”) as well as covers of garages favorites. Granted, they had to battle their vintage Gibson reverb boxes and Vox bass amps at the beginning of the set, but once things got rolling, the place was shaking. And, as always, the boys looked great in their Hammeresque undertaker ensembles.

As Necrobella attests on A-Haunting We Will Go-Go, these guys really do know how to make the g0-go ghouls shimmy-shiver…

… J

{The Ghastly Ones}

{The Ghastly Ones}

{Satan's Pilgrims}

{Satan's Pilgrims}

It seems that oppressive heat is to be found just about everywhere in the States right now. As a brief mental respite from the soaring temperatures, we offer the following icy track from darkwave masters Wolfsheim. This track has always conjured images of snow gently swirling around the Alexanderplatz. And, it mentions “wedding shoes,” so it’s doubly appropriate. Enjoy.

With all of the talk surrounding Mr. Trent Reznor and his decision to effectively withdraw from the world of social media, it got us here at the Royal Steamline studios reminiscing about his storied career. Like many of you, we’ve been fans since Pretty Hate Machine. But we’d all but forgotten the video to 1997’s “The Perfect Drug.”

Directed by Mark Romanek, this thing’s got it all: period finery, steampunk-style devices, and absinthe (which was still fairly underground here in the States in the mid-’90s). And you’ll no doubt recognize the huge influence of Mr. Ogdred Weary on the sets and costumes.

Universal Music Group, in a shockingly shortsighted maneuver, has disabled embedding of the official video. But that’s alright as one intrepid fan has posted an interesting behind-the-scenes video (that also just happens to contain the finished product, too) that you’ll find below. Note the incredible bit of quackery at 4:39 and just how perfectly TR strikes the “artist-overcome-by-ennui” at 5:42. The perfect drug, indeed…

In honor of this dreary, rainy day in Portland, we put together some of our favorite indie rock slow jams. Don’t worry, they’re not all sad bastard songs — some would even consider these love songs…

This was a difficult post to write. You see, I hesitated because I didn’t want to use examples or labels that might offend or turn people off; something as subdivided and debated as music (and metal) presents a natural minefield. But if you like metal, read on. If not, no harm done, eh?

The following song, “The Knell and the World” by Dawn, came up in my playlist recently. While it’s held a special place in my heart since it was released over a decade ago — on an absolutely underrated masterpiece entitled Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) — I had never before imagined that it possibly could be the perfect metal wedding processional. But upon hearing it the other day, that’s exactly what popped into my head. Here’s how it breaks down:

0:00 – 0:29  The bridesmaids and groomsmen take their places

0:29 – 0:46  With the arrival of that two-ton bass line, the groom takes his position

0:47 – 1:22  As soon as the double bass drum begins, the bride comes into view in all her blackened glory and proceeds down the aisle…

Now, I know what you’re thinking: 15 or 30 seconds isn’t nearly enough time for people to get down the aisle. That’s true, but don’t miss my point. I’m not suggesting you use this exact song and follow my exact times, but imagine the power that a song like “Knell” would have as a metal wedding processional. No one has ever made overdriven arpeggios sound so good.

So, if you’re thinking about having a metal wedding (or if you already have), please let us know what songs you used during the ceremony. Oh, and if you’re not familiar, please check out the rest of Dawn’s work as it’s truly great stuff!

… J

Music to float to…

J & I live and breath music. We even spent our first date arguing over who was the bigger music aficionado. So there was no doubt that when we got married, music would be a huge part of the event. The only problem was we both hate to dance and have a huge aversion toward the traditional wedding DJ. The solution: we had to take control of every note.

We agreed on two things: 1) we didn’t want a dance floor and 2) we wanted our friend Nyles to play during various parts of the wedding. But we weren’t sure what to do the rest of the time. And what about the welcome party the night before? Since we had recently digitized nearly our entire music collection, it was pretty clear that making our own mix was the way to go. So we set out to make the soundtrack of our life together.

While vinyl is divine, you just can’t beat the convenience of MP3s. No crating a bunch of records to the venue and all the actual “mixing” happens before the event. Creating the playlists was a welcome break from wedding planning and something we could contribute to equally. Plus, it was a great excuse to buy a new iPod. For much less than the cost of a wedding DJ, we had our personal mix of songs for the entire weekend and we didn’t have to worry about coordinating (and paying) yet another wedding vendor. And best of all, the iPod and mixes came home with us.

Stay tuned for some of our themed playlists to borrow for your reception.

TIP: Make sure your venue has a set-up for your iPod. A simple stereo system with an 1/8-inch-to-RCA cable will do (you can find these on Amazon or Radio Shack for super cheap).