If 2024 was “chaos,” Royel Otis is predicting more of the same.
Led by Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic, the Sydney alternative rock outfit completed a glorious year that included international tours, a homecoming concert at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, a DJ spot at Beyond The Valley, multiple ARIA Awards, a top 10 album and a Billboard Hot 100 hit.
Maddell and Pavlovic aren’t wasting any time. They’re getting down to work on fresh music “pretty soon”, Pavlovic tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “We’ll start working on some stuff,” he continues. “We’ve got a little bit of time away to just work on some music.”
The lads have a lot to work with. Over the years, they’ve compiled “bunches, heaps and piles” of ideas, explains Maddell with a smile.
As Royel Otis gets their year underway with sessions, an unexpected – and belated –chart boost. On the latest ARIA Chart, their cover of “Linger (SiriusXM Session)”, originally recorded by The Cranberries in 1994, cracks the top 50 for the first time, at No. 46. The viral cut gave Royel Otis a first-up entry on the US Billboard Hot 100 last August, opening and peaking at No. 94.
For eight months of the year, the group toured in support of their debut full length album, Pratts & Pain, which dropped in February via Andrew Klippel’s Ourness, and went straight into the ARIA top 10, at No. 10.
The LP, which takes its name from the pub in Streatham, south London, the local for Dan Carey (Wet Leg, Fontaines DC), who produced the new album at his home studio, got the expanded treatment in October with the release of a deluxe edition, including a new single “If Our Love Is Dead.”
“We’ll be touring later in the year,” Maddell tells RS, but the priority for 2025 is “working on the next record, first and foremost.” They’re “open to the idea” of collaborations, he continues, and they’re considering a stint in Los Angeles, “just by the people we might be working with.”
The year 2024 began with the Grammys anointing Royel Otis as one of their “25 Artists To Watch,” and wrapped with a string of live dates on home soil, and the band Otis bagging a bunch of ARIA Awards (from a leading eight nominations), including a win for best group.
Speaking with Tone Deaf last December, Maddell remarked that 2024 was “chaos.” This year should be even “more chaotic.”
