Royal Nature is a band created after the drummer’s survival of the 2015 Nepal earthquake

Royal Nature’s drummer, Ashton, was trekking on the Everest Base Camp Trail in Nepal on April 25, 2015, when a 7.8 earthquake struck the country.

After dodging buildings collapsing, being surrounded by corpses, and witnessing constant aftershocks for an entire week, Ashton was finally able to return safely home to North Carolina. He was later diagnosed with PTSD after showing symptoms such as panic attacks, high anxiety, and depression.

Just when no cure seemed to exist, Ashton began to write songs, which became his own means of self-prescribed therapy. With the help of his best friends, his goal was to create an album where listeners could walk with him from day one in the Himalayas, through the earthquake and PTSD, and all the way into his renewal.

In this interview, we chat with Royal Nature about their newest project, influences, surviving in the digital era and more.

Full Q&A with links and streams below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I am from Boone, North Carolina. I create alternative indie rock with my 3 best friends.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?

I was in Nepal during the 2015 earthquake that killed over 9,000 people. I had to dodge buildings collapsing, withstand constant aftershocks for an entire week, and witness corpse after corpse being dropped off in the village that I was trapped in. Once returning home safely a week later, I was diagnosed with PTSD. When no cure seemed to be working for me, I began writing songs as a means of self-prescribed therapy. We have released 4 songs now, and our full length album “Arcane” comes out at the end of October/early November. I continue to create music because it helps me heal from my experience, and I want to relate to others who have been through similar life experiences, as well as to remind those who have not been through anything traumatic that those experiences do happen to real people.

Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?

Darren King, the drummer for MuteMath, has always been my biggest role model as far as musicians go. I saw him play when I was 15 years old, I’m 25 now, and I was blown away by the creativity and personal style that he communicated through the drums. I pretty much stick to the same favorite bands over the years, including MuteMath, Coldplay, Alt-J, and Bon Iver.

How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?

The 4 of us in Royal Nature had never made music together before, at least not all 4 of us at once, and especially not electronic rock. So in one sense we really didn’t know what we were doing, but in another sense I knew what style I was after, and the other guys are such talented dudes that I knew we would be able to create what I had in my mind. So I still love the Palace of Dreams EP, but I think the rest of the songs on “Arcane” have a bit more of a mature feel, musically speaking. I love it though because it actually places an emphasis on the simple writing of the EP, making those 3 songs stand out even more.

Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?

I think being an Indie Musician today has more advantages than it has ever had in the past. With the old music industry model dying out, and the new one of “Do It Yourself” taking over, it is way more of an accessible avenue than it was 30 years ago. Sure, it might take more time to grow your fan base, but with all of the tools available today it is more do-able than people realize.

How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?

It’s a love/hate relationship. The positive is exposure, the negative is lower initial income. But if you work the system then the exposure offered by streaming services turns into income. It al depends on how you play the game.

Where can we follow you online and hear more music?

We are on most social platforms. Our home address is royalnatureband.com, we post frequently to our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/royalnatureband/) and Instagram (@royalnatureband), and I am just now getting into using SnapChat (@royalnatureband). We will be releasing the full length album onto Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/royalnature), as well as BandCamp (https://royalnature.bandcamp.com), and of course iTunes and Spotify.

Anything else before we sign off?

We love all of our fans, and thank you for your time reading this!

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