The Great Return
As I write, a heavy smog hangs in the North America sky. I can see it from my window and that’s saying something because I’m in a basement. As I peek out at the world from below, I’m reminded of November 2020 when, again, we were kept inside our homes by looming particles. And while today’s particles may shut down Governor’s Ball this weekend, those particles shut down everything for months raising the questions “can we ever come back from this?” Unto the question a song was born. A song called “Revivalism.”
At the song’s climax, we all sing “you’re bringing me back, back, back” right before Ben launches into a killer guitar solo. It’s a reliable moment in every set, usually towards the end, but last week it carried extra weight in that it actually did mark a return to form, as the band had not played all together since our album release in October 2022.
In one sense, we’ve been more active than ever. Rebecca and I regularly play shows around DC as a duo, I’ll sometimes play solo and, on several occasions, Taimir and/or Ben joined us making us a trio or quartet. The model is scalable.
But Broke Royals had not achieved its truest form - all five of us together on stage - since October 2022. Our first show was at Hardywood, a brewery that produces a delicious IPA called “The Great Return.” As it just so happened, we were celebrating two great returns ourselves. Colin returned to the drums after several months of rock & roll paternity leave. Even though the new dad might not exactly be well-rested, he didn’t miss a beat. Taimir also joined us fresh off the plane from a month in Europe where he toured extensively with the post-hardcore band Shy Low. He too did not miss a beat. Rhythm section stays winning.
But wait! There’s more! The returns just kept on coming. On Sunday, we found ourselves back at the Herndon Festival. It was our third performance at the festival but our first since COVID. Like before, the festival was a great environment to be back in and we had a blast performing. We rocked so loudly, in face, that we drowned out the sonic boom of jets passing overhead.
So here I am, back in the basement, looking out at the world from below. Sifting through some photos from last week, my spirits revived. The smog will loom but not forever and music will be there to bring us back, back, back.