Inspired during a roadtrip from California to New Hampshire, just before moving back to the UK, musician David Lawrie decided on the name The Royal Ritual for the release of his album Martyrs. Realizing that his birth name was more associated with his background in production and sound design Lawrie wanted a memorable name but one that would pose questions. “I was thinking about my attitude towards (or, rather, against) the idea of a monarchy and the notion of inherited power as some kind of ritualistic rite.“ From these musings the name The Royal Ritual was created.
With classical training in music theory and piano, Lawrie believes he has had a compulsion to play and write music since he was a child. While at Leeds College of Music (now Leeds Conservatoire) Lawrie used location recordings and found sounds in the albums he released. This was a natural segue to sound design and audio post production for film for Lawrie although at the time the link was not immediately obvious.
Lawrie participated in a skill swap with director David Diley, whereby Diley helped Lawrie make a music video for his song “Over, Under“, released under David Lawrie and Lawrie did sound design for Diley’s film “Of Shark and Man“. The ensuing success at the festival circuit of the Diley film resulted in Lawrie securing many commissions in both audio post production and music production. Lawrie recognized a synergy between the two. Sound design became a major part of musical production for Lawrie which he explains by saying that “ I am a big proponent of the concept album, and for me the sonic “palette“ is just as, if not more important then the lyrical themes.“
Citing “music as a process“ as the reoccurring theme in his music Lawrie particularly loves modern, minimalistic music. He acknowledges the difficulty in defining minimalistic music but he thinks “that the process of it is important.“ Lawrie enjoys the challenge of playing with cyclical rhythms and ostinatos, translating them into a modern song. “Finding the elusive balance between creating something that feels really unique, whilst also being able to communicate a message to the audience“ is what excites Lawrie. He questions the effectiveness of music that is created only for an exclusive audience believing that music is a language and it should be something that the general listener can understand.
Having had the experience of both MTV and MTV2 in its glory days Lawrie found himself attracted to darker music, films and artwork which led to his interest in Industrial music. While others in his high school listened to groups like Nirvana and Basement Jaxx, Lawrie prefers the sound of Tool or Aphex Twin. The visuals in the music videos of these groups played an important part in his attraction to their music.
Under the moniker HARUKO Lawrie is also very involved in visual arts. He does all the visual work for his music under HARUKO. “It feels really good to be able to marry my musical concepts with my visual ideas.“ says Lawrie. He does on occasion enlist the assistance of a small team of professionals, with whom he has long standing relationships to assist with his work, providing what Lawrie calls a “dream scenario“.
His starting point when creating his own music is his “palette“ of a collection of works. Lawrie always chooses a core sound before writing anything. He selects a general lyrical theme which impacts the sounds he puts on the palette. Believing in the idea of a concept album Lawrie doesn’t have a set process for writing individual songs preferring to treat each song as something more then a standalone entity. When doing commissioned work Lawrie says that the project dictates any direction in which he goes. He says “my job is to reinforce the directors vision.“ He also ensures that anyone that commissions him is familiar with his style.
Despite enjoying live performances while he is actually doing them, Lawrie has shied away from them as they have a tendency to make him a little nervous. Stepping out of his comfort zone he is currently designing a live show for The Royal Ritual. He sees live performing as “a key part of the forward momentum“ for The Royal Ritual.
With the initial response to The Royal Ritual being overwhelming positive Lawrie has found the project is now requiring more and more attention. While currently still balancing it with commission work Lawrie has his sights on The Royal Ritual becoming his main focus. He has already begun working on his next album, one that will deal with the theme of loss. “I will be revisiting, disassembling and reconstructing some old pieces of music “Lawrie explains. He will be drawing from past times of personal loss as well as writing new music that encompass and explore more recent losses experienced by Lawrie.
Lawrie believes the music of The Royal Ritual isn’t really relevant to one exclusive group but instead a wide group of people. He is fostering a community of fans of his work not just through his social media but also through what has become a growing and vibrant Facebook group called The Royal Ritualists. The Facebook group encourages listeners interaction with regular polls and a chance to express opinions and ideas. New listeners can enjoy The Royal Ritual‘s music and become part of a community where they can be heard and appreciated.
Links
The Royal Ritual has a wonderful offer of Hand-Typed, Signed and Stamped Lyric sets
https://theroyalritual.bandcamp.com/merch/martyrs-hand-typed-signed-and-stamped-lyric-set
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/theroyalritualmusic/
YouTube : https://youtube.com/c/TheRoyalRitualMusic
Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/artist/46tCy5ZnBCSi6RhnlyQiSI?si=6JLVm20WQv6KdAA0PadoRg
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