Despite sharing only a demo cassette prior to their debut LP Eyesore, though they’ve toured the US extensively, Minneapolis four-piece Royal Brat have carved out a home for themselves in punk’s diverse community of emerging voices. The band’s insightful, prescient lyrics, combined with crunchy riffs and melodic guitar work, makes a good case for being one of 2018’s most incisive and important bands. 

Royal Brat sound urgent. Vocalist Alex Uhrich delivers poignant musings on queer and femme empowerment, the trials of gender dysmorphia and inequality, and the pains of breaking up. He has expressed that the band has been an outlet for the lived pain of assault. The songs on Eyesore provide a platform to speak on life as a survivor, and prevailing in the face of sexual assault. Bandmates Shannon Boyer, Clara Salyer, and Conor Burke provide the guidance and structure for these pivotal narratives with songwriting that recalls Bratmobile, and The Breeders, as well as contemporaries Big Eyes, and Kitten Forever. 

In addition to playing as Royal Brat, band members also work as record label operators and queer activists, not to mention performing in or with other musical outlets like Tiffani, Waveless, Babes In Toyland. Though Eyesore clocks in at twenty-six minutes, it packs a profound punch, one that takes a stand on behalf of under-represented voices. By overcoming suffering and living authentically through trying times, Royal Brat present a vision of punk that has only just begun to bloom.