Home BRU'd Sessions: Royal Street

Royal Street, formerly known as Sienna, whom you might know from Rock Hunt 2011 and 2013) only lives a couple blocks away from the station, but they arrived a couple minutes late for their session last week. We didn’t blame them—no one’s been able to navigate the streets recently due to the piles of snow and coatings of ice. Once they arrived, they got down to work with an acoustic version of three of their tracks, including their new single, Memory, and to other yet-to-be-released songs. The acoustic format highlights Viana Newton’s energetic, clear voice. The vocals range from aggressive to sweet and back again, often within the same song. Underlying and anchoring her performance, guitarist Alex Beattie remains clean, easy, and steady. Meanwhile, bassist Zach Brock (Papa Zach, as his bandmates call him at one point), temporarily off-duty in the acoustic setup, watches over everything, occasionally ducking in to take an iphone photo. Check out the fantastic live performances in the videos below, and watch the interview for some candid moments and the story behind their name change! Interview: Songs:   Photos by staff photographer Matteo Mobilio