The last time I crossed paths with Jennifer Herrema, the former Royal Trux vocalist reminded me that she’d grown up in D.C. And digging through the band’s online text archive of interviews from 1998-2001 [http://www.royaltrux.wolfzen.com/rtx_ints_needs_formatting.txt], it occurred to me that Royal Trux is nearly as much a D.C. area band as any of the punk and hardcore acts celebrated in the wave of documentaries hitting the indie small screen soon. Guitarist/singer Neil Hagerty also hailed from D.C. as did Pussy Galore originally, a band for which he contributed guitar for a spell, but it was in New York that the band first gained notice and it’s been claimed by Chicago (via its longtime label home Drag City) and briefly San Francisco. Geography and multiple layers of outsiderhood figure in significantly in the story of Royal Trux, a band that despite its best efforts to be out of step with its era, couldn’t help but define it.
You’ve published a few books. What’s your main creative outlet these days? Music or writing?Music, for sure.
Do you look back on the period fondly?I don’t really engage in reminiscing but regardless if I think about any time in my life with Neil, it is with fondness.
Earlier Royal Trux records could be said to be taking rock apart, but Pound for Pound is a fully realized rock record. What might have you been listening to around that time?Blue Oyster Cult, Incredible String Band, Steely Dan, Edgar Winter, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top, Peter Green, Betty Davis, Charles Mingus, The Roaches, Skynyrd, U-Roy, Augustus Pablo… all sorts of old stuff but we were really into the radio, too. TLC was huge for me and I was a big Britney fan too.
Neil Hagerty
I remember between Golden, Trans Am and Royal Trux, DC had shades of a boogie rock revival in the late ‘90s. Am I imagining that?True; and don’t forget The Makeup.
