Sanne de Vos interviews Sebastian Danzig
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What is it like to be back in the Netherlands?
“I love it so much. Every single time I’m here, I’m happy.”
You seem to have a special bond with the fans here.
“Amsterdam was the first city in Europe where we showed up and we sold out the first show in a couple of minutes. Then it sold out again in a bigger room and we were like ‘oh my god.’ I just remember playing that show and we walked off stage at the Melkweg and we were like ‘what the fuck’. We felt like a real, cool rock band. The Netherlands always made us feel cool and proud of ourselves. We come back every year it seems to be except for the pandemic. We played Pinkpop twice now, which was fantastic, and we played in Utrecht last summer. I’m just grateful for the fanbase. Everyone just seems happy. I know that’s just… Dutch people seem to be very happy. But the room and environment, it just feels really good and positive.”
Last time you were here, the show before Utrecht, you played here three times right?
“Yes, we played here in Tilburg and we played two shows in Amsterdam. We played this same room, but it sold out at the 1400 capacity. And now it’s 3000 people. It’s like double the size and it’s packed. I’m really grateful that we have been able to grow as a band here continually. The next step is AFAS Live, you know. It’s really exciting for us.”
You talked about Pinkpop. How was that?
“Amazing. We played in a tent the first time at Pinkpop and it was packed. Then this year we played the main stage, which was a fantastic opportunity to do. We played right when the doors opened so people were running through the set trying to get there, but it was still beautiful. We played Fever Dream and dedicated it to our mom and it started raining – it’s all on film. It was such a beautiful moment to have that. Then the moment we stopped playing Fever Dream, it stopped raining. It was really, really cathartic and really emotional.”
You’re playing Wembley Arena really soon. That’s a bucket list item right?
“Yes, literally. I said this to Remington and Emerson yesterday. I had a notebook since 2008 and I was writing down things I wanted to do with my life and I said that we are going to sell out Wembley Arena. Here we are, fifteen years later, but we still did it. You can’t be too mad about the growth of this. I’m just proud of what we have accomplished as a band.”
Anything else on that bucket list?
“We want to do a bunch of stuff outside of the traditional thing. Obviously I want to headline a bunch of big festivals. Your dreams grow as you grow and you accomplish things. Wembley Arena was like ‘oh my god’, but now we’re there. So now it’s selling out a whole arena tour around Europe and the States. We are so controlling in our world of Palaye. So being able to have it that if we want to dream up something, like if Remington wants to have a rope swing in a venue, we can just do it. We’re getting to that level where we can say anything silly like ‘we want a hot air balloon’ and they’re going to be like ‘okay’. It’s nice that our dreams are becoming realities because we are so visual and we just want to continue to grow this whole world. Not only for ourselves but for the fans to enjoy.”
You recently announced that you’re going to move to the UK.
“Not to the UK, to the Netherlands. Me and Larisa, my wife, are going to live in Amsterdam for a month in April and then a month in Utrecht. We are just trying out different cities to feel out what we like. I know and love Amsterdam, but I don’t know if living in central Amsterdam is going to be a long term thing. It feels like I’m living in a really crazy city, which has its calmness to it. I feel like Utrecht would be a little bit better, because you could go to the craziness and then come back and be calm. I loved it when I was walking around there. I was only there for two days and I was like: this is Amsterdam but without tourism, which is fantastic and Amsterdam is only a car ride or train ride away.”
Do you think it will impact the band?
“I think that we’re so connected and disconnected as a band, all the way through it all. I think, regardless of where we live, the thing that’s going to tie us together is the music, the brand and the band. We tour so much, so even when we get off tour we really don’t see each other because we’re with each other 24/7. If I’m living in the Netherlands, Remington is living in the UK and Emerson lives in a castle in France, it doesn’t matter where we’re at. We still have a job to do and we still have a passion we love. Time off of a tour is my vacation and then I work. We work really hard behind the scenes before tours and stuff, but it’s nothing I need to be in a physical place with all of us at the same time. Unless we’re rehearsing or doing a record.”
With the new record was there a different process? Did you work separately from each other?
“Every record we’ve made it’s been all of us in the room. It depends on what level of attentiveness we have to the record. I think Death or Glory was really great for us. With Fever Dream we were there 24/7 making a record, it was the first time we did since making our first album. So that was a really great thing, but we did take a year to make it because it was the pandemic. We didn’t have a time restraint and we didn’t know when the world was going to open up again. We were just kind of exploring our creativity and trying to grow and expend our vision as a band. I think Fever Dream did a phenomenal job of putting a stamp on who we are as a band. Death or Glory is just back to the basics of what Palaye Royale is: a good rock band. I think sometimes you forget that we can just go on stage and play rock music. Some records you make explore different things and ideas. Coming back to the basics, we made the record with Matt Squire who we really liked, and we made it in two parts. We did two weeks in an AirBnB and recorded the first half. Then we went to play the shows, like in Utrecht and Rock of People in June of last year. Then we came back for two more weeks and finished the record. It was really quick, we didn’t really think about it too much. Three of the guitar solo’s on there, it was literally the first time that I played it. I was like ‘cool, done, don’t touch it’. I think that really translates live. We go up there and we’re playing like we’re just in a room again. Music has unfortunately turned into this thing where it’s too precious for people. They will perfect everything. It’s great to strive for perfection and whatnot but I think art doesn’t need to be perfect, it’s all opinionated and it’s all subjective. I just like the record for where we are in our lives, emotionally and physically. I think it’s really light-hearted in a sense. There are some dark undertones of course, as there always will be with Palaye, but it’s fun. With everything that went on in our lives, I think it’s the most necessary thing we have in our lives, to just have fun on that stage instead of living in this dark hole where we’re all already emotionally living in, because of everything that has happened. On that note, I’m just grateful to have the album and I think it came out at the right time.”
What’s your favourite song of the new album to perform live?
“For You or Dark Side of the Silver Spoon. For You, I love it, that guitar solo. Right when we did that guitar solo in the studio I remember just being like: I can literally see ten thousand people at Wembley Arena just fucking jumping when that solo comes in. That vision is coming to life in two days, which is so cool. It’s very visual, you just don’t want to think about it too much and just want to hang around with your friends. That’s what today was. We did VIP with 60 kids and it was great, all the different ages. It’s funny because I said to Emerson: these fans that were here in 2018 when we did our first tour in Europe, they are all friends because of the band and they are all drinking. It’s funny that now they’re not kids anymore, everyone is now young adults. Kids are flying from Poland, Czech Republic, London and they’re all best friends. They’re all staying with each other and traveling and caravaning. Relationships are happening and these two girls are getting married. It’s so cool to see that our music has been the foundation of people’s young adult lives. I think it has helped escapism for a lot of these kids that feel like they’re almost lost in some sense when they’re teenagers. They are all finding themselves and are more confident now. I feel like in Europe there is a lot more confidence at a younger age, but it’s definitely even more so at the ages that they’re at. They’re just cool as fuck. I can walk down the street and be like ‘you have a cool outfit on’, because they’re original and authentic. It’s really cool to see that that’s what our music has done.”
You do have very dedicated fans.
“Our lives would not exist in this world that we have created, without them. They have given us all the freedom in the world. I’m forever grateful. If I could say thank you to every single one, every single day, I would. But I also have to preserve something for myself, which I’m now learning. It’s a hard balance because when we were playing Melkweg, it was like 1400 people after a show. You could go meet them. When you’re doing a show for 3000 people it’s a little bit more chaotic. When you’re doing a show for 6000 to 10000 people it’s impossible. It’s for the safety of people too. I want to say hi and thank you, but it’s really difficult. Our connection with the fans through the years brought them into this world and now they have found their personal connections of friends and relationships through the community and the fans. So when they come to the show they’re celebrating with each other while we are celebrating with them. It’s a different approach but it ebbs and flows and grows. I’m so excited and I’m grateful every day. We’re three brothers who said that we’re going to do it and we’re doing it. Everyone said that this shit wouldn’t work but we’ve proven them wrong and it’s only because of the fans.”
I feel like you’re a really creative band, with the make-upline and everything.
“It’s all Emerson, from the bags to the make-up and the clothing. We design all of our own suits. Everything lives and breathes Palaye and the moment we lose control of that, everyone will know it’s not authentic anymore. It’s a hundred percent Palaye. Emerson was spray painting the walls today. When you see the set for the show: it’s us. We designed that on the bus. We didn’t hire a company to say ‘make me a stage’, ‘make me a record album cover’, ‘make me the merch’, ‘make me the make-up’. We do it. It’s a lot of work but I don’t want it any other way. I just wish we could get a little better at delegating our responsibilities to say ‘this is my dream, make it happen’. So I can focus on creating more. We are so fortunate with the team we’ve created, in Europe especially. From our lighting guy, to our sound guy, to our photographers, to our merch guy, everyone is here because they want the band to win. They want us to win as people. It’s a business at the end of the day and that is how a business runs. I’m grateful to see that I have people that give a fuck just as much as I do. It’s very hard to find that. It’s taken us a decade to find that. You have to prove that you are worth it and people see that where we’re growing and say: ‘I want to be with this band forever’. We’re not going to end anytime soon. Like we say, it’s death or glory and that’s what it is.”
Any other creative projects that you’re working on?
“Emerson is doing a graphic novel right now. I want to start doing the whole clothing line. I already have all the suits made. It’s just one more facet of things. I have to figure out a lot of things in our music business side of things, it’s really difficult. It’s really hard because you have a lot of people who just collect checks on your behalf that do fuck all. There are a lot of people that I do have who are fucking great and stellar. But I feel like you’re only as strong as your weakest player. That’s unfortunately where we stand in our relationships in our business. You’re contractually stuck in a deal with someone that you don’t want to necessarily be with or you’ve outgrown. Everyone’s relationship ends because you want two separate things, and that’s fine. I don’t want yes-people. I want people to challenge me, but I also want them to be better than me at what I’m doing. So we can grow this shit faster and faster and faster.”
Emerson once talked about a documentary. Are you still working on that?
“Yes, we’re filming one for the fans for our road to Wembley. It’s all the shows, doing it together. We will do a long form, probably in two to three years. We have footage from when we first started as a band. When we do the full arena tour around the world, that’s when we will have a full two hour documentary of everything and the stories from us starting as a band. Getting turned down by every record label. People throwing shit at us on stage. It’s a movie in itself, because we’ve lived it and it’s our story and our truth.”
