Daniel Curcio, Palaye Royale - An Interview

After a by chance meeting one night in West London, the week before their highly anticipated sold out show at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, WALLFLAG_ got the chance to bump shoulders with Palaye Royale bassist Daniel Curcio eventually sitting down to chat about his vast array of instrumental and writing ability, having a Christian rock upbringing, fashions place in music and more!

WALLFLAG_ : So you grew up in New Jersey and are now based in LA right? Meaning you've grown up all around music presumably, what's that been like? Any standout memories?

DANIEL : "I did grow up in New Jersey! I love New Jersey and always will. Thats where all my family is from besides my brother and father.  And yes-I grew up around music but not in the sense you would imagine. My parents were heavily involved in the christian music scene, and helped run the biggest christian music festival in the world since I was born. So I grew up around the rockstars of christian entertainment business. I always knew music was what I was going to do as long ago as I can remember. There wasn't really a big music scene in my area so I found myself going across the bridge to Philadelphia. Philadelphia in my opinion has the most talent musicians in the world. Luckily I did get out of NJ tho. I started getting bigger auditions when I turned 22. My first audition was Lady Gaga. Which I didn't get.."

WALLFLAG_ : When did you first decide you wanted to start playing? And what made you choose bass?


DANIEL : "I started on drums, then guitar, then eventually decided I wanted to start playing bass guitar when I was 9 years old. It was different and a little more non conventional than guitar. That interested me. I never saw it as an instrument as much as I did an emotional outlet to help cope with the struggles of growing up and my parents divorce. I would write songs all day and that made me feel better. It was a somewhat form of empowerment!"

WALLFLAG_ : You've played for a bunch of bands throughout your career yeah? Including recently more than 1 at once, so what's it like balancing multiple projects at a time?

DANIEL : "Yeah! I’ve been in a ton of bands throughout my career. I definitely keep myself busy! My first band was a band called 'Beware of Darkness' that ended up having commercial success for quite some time. I met them while meeting my brother in LA. Who, I didnt know existed till I was 23, true story! Within a year of forming we were touring internationally with some of the biggest rock bands in the world, playing late night television and eventually reaching top ten on radio as well as placements all over television, video games and movies. There was a period in time where our music was everywhere, and that period of my life I will never forget. In 2016 I met a band called Atlas Genius who are some of the best and most professional guys Ive ever met. We had some incredible times and tours together, played late night, and got to fulfill my lifelong dream of performing at Red Rocks (opening for Incubus and Jimmy Eat World!). Eventually I met Sebastian Danzig of Palaye Royale at a bar in late 2016. We ended up hitting it off and within a few months he was calling me asking if I wanted to come on tour. At the time we traveled by van, barely hotels, it was rough. But the band moved quickly and now we are headlining all across the world, doing the biggest headline shows any of us have ever done. No more vans!"

WALLFLAG_ : What's your experience been like as a writer for both music and lyrics? Even more so writing towards a concept album like 'The Bastards'?

DANIEL : "Well the cool thing about this band is they’ve really allowed me to find myself as a writer, musically and lyrically. I ended up writing the lyrics to two songs on the album, one called 'Massacre the New American dream', released as a recent single, and another song called 'Anxiety' which will be released with the album. I never wrote much lyrics before always poetry. But there became a beautiful moment where we locked ourselves in a house in Joshua tree to write, and I ended up writing lyrics every day which I would read to the boys, and a lot of it got used for the new record. The lyrics to massacre I hold dear to my heart as the beginning is about how I felt growing up feeling different in society, the middle part is about being apart of a society where more kids seem to become famous for school shootings than anything else, hence the title ‘Massacre the new American dream", and the rest of the song follows suit with a big 'fuck you' musically and lyrically to what I find wrong with America in general. 'Anxiety' is about dealing with a higher power and feeling helpless at times, its an empowering song really, that was brought together once again by producer Matt Pauling. So Im super excited in that aspect. The Bastards concept began almost two years ago when we really started molding as a band and writing heavier jams in rehearsals and soundcheck. We had a song where Emerson, Sebastian and I would drop  this heavy rock riff and Remington would scream ‘Run you little bastards’ and we couldn’t stop jamming it, every week for a year. Finally when it came time to finish the song we were stumped. It wasn’t until Andrew Martin came along, we all got in a room together and he just ripped that line, which became the whole first half of the song now released as "Little Bastards". Im also particularly stoked about that song as it was my first time singing on an album , as well as performing my unconventional approach to the bass guitar in a solo using a coin!"

WALLFLAG_ : Being a band based in LA do you feel you have a lifestyle to live up to given its rock n roll antics and history?

DANIEL : "LA is a wild place! I don’t particularly try to live up to any certain lifestyle, as much as Im constantly placed into certain situations from being in a band. It's hard to stay away from the party lifestyle LA has to offer, but I do my best. LA is a spider and drugs are its web. You have to be careful with all that shit."

WALLFLAG_ : Do you feel fashion and culture still has an important place in music like it did years ago everywhere from your ends of the sunset strip to right back here in London?

DANIEL : "Fashion will always be important in the music industry. People forget that its not just the music industry its the entertainment industry. People want to be entertained, they want to see style they connect with, both visually and sonically. Style is everything and it always will be."