Average Royalty... Isn't So Average

On October 11, a very windy Monday, those on campus for lunch were treated to a performance by a live band titled Average Royalty. The trio was made up of George Purves and his two brothers. George, an 11th grader, served as the group’s lead guitarist and lead singer. His brothers in 8th and 6th grade played bass and drums respectively.

This performance, however, was not Average Royalty’s debut. The family band has two songs that are out on Spotify, and from the wide array of original songs that they played at lunch we can guess more are on the way.

“Me and my brother Tom (the bassist) started actually writing songs during the pandemic,” George revealed about the group’s origin, “At first we just wrote extremely dumb joke songs, but as we’ve gotten more practice we’ve started writing less ridiculous and cheesy songs.”

Music definitely runs in this family. “My dad listens to lots of different music, so that has introduced us to a lot of cool stuff and my mom plays piano really well and majored in vocal performance in college,” George explained, having experience playing guitar, piano, drums, and alto saxophone.

George has been playing the guitar for about three years, and singing for only about one year. Though he has never taken formal lessons, he disclosed that he has overheard his mom giving vocal lessons.

The group has been making and recording music at home. “The way we have recorded our songs so far has just been in my bedroom.” George went on to explain that he bought an audio box and microphone to record with and uses a recording software on his laptop called ProTools. After recording lead guitar, bass, drums, lead vocals, and harmony, the tracks are mixed, mastered, and then ready to upload.

We’re hoping to see George and his family make a return, but whether more live performances arrive or songs continue to release on Spotify, Average Royalty is the name to remember.