Reluctant rock stars Royel Otis kick off the music countdown

Australian guitar duo Royel Otis arrived at our interview looking artfully crumpled, beers in hand – but all is not as it seems.

The band, consisting of twenty-somethings Royel Maddell (guitar) and Otis Pavlovic (vocals, guitar), are on a rare day off. Last night they played the last of three sold-out concerts at London’s Brixton Academy. This was their 81st concert of the year.

They’re messy because they’ve just gotten off the bus to Glasgow before show 82. The beers are non-alcoholic Guinness beers.

“We learn how to take care of ourselves [on tour],” says Maddell. “We’re just trying to stay healthy and go to the sauna. Try to stay sober. That’s why Guinness.”

This is a new level of professionalism for a band that never planned to be a major touring band.

But Royel Otis’ cosmic, sun-kissed indie anthems (and their viral cover of Murder On The Dancefloor) put them on the map and earned them fifth place. BBC Radio 1’s 2026 Sound.

They were chosen by an international panel of more than 170 DJs, producers and artists, including Sir Elton John, who supported the band on his radio show, to highlight emerging artists who could break into the mainstream next year.

He was among those who placed fifth in previous years. Rosalia, Central Cee And George Ezra – Exposing Royel Otis to rarefied air.

“We’re honored,” says Maddell, admitting that this is “the first time we’ve heard of the list” as Australians.

“We’re learning that as we go along. But it looks great. We’re in good company.”

Royel Otis was founded in 2019, but in every respect it should have started years ago.

Both musicians lived and worked in Byron Bay, New South Wales. They hung out on the same beaches, stayed in the same vacation homes, and Maddell’s father was friends with Pavlovic’s uncle.

However, they were eventually introduced by their girlfriends.

“Roy worked at a bar we went to occasionally, and [we] I started playing billiards and talking about music. It was pretty simple,” says Pavlovic.

Picking up the story, Maddell says, “Otis had a demo of a song and I said, ‘Send it to me.'”

“I thought it was going to be terrible, because it usually is, but the next morning I was in the shower and I played the song and I was like, ‘Oh, this is disgusting.'”

Maddell sent back his own music, and the two quickly began bouncing ideas. For the older of the two musicians, this meant a sudden change of plans.

“I wanted to be behind the camera, writing music for someone else,” Maddell admits.

Instead they went straight to the studio and talked about their shared love of The Cure, Oasis and – quite cleverly – the Alessi Brothers’ 1976 soft rock classic Seabird.

They soon found a voice of their own. This piece, which Pavlovic summarizes as “strumming guitars and hymn-layered vocals”, has both a rich harmonic and a slightly dilapidated structure; It was born from the decision to embrace spontaneity and leave studio mistakes alone.

They masterfully honed the formula on their 2021 single Bull Breed – “the tale of a reckless night out”, gambling their paychecks and smoking “all the cigarettes…like Courtney Love”.

“I don’t know whether to celebrate or take the piss on those nights,” laughs Maddell.

“It’s like betting on horses; we don’t do that stuff, but we know what kind of lazy groups do.”

The breakthrough single Oysters In My Pockets is equally exuberant.

Described on release as “our way of showing our appreciation for the bivalve molluscs that get our juices up a bit and fire up our libido a bit,” the duo literally wrote the song over “a barbecue and a few beers” after visiting the local supermarket to stock up on shellfish.

This is one of many songs in their discography – see also. Fried Rice, Egg Beater, Kool Aid and Jazz Burger – seemingly inspired by food.

Pavlovic laughs: “We’re just trying to be honest.” “If we have food in our minds, we have food in our minds.”

These early singles made a significant splash, but the duo were not ready to launch a career.

Saying that their manager Andrew Klippel pushed them to think bigger, Maddell says, “We just wanted to record music. We didn’t want to be a touring band.”

Pavlovic agrees: “We needed some convincing.” “I think if we had had our way, we probably wouldn’t be where we are now.”

Even today, Maddell does her best to keep her identity a secret, permanently hiding her face behind her tousled, neon pink fringe.

“I still feel a little nervous,” he says, even though he sold more than 100,000 concert tickets last year (60,000 in the U.S. alone).

Many of these fans got their first taste of Royal Otis through two viral radio sessions.

The first, recorded in January 2024, reflects the nostalgic indie vibe of Sophie Ellis Bextor. Murder on the Dance Floor.

Four months later, The Cranberries’ cover of Linger for Sirius XM broke into the US Top 100 and became the band’s biggest song on Spotify, with 223 million streams.

The song selection “was a spur of the moment thing,” says Maddell.

“I remember our drummer at the time saying, ‘You can’t do that. There are some songs you don’t touch.'”

They kept pushing forward, adopting the tradition of ignoring everything your drummer says.

Even so, says Pavlovic, “it took us three tries to get it right.”

“We were horrified,” says Maddell. “We thought it would be terrible.”

Instead, Linger became a permanent fixture at their live shows. They even performed with Cranberries guitarist Noel Hogan in London last month.

“He was such a gentleman,” says Maddell. “He wanted to do our version of the song more than his own.”

How does it feel when the covers overshadow their own material?

“They’re kind of like our biggest songs, which are kind of bittersweet,” Maddell says. “But we are grateful that so many people who had never heard of our band discovered us through these covers.

“So it’s a double-edged sword, but it’s a sexy sword.”

Anyone who digs deeper will discover more musical treasures. Royel Otis has recorded two albums at an incredible pace since 2024.

Their debut album, Pratts & Pain (named after a London pub), saw the band experimenting with “crazy, makeshift instruments” and “weird open tunings” without sacrificing their choppy guitar sounds and feel-good melodies.

The sequel, 2025’s Hickey, was written at a time when their careers were on the rise and their relationship was deteriorating.

“There were a few people we both had to say goodbye to as we toured the entire year of 2024,” Pavlovic says.

“I had to break up with my girlfriend because she couldn’t handle being alone all the time while I was traveling the world,” adds Maddell.

“But I’ve also had some family members pass on, so I said a lot of goodbyes at the beginning of this year and last year. [2025 and 2024]. “When you tour so much, you miss a lot of your personal life.”

They admit that they had to be talked to about making a second album in such a short time.

“Nowadays, there is pressure to keep going and constantly releasing new things,” says Pavlovic. “Everyone has their own opinion on this matter [but] “I don’t think that’s the best thing to do.”

Perhaps as a result, the album campaign got off to a shaky start, with the band releasing one album at a time. Apology for seemingly misogynistic lyrics The lead single is from Moody.

But after acclaimed debuts at the Glastonbury and Reading festivals (featuring a guest appearance by Sophie Ellis Bextor), Hickey gave the band their first UK chart entry and earned Royel Otis nominations for best group and best rock album at Australia’s Aria Awards.

Starting the year on Radio 1’s Sound of 2026 list suggests there won’t be much slackening, no matter how worn-out the band look.

“We’ve been on the bus mostly for the last two years,” says Pavlovic. “We took January off and then I want to start writing new music and stuff.

“But I think I’d like to take it a little longer. Live a little bit, so I’m not just writing about being on the road.”

According to our estimates, this means we can expect the band to release a musical tribute to the low-alcohol beer by October.