M4M:  Hey, congratulations on the release a few months ago.

Neal: Thank you! It’s about time. It took a while to come out, we are happy it finally did.

M4M: Technically it should have been that this point in your careers should not of even happened, With all the trials you
all have faced over the years does this release mean that much more to you?

Neal: Yeah, it’s something that we worked hard on our entire lives, to get to this point, it’s been a constant struggle, so
we never had it easy. It’s just part of the deal, it’s like everything you go through it’s like we are never gonna get that
good news or maybe we will get that good news. Its just something we just wanted to deal with from day 1, Its like we are
gonna make it. I think it means that much, it’s satisfying for us cause it’s like we re still here, we signed with Capitol
records, we forced this cd to come out. We stuck together and here we are getting ready to start a tour with a band that
we all grew up loving and listening to. It’s exciting for us.

M4M: What was it like getting signed to Capitol records, it had to have been gratifying.

Neal: It was amazingly gratifying. It took all the people who stood by us and supported us for the past ten years to get
there. We negotiated that deal forever because we heard from others who signed record deals, what not to do, and be
patient and whatever, cross the t’s and dot the i’s, and everything else, we were able to get the record deal that we
wanted. When it finally happened, we threw a big party in Salt Lake and invited all the people. They say it takes a village,
it took a city to really get us to the point of people really supporting us and just saying, “hang in there guys, you can do
it”. We heard from the fans, friend would give us money or help fix our van when we couldn’t afford to do it. So yeah it
was very gratifying for us and the entire damn city at this point.

M4M: You had past opportunities to leave the city for better adventures but you decided to stay and stick it out right
where you grew up from, I think that says a lot.

Neal: Yeah, So many bands that we know left for L.A, Portland or Chicago or New York. It was like i didnt want to be one
of those bands that would just go join the rat race from another city. I am lucky being from Utah, the support from the
fans from day 1 here was just amazing. I was like i am not just gonna turn my back on them and say i am from LA or go
say i am from Chicago. We are from Utah, from Salt Lake we can break it out of here. I think the Valley, Salt Lake kinda
needs a band like that right now just to kinda show there is some talent here and a good music scene, there is some
pretty kick ass art in Salt Lake, instead of moving off and claiming you are from another city when you are not from there.

M4M: Right! In todays time, the myspace, the internet is a huge avenue for these new guys and other bands that are just
starting. How has myspace and the internet helped you guys?

Neal: In the beginning it was pretty exciting to just get on there and see people from all over the world, and share your
music with them. When i first got on i went emailing different publications from the UK and Japan and places like that
would get write ups on the band, we were just like “wow pretty neat.” To start having fans join on from different cities, like
if we were going to a city, we would look  up different people and find fans from different cities and find people, who have
radio play, who were listening to us and leaving comments like “ hey we love your songs and we are gonna come to your
show”. I think it really helped us to gain fans out of state, you know where we didnt know anybody and we booked all the
tours and shows by ourselves and be like “ how the hell are we gonna get people there.” (laughs). Myspace gave us that
opportunity to be like “ hey check out our songs, maybe you like it, if you do bring a couple of friends down to our show.
Of course it’s gonna be hard, we might only get 5-20 people that would show up from Myspace but that’s 5-20 people
that we would have never had in the first place.

M4M: It seems like radio play is so hard to get. I am from the Albany area and i have yet to hear you on the radio but yet
a lot of people in the area have heard of Royal Bliss from the internet. What is it that has to be done to get that radio
play? It seems like a few stations will pick it up but not everybody at first.

Neal: Its so hard because its such a corporate world you know. There is somebody in an office in Chicago or New York
telling these stations and all the different cities across the country what to play and i talk to program directors and
people like that all the time and its just like, you know this really sucks that theres these people sitting up there and they
have no idea what the people around here listen to and they have never been here in their entire lives but they tell us
what to play and , it sucks. But thats just the game you play. Coming from a major label helps out a lot because when
you have that kind of clout, where, alright we’ll play these guys and then these guys, and the radio station can make
some money. We actually had to hire an independent radio company and they were like, twenty to seventy thousand
dollars a song to try to pitch the radio, which is where you just hire a bunch of people to send out albums to radio
stations, and call them to say can you please play this or please play this, basically hiring people to bug the hell out of
them for you. It doesn’t guarantee anything, it doesn’t guarantee radio play, and you got  to have a good song that says
you should at least give it a chance. Now we are Capitol  and we are starting to get, we’ve already built a foundation
radio cause now Capitol back in to push it, luckily they already kinda had the door open. I talked to so many bands that
are great fricking bands with great albums and great songs, but they don’t get an answer at all from the radio stations,
not even from their local ones. I don’t know why that is. Back in the day people were a lot more independent where you
could play whatever you wanted and play the bands that you like, now there is someone else answering the questions.
When we started, we actually would find independent stations that can play whatever the hell they want. Like up in Idaho
here, we find independent radio stations that dont have the corporate ownership that is they like you they will play you.
We would be like, “hey you know play us and we’ll promote you and play a concert for you, we’ll cross promote it and
split the door with you.”  That really helped us out in the beginning, just hunting down those little stations that don’t have
to answer to anyone, that could help the smaller bands.

M4M: Has satellite radio been a venue you have been able to pursue?

Neal: I think we get more comments from Octane, more then just about anything, people that will drive 200 miles to come
to a concert because they heard us on Octane out in the middle of the damn country. There are a lot of small towns
across the country that dont have a rock station or station that plays the music that they like, so you got satellite radio,
we got a lot of fans off of that.

M4M: The thing is,you hear the commercials on the radio saying don’t buy satellite radio,go with your regular radio
stations. But you will hear the same song played too often, and knowing that there is so much more out there that isn’t
being played, then you go to satellite and you hear these new groups and they dont replay the same songs too often
and i think thats why more people are switching to satellite, because of bands like yourselves that are getting played and
other bands that they are playing.

Neal: if you are a fan and they dont play it on your local radio, they play it on Sirius or xm, and the options you have on
there are phenomenal. There are so many different varieties of music they you can find on there.

M4M: Now i believe all the songs on this album “Life in between”, they are actually lyrics from things in your past, is that
true?

Neal: Yup, they are stories of my life basically. I don’t usually right the lyrics until i get in the studio and we are actually
recording the song, but i always have the main topic of the song that just kinda comes through performing it, its kinda
whats on my mind that i need to get off my chest, or just a period of my life that i just need to talk about in a different way
then to just sit down and talk with someone about it. I am not very good at writing stories about other people so its easier
to write about what i know, instead of making up stories.

M4M: You guys have this rock sound too, but yet you seem quite different then a lot of other rock groups, with some of
the lyrics and melodies and the way you present it, thats obviously something you were going after. Do you feel like that
is something you have accomplished too?

Neal: I love it just because it does have a little bit of everything on it and it was mainly a focus for just a song. A lot of the
mellower sounding songs were just written in my basement, that i didn’t think would ever be a Royal Bliss song,but they
were good and the producer heard them and asked why we aren’t we recording these? I said i didnt think they were
really Royal Bliss tunes. They said these are great we gotta use them, and the band was all for it, so i was like okay lets
use it. It has the rock and roll songs that i absolutely love and it has the mellow acoustic love song on there. It wasnt
something i was focused on, it just kinda happened that way. We recorded like 22 songs and ended up keeping those
and i was like how are we gonna work this together, the songs are so different, but at the end of the day i think they fit
really well together. I am just out to write the songs that i like. Thats just who we are. We aren’t necessary one genre.

M4M: This debuted at number 4 on the heat seekers chart. It came out real strong. How has it been in the last 2 months,
have you been seeing an increase in sales?

Neal: Well the first couple of weeks were pretty steady and then they dropped off and now they are kinda up again, just
because we didnt have a single on the radio pretty much for a little while there. There was a lot of turmoil on the label  
and if they were gonna work with us, right after the release came out. They were like, “ oh shit you did this without us”.
We didnt have support with the cd release, they didnt do anything for it so it was all us. When that happened they said
they needed to get behind us, so now they started to get behind us. We have just been touring non-stop and each show
we do just keeps getting bigger and bigger. So now the numbers are creeping back up and “nothing wrong” just came
out on the radio.

M4M:  Your fans can help out to by calling there local radio stations and keep telling them to play you.

Neal: Exactly. Thats a bonus with doing these tours, like the Candlebox tour and the one we just did, was just like “hey,
do you want to see us back, we’d love to come back, so tell your local stations to play our tunes , and get it out there
and support us.” Its been pretty overwhelming, there a ton of fans who are recording the shows on Youtube, putting
them out there and telling people to support us. So there is a lot of action from fans all over the country.

M4M: A lot of people don’t realize that you guys have been together for over ten years now. Are you still seeing your
fans from your first gigs come out today still?

Neal: Oh Yeah! It’s funny, there was a whole family who came and they all still had some of the first shirts we had ever
made. They all had saved them and came to the show and i had remembered them. They were just blown away that i
had remembered who they were. They just said we have been watching you and have followed you guys from day one. I
love seeing that, cause music has changed a lot over the years. It was something i was a little nervous about, if they
would go with the change or if they would be bummed by it.

M4M:  That change that you talked about, was that something that just evolved or was that something you guys got
together as a group and said you know what we need to change our perspective and start changing what we are doing?

Neal: Our topics changed from, “ let’s drink and get stoned and date a bunch of girls” to “wow i need to stop drinking so
much and stop doing drugs and respect women”. Kind of as you get older its just a little bit whiter i guess you could say,
and with all the shitty things that have happened to us, it just tended to get more serious.  There were conversations,
like all are cds are so different, like there would be a reggae song and then a heavy metal song and then a rock ballad.
We said maybe we should focus and just try to do a record where all the songs sound like they are from the same band.
We were like let’s try to just focus on who we are as a band and what we truly want to sound like. I think we found our
sound with this album.

M4M: After your Candlebox tour in April, what is your focus on then, are planning on going on another tour?

Neal: Well April 23rd  we are doing southeast like Florida and all along there. So we will be gone pretty much till mid May
with Candlebox. Then there is talk of us being out with Buckcherry and Saving Abel at that point up in the northeast,
which we have never played the northeast so i would be excited to get up there in New York.

M4M: Maybe a stop to Rock on the Range in Ohio might be in there? I know both those bands are playing up there May
17th and 18th , that would be perfect for you guys, it’s a huge venue.

Neal: Really! Yeah that would be awesome. We just want to stay on the road as long as we possibly can.

M4M: Thats great! I definitely appreciate the phone call. I wish you the best of luck as individuals and as a group trying
to succeed. Is there anything you like to tell your fans or ask your fans?

Neal: Thanks for supporting us and get out there and support your local bands, support your local musician and give
them a chance.  Don’t wait for that next big band to come through, go out and check out your local artist thats really
struggling and working hard to make a name for him or herself out there and give them some support. You never know
where they might end up. I would say support your young up and comers.

M4M: Awesome! Well i appreciate it again and i will let get going because i know you guys are busy.

Neal: Thanks for taking your time and showing us some respect.

M4M: Thank you also.
Photo Credit: Steve Walker
Royal Bliss is modern rock with equal parts beauty and
tragedy. The band has already been through enough to
justify their own VH1 Behind The Music episode
complete with addiction, near death experiences, car
crashes, and law suits. Hailing from Salt Lake City, Royal
Bliss gradually came together after high school when
guitarist Chris Harding stumbled into a pizza parlor
where frontman Neal Middleton was playing a solo gig. "I
told Chris I would love to sing in a band and he invited
me to jam with his band at a rehearsal" says Middleton.
"That night we instantly clicked and wrote four songs."
The next day Middleton dropped out of college and quit
his day job to pursue the rock n roll dream. The name
Royal Bliss came from Middleton and Lead Guitarist
Taylor Richards. "I had the band name "Royal Blue"
states Richards, "and Neal had the name Liquid Bliss.
Both names were cool in their own way, but the names
combined took on a whole other meaning
The word royal means "of or pertaining to a king" and the word bliss means "supreme happiness" so together the name means King of the
best feeling you can feel." For the next few years, Royal Bliss built up a loyal fan base the old-fashioned way--on the road. The band
recorded a demo and thanks to their hook-laden songwriting ability, synergy and stage presence they were able to sell over 8,000 CD's on
their own. In 2004, the band started to generate major label interest, but it all came to a halt when Middleton was seriously injured in a near
fatal accident that left him paralyzed in a wheel chair. After months of rehabilitation, Middleton miraculously got back on his feet and was able
to walk again (he still has only partial feeling in his right leg). The band regrouped and decided to push forward. They headed back into the
studio for some of the most intense studio sessions they have ever encountered. (from band bio)
ROYAL BLISS LINKS
by: Joshua Koloski