We once got paid in chicken wings – now we’re performing at Glastonbury

In just five sweet years, Australian indie-pop duo Royel Otis have gone from playing in chicken shops to preparing to step onto the Glastonbury stage.

After meeting through mutual friends while working at cafes and bars in the Sydney coastal suburb of Bondi, Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic connected over shared musical tastes, and soon after teamed up.

Their debut solo album, Pratts & Pain, was released in February last year and quickly saw them selling out shows around the world.

But before playing festivals like Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and Lollapalooza, they had humble beginnings.

One of their early shows was at a chicken shop on the New South Wales Central Coast.

‘It’s so weird to think about. I don’t know how or why that came about,’ Royel, the band’s guitarist also known for obscuring his face to retain a sense of anonymity, laughed.

‘I think the only perk was we got free chicken,’ vocalist Otis recalled, before the pair explained they were left out of pocket even more after Royel managed to also lose his wallet that night.

The band’s music has been described as being ‘deceptively simple, emotionally complex anthems, perfect for drinking beer in the sun, dancing with your friends, and finally working up the courage to kiss your crush’.

Their demeanour is much the same, their warm and laidback Aussie attitude on display as we chat.

When speaking to Metro earlier this week, the duo were gearing up to play the biggest show of their career to date at Worthy Farm.

Asked about if they could ever imagine playing one of the biggest festivals in the world just a few years into their career, Royel didn’t mince his words.

‘No f***ing way! We never expected that,’ he laughed.

Not that long ago, Royel would get so nervous before shows he’d throw up before every single one. Luckily, he’s now managed to overcome the anxiety.

‘I think as the team grew the anxiety and fear of things going wrong got smaller because there’s more people who are there,’ he said of moving past the pre-show fright. ‘If a guitar amp goes, someone’s job is to fix it. So that helps, being comfortable with more people on team.’

Although Royel Otis had been working away on original music for a few years, in January 2024 it was a cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor that saw them blow up.

Soon after the revival of the song in the movie Saltburn, the pair performed their own take on the famous Like A Version radio segment in their home country. It now has over 8.6 million views.

Although the pair had been concerned they might ‘absolutely bomb’ during their debut on the prestigious series, they were instead met with the complete opposite. Which was even more impressive considering they only planned it all the night before.

Royel Otis said that cover marked a turning point in their career and introduced them to people who ‘would have never heard of us before’. A few months later a cover of The Cranberries’ Linger also had a similar effect, taking off online.

In a single year the band were singled out as ‘One of 25 Artists to Watch in 2024’ by the Grammys, made their US television debut performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, being signed by Capitol Records and being nominated for eight Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (they won best group and best rock album).

But after largely generating attention for their covers, the band were also keen for people to listen to their originals.

Next month they’ll release their sophomore album hickey, which comes after the release of the first single moody in May.

They admit they had to ‘strike while the iron was hot’ and capitalise on the momentum of their growing popularity by releasing a follow-up quickly.

Speaking about the album’s cheeky title, they each had different explanations of how it could be construed.

‘We were throwing words about and it’s about something that leaves a mark. I really like hillbilly chic sort of vibe, so like a country hick looseness,’ Royel said. Meanwhile Otis said it could ‘be anything…maybe like a love bite’.

Royel Otis are playing the Park Stage at Glastonbury from 3.15pm today. They will also play Reading and Leeds Festival in August. Their album hickey is out on August 22.

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