Royal Treatment Plant - Riding London's Undercurrent

Whilst some bands reap the success they may, or may not, deserve before any songs may have bolted through the stable door; it’s the fate of most indie bands to work day, after day, after day to get where they want to be. Royal Treatment Plant are no exception. Gigwise meets up with lead lady PP and guitarist DJ to find out exactly how one goes from having normal jobs and lives to releasing their much anticipated debut album.

All members of Royal Treatment Plant, like many that have come before, lead relatively normal lives in London and have jobs to pay the bills; in a punk-ethos kind of a way, they are also self releasing their album and creating their own videos for their songs. How does the band feel about their normal roots? DJ says, “It just becomes the norm after a while. You get into a routine; you’ve got work during the day, and you rehearse in the evenings. You get used to it. We want to play as many gigs as we can but we have to be smart about it. We’re playing quite a lot of gigs in London right now because it’s easier for us. We wish we had the money to go on the road.”

PP or Princess P (take your pick!) has a slightly more fantastical upbringing. Much is made of PP’s parentage in New Guinea, as she’s the daughter of a strict Christian preacher. But like most of us, she left the confines of her parentage when she buggered off to university. For her, the fact that she was a part of some beleaguered cult isn’t a big deal; it’s the leaving that is the most heartbreaking thing of all. “When you’ve been in something you think is the absolute answer and truth and you realise it’s not and you leave it, you no longer think about things the same way.” says PP, “I’ve never really got past the whole leaving thing. I still struggle all the time with what is worth believing in and what is not. I think this has certainly impacted on the way I feel about the music, and what I do.”

PP is a very svelte, sassy blonde, who in person doesn’t seem as ****ed up as her stage antics would have you believe. Even with a strangely tuneful shriek and an ecstatic stage presence, PP is just as comfortable sipping on a Diet Coke in this King’s Cross café as she is screaming her heart out at a gig. PP is so named because one of her friends used to call her ‘Princess’. “I used to teach a lot with kids” she says, “And I didn’t want them finding out I was in a band. I didn’t want them asking me in class why I had the word ‘****’ on my website or anything. With the Princess part, my friend used to call it me in a taking the piss kind of way. I don’t actually like being called Princess so I shortened it to PP.”