Jun 15 2026, 9.34am / Features
Dear Joey and Brooke, What a wild ride! I just wanted to write to express …
If My Chemical Romance had a night out with The Libertines and David Bowie, the soundtrack to said night would undeniably have to heavily feature Las Vegas-hailing rockers Palaye Royale.
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A band enamoured with maximalism that emotionally cuts you to your core, Palaye Royale have feverishly worked to match and exceed their creative ambition since first emerging in the late 2000s. Whether crafting emo ballads, punk ferocity or glamorous rock’n’roll, the group certainly never bore; and, as showcased on their brand new album Fever Dream, they also aren’t afraid to redefine themselves or rediscover why they fell in love with music in the first place, as frontman Remington Leith recently revealed to Hysteriamag.com.
“I’ve never been more proud of an album before,” reveals Leith ahead of the release of the band’s fourth studio album Fever Dream. “This one’s definitely my favourite by far. We actually got to spend so much time with it and be so meticulous with every note and every lyric. It holds a special place in my heart.”
With the pandemic years offering a break for the very first time in their professional careers from the chaos of constant life on the road and outputting material, Fever Dream evolved from very humble origins, with Leith conjuring the album in his own living room.
“The way Fever Dream evolved,” muses Leith, “we weren’t really allowed to make this record with loud drums and have the guitars or anything like that because I made the whole thing in my living room. And the neighbours would’ve been pissed!”.
Leith ultimately crafted every song on the album on an acoustic guitar and his piano in said living room, which led him into an entirely different approach for a Palaye Royale album or individual song.
“It definitely sounds different than past records before,” Leith continues. “But the way it came together was so special, it was really incredible.”
While emerging from the ashes of the pandemic and written with overriding darkness and uncertainty across the globe, the ultimate take-home message that percolates beneath the grittier hues on Fever Dream is one of hope and perseverance; a fact that Leith relishes when discussing the album’s balance of emotion and aspiration.
There’s so much darkness and shit in the world, and we just wanted to tell people that we can always try to find a silver lining in the darkest of places.
[ Remington Leith ]
“I’m really happy to hear that,” Leith smiles when told the album offered timely hope for listeners. “That’s definitely something that we really wanted to make known, especially with this album. There’s so much darkness and shit in the world, and we just wanted to tell people that we can always try to find a silver lining in the darkest of places. Just hold on and try to find that silver lining because as much shit as there is in the world, it can also be very beautiful.”
Noticeably clutching at influences that range from Oasis to Kasabian and The Libertines, Fever Dream also tackles uncharted sonic territory at times for Palaye Royale. And for the first time in their history as a band together, the group returned to their creative roots of shedding their sonic boundaries and finding a harmonious groove together – which, when faced with a trio of siblings in one room as is the case with Palaye Royale, is no easy feat.
“We definitely had our debates about certain songs making it and certain songs not being on the record,” shares Leith of the final inclusion of tracks on Fever Dream. “But for the first time, we were really all in agreement on the making of this record. We kind of got back to our roots, we kind of got back to that “no boundaries” type of thing that we’ve always loved. And I think it was so special.
“Making a record with three brothers, we usually pick fights and scream at each other,” Leith smiles, speaking about fellow brothers and bandmates Sebastian Danzig and Emerson Barrett. “But for this one, we didn’t really do that at all. We had our moments here and there, but for the most part, the record was so easy to make just because there was so much agreeance with each other, and we were all on the same wavelength.”
“We just kept creating and creating and creating. You just know when a song feels right and that it belongs on the record.”
Recently parting the curtain behind making the album with producer Chris Greatti for an episode of MARVIN’s Sound and Driven series, Leith had revealed previously that there had been moments prior to the making of Fever Dream where the group had potentially wanted to walk away from it all. But, as Leith reveals, it was Greatti himself who played an extremely integral role for both the album and the band personally and creatively.
“Chris was a huge part of that,” Leigh says of Greatti’s role helping the band refocus for Fever Dream. “We were in a tough spot before making this record. We were just fighting all the time, we were just so exhausted from so many hours of touring. Obviously we would never wanna walk away from the band, but it just got to a place where we were just always fighting, and there was a moment where we just looked at each other and it was like: “It would be easier to walk away from this”. But Chris kind of brought us back together as friends and as a band family. He just told us: “You have to respect one another as songwriters as you would respect me in this room”. And once we did that, we all started to get on the same page so quickly.”
“Chris was definitely the glue that held this thing together.”
During the creative journey for Fever Dream, the album’s titular track initially proved an arduous journey, with the song taking extensive time to find its feet. But it was finally cracking the song’s chorus that was a watershed moment, resulting in a significant album and career triumph for Palaye Royale.
“That was a really incredible feeling,” says Leith of the moment Fever Dream’s chorus finally fell into place. “We just couldn’t stop smiling. Making that song was so incredible, there was just no limit. It was like: “I want a horn part here, I want strings. I want to go down to just a snare”. There were absolutely no limits on that song, and it’s exactly what we wanted.”
“It turned out exactly how it was in my head, but the second we wrote that chorus; everything else just fell into place so quickly, and it was just great. That’s my favourite song.”
And while the Fever Dream title track is certainly a fan and band standout, there’s another key track on the album that holds significant real estate in Leith’s heart.
“Definitely Line It Up,” Leith says, revealing another favourite song on Fever Dream. “It was such a personal song. It was Chris actually in the middle of producing Fever Dream, and he was just editing everything. Me and Sebastian were just fucking around with the guitar, I was just singing some shit. Then Chris turns around and goes: “Shit, that’s really fucking good!”. We kind of took a break from finishing Fever Dream and we lined it up, it came together so quickly and it’s a song that means a lot to me, especially lyrically.”
In conjunction with releasing new music, Palaye Royale have also recently returned back to their favourite habitat: onstage in front of their beloved fans. For Leith, returning after a lengthy absence was initially a daunting prospect, but it wouldn’t take long for him to fall back in love with the place he ultimately calls home.
“It was the best feeling in the world,” enthuses Leith of getting back onstage. “I missed it so much and I was so nervous to come back. Being without the stage for two years, it was fucking scary because that was my home and having what I’m good at being taken away from me. It kind of felt like I didn’t really have a purpose anymore.”
“Returning to the stage…fuck, there’s no better feeling than that. I felt like I had purpose again and I felt complete afterwards. Every day I feel like I’m just waiting for that, for that one hour that I get with me and the audience. I fucking love what I do, and it was a lonely two years without it. But it’s back now.”
While Leith shrewdly hinted that they were in the “planning” phase for a Palaye Royale visit to Australia, eyes of course for now will be fixed towards late October when Fever Dream finally releases. And with the album’s themes of perseverance and self-belief, just how does Leith himself keep his own self-belief and empowerment alive when life hurls a few curve balls?
“I’ve been currently working on that,” Leith grins. “But I’ve got Sebastian and Emerson around me, I’ve got my amazing band, and I’ve got a great support system who are always there for me. But for the most part, I try to spend more time outside and just kind of get away from all the nonsense. I’ve also been trying to stay off my phone, so that’s been good!”.
Fever Dream is out Friday 28 October via Sumerian Records.
