Royal Ruckus: The Story Behind Cicadas
The idea came while I was driving around Miami, visiting clients and listening to NPR’s All Songs Considered. The hosts were talking about bands that hadn’t released anything in a while. One of them made a joke about a “musical cicada summer,” or something close to it. A long time underground, then a sudden ruckus. I brought the metaphor to Mike, and he was in.
We started with the metaphor, not a plot. As the songs took shape, their order began to tell the story of Jimmy and Sally Cicada. It drew on real experiences without turning every line into a confession. Some of my experiences came out of Mike’s mouth; some of his came out of mine. No detective work required.
Meanwhile, I was making a solo record about the tension between being an individual and being part of a community. Naturally, I loaded the solo record with guests. Eventually, that record felt like the aftermath of the first one. Two records became The Summer of the Cicadas.
Mike Walker—Flatline—and I have been making this music together since 1998. My rap name is Chunjay. Below is a little of how we got here, followed by our attempt to interview each other. That part took a while.
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How Royal Ruckus came together
Mike Walker—Flatline—and I started Royal Ruckus in Bakersfield, California, in 1998. At first, the whole thing was a bit of a joke. Then people responded to the humor and the unconventional hip-hop, and we started taking it more seriously. Several people have been members, but Mike and I have been the two constants.
By 2006 or so, we were living in Nashville. We’d released a number of projects, been picked up—and dropped off—by Flicker Records, and played across the U.S., coast to coast and out to Hawaii. Somehow Mexico and Ukraine even got involved.
Cicadas brought the two of us back to a full record of new material together. The solo project I was making at the same time became its second act.
Royal Ruckus has shared the stage or recorded with Phantom Planet, Eligh of Living Legends, Kid Static, Pigeon John, Pillar, Superchic[k], Jeremiah Dirt, Shadow of the Locust, KJ-52, Plus One, Future Shock, The Rappin’ Duke, LA Symphony, John Reuben, Spoken Nerd, Newsong, Tait, Todd Agnew, The Swift, KRUM, DJ Sean P, Mars ILL, DeepSpace5, GRITS, Redcloud, Joy Electric, Starflyer 59, Violet Burning, Sackcloth Fashion, Burlap to Cashmere, Shaded Red, Fold Zandura, Craig’s Brother, and others.
During the making of Cicadas, Mike was in Austin, Texas, and I was in South Florida. Most of the record was recorded in Texas, with the assistance of Krum and DJ Sean P.
Jamey has been variously known as Chunjay, Cleva MC, Sooperman, Afanasy, Athanasios, JustJamey, and other such names. Mike has been known as Flatline, MPWalker, Mr. Blonde, and other names we won’t mention at this point. Why do rappers complicate things, so?
Mike and Jamey interview each other (sort of…)
In June 2016, Mike and I tried interviewing each other about the record. By August, I was still waiting for an answer. Here is the conversation.
Jamey (6/11/16): Hello, Michael. Let’s start the interview. How dare you?
Mike (6/14/16): Well, after hardly any thought or deliberation I thought it best to go with my gut and do all the dares. Usually I settle for “truth” but the timing was just right.
Jamey (6/15/16): Good, but you have to ask me a question back. Otherwise I’m just interviewing you!
Jamey (6/21/16): I’ve been waiting for a question for six days! Admittedly, that was your birthday, but I worked on my birthday!
Mike (6/22/16): restart:
Hello, Michael. Let’s start the interview. How dare you?
Well, after hardly any thought or deliberation I thought it best to go with my gut and do all the dares. Usually I settle for “truth” but the timing was just right. Such as with our new album. The timing is right. It’s been 5 years since Rumors of Our Demise and we’re both in a position to pump out more music after all we’ve been through since that release.
So speaking of Rumors, what would you say is the thread that is tying this new album with the last one?
Jamey (6/26/16): That’s a really great question, Mike. And we have both done a lot of living, both painful and amazing in the five years since that release. Wooooo boy. I agree man, the time is right.
For one thing, Rumors was our first attempt at really making a thematic-type project, but since many of those songs were already written, the theme was maybe not as clear. In this case, we pretty much wrote the record from scratch in the last year and a half (with the exception of a few songs originating with you, but we chose songs that fit the story).
Rumors was the first time we every really seriously dealt with the topic of death and our own individual mortality. I mean, Rumors has us dead in coffins on the cover. That’s a big leap for a group that used to rap about chickens and whether or not to wear shampoo at the zoo. How metal is that?
We also dealt with the death of relationships in Rumors. I think The Summer of the Cicadas double album is the next logical progression of Ruckus from Rumors to now. This same theme runs throughout the album, honing in on life and death, joy and sorrow, fresh relationship and dead relationship.
Oh, and on Rumors I think we broke new ground musically, and Summer is going to blow that out of the water.
So speaking of music…why are you the way you are? I mean, why are you?
Jamey (7/20/16): So speaking of music…why are you the way you are? I mean, why are you? 🙂
Jamey (7/24/16) (interviewer): So, Jamey, Mike is not responding to your interview questions. So I’ll interview you for a minute.
Jamey: That dingus! I thought he was a hunk.
Jamey (interviewer): It’s okay. He has kids, and apparently all you do is work on this album and your other job. I’m not even sure you sleep.
Jamey: I don’t really.
Jamey (interviewer): So how’d you get the idea for The Summer of the Cicadas?
Jamey: That’s a great question, Jamey. A couple years ago I was driving around Miami visiting clients and listening to NPR’s All Songs Considered. They were featuring several tracks from bands that hadn’t released anything in a while, and one of the hosts joked that it was a “musical cicada summer” or something and that all these bands came out and made a ruckus at the same time after such a long time of being dormant. Dormant. Make a major ruckus. Fall back to earth. I knew it was the perfect metaphor for the long absence and sudden emergence of Royal Ruckus we were planning. On top of that, we had been discussing delving into heavier topics, discussing failed relationships, that sort of thing. Once I threw it out to Mike, he was absolutely down for it. It took us a couple years to flesh out exactly how it was going to go, and some of the finalities only took shape a few months ago.
Jamey (interviewer): So how does the metaphor apply to the album?
Jamey: Well, we used it as an underlying principle when writing each song, and particularly as it relates to the brevity of life and relationships. We actually didn’t start with a narrative, we started with the metaphor as a guiding theme. Over time, however, it became clear that if we put the songs in a particular order, we could tell a story. That was when I started referring to the lead character of the story as “Jimmy Cicada,” and his love interest as “Sally Cicada.” It’s kinda like Eminem’s character Rabbit in 8Mile—Rabbit is Eminem, and it’s fairly autobiographical, but many components have been embellished or obscured. By putting these various songs in the order we did, we tell a heart-breaking love story, that is true, but not exactly.
Jamey (interviewer): And what’s up with Rebirth: The Lone Gunmen? Cicadas don’t have no dramn guns.
Jamey: True. And part of the reason that title is there is because it was meant initially to be a different album and a different metaphor. I was going to put out a solo album. The metaphor for that is meant to capture the tension in life between being an individual and living in community and relationship with others. To capture that tension, I wanted to load the solo record with a ton of guest spots, so that it would be both solo and community.
But back to the subject matter and of writing two albums at the same time? Yeah, kinda the same sorts of things were on my mind. And the more I wrote for that one, the more I felt like the Ruckus album was Act I and the solo album was Act II, essentially the aftermath of the first act.
Jamey (interviewer): So how personal is this project?
Jamey: Oh, man, deeply personal. And some songs hit closer to home than others. People who know us are likely to read all sorts of things into the albums, based on our life histories, play guessing games about what situations are being discussed. But to do that is sort of to miss the point. This isn’t Taylor Swift; no need to pin the tabloid tail on the song. There are many situations that inspired these songs. Some of them are my experiences coming out of Mike’s mouth, or Mike’s experiences coming out of mine.
Jamey (interviewer): This is far too self-indulgent. It’s time to look back over at Mike. Mike, if you don’t want to answer why you are the way that you are, maybe you can comment on my above self-indulgence.
Jamey (8/18/16): Forwards to Mike again…Jamey (8/22/16): Hi, Mike! Are you quitting the interview?
Jamey sends a number of text messages to Mike, all ignored. Time passes. Mike agrees to do an interview with PurpleBars.com. That is to be accepted as the completion of this interview.
After the record
In a 2022 artist Q&A, I looked back on Cicadas as a chance to revive live performances, which I’d taken on solo or with a guest DJ. Take a look at the shows from 2016–2019, dig into the album guide and credits, or explore more music in the Royal Ruckus section.
Watch the music videos on Royal Ruckus on YouTube.
Back to the Cicadas hub · Summer of the Cicadas · Royal Ruckus