For those of you who might be hitting Matt Berninger’s concert at The Royale in Boston on March 23, don’t plan to slip in after the warm-up band performs just to focus on The National’s front man.
For one reason, Berninger and his mighty baritone will join opener Ronboy for a killer version of her song “Disaster” during the first set (Julia Laws, aka Ronboy, teases “It’s the first song…,” but she’s only playing). For another reason, Ronboy puts on a great show of her own before she and the band—Sterling Laws, Garrett Lang, Sean O’Brien—become Berninger’s ensemble for the rest of the night.
This is a case where the support act truly supports.
I chatted with Laws via Zoom as she and Berninger readied for a show in Edmonton as part of this tour that will take them across Canada and parts of the United States, before jetting to New Zealand and Europe. I’d first “met” Laws by seeing Ronboy and Berninger perform last May at Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Theatre on the first leg of their tour promoting Berninger’s solo “Get Sunk” album, on which Ronboy guests… she recalls the D.C. show well in part because her fuzz pedal broke during sound check and she had to run out and get a new one before the concert (“the fuzz is like everything about my tone…”).
First, let’s solve this “Ronboy” name mystery, which Laws assures is no top secret. The name comes from a blind and bullied sea lion with “gorgeous, piercing, blue cloudy eyes” that her dad befriended and used to tell Laws and her siblings about as a bedtime story, when he was studying marine biology. The animal’s name stuck with Laws, and she says “Ronboy” just fits her music persona, a harsh/soft juxtaposition.
LA-based Ronboy made a name for herself with Berninger after he heard an EP she’d put out and one thing led to another, including the current tour. Laws says she was something of a closeted artist at the start, working on stuff alone, until she started playing shows and releasing music not long before the pandemic. “I’d been holding things way too precious,” she says, though also was honing what she wanted Ronboy to be.
“It’s been kind of really cool interweaving my own career into working with other people,” says Laws, who has also toured with Jade Bird (including in Boston) and gotten to pinch hit on bass with Idles. “I wouldn’t have it another way.”
Touring with Berninger has introduced Laws to unforgettable opportunities, from appearing on late night TV shows like “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Kimmel” to getting Bob’s Burger-ized.
Asked why she thinks Ronboy’s musical talents sync well with those of Berninger, Laws says “we’re both willing to explore and push and make things seem not what they are. We also have this appreciation for a good song.”
She adds that Berninger’s fans are the best—fun to chat with live and engaged online, not to mention generous merch buyers. “We’re besties now,” Laws says.
Looking up to Berninger as a songwriter and lyricist, Laws finds it hard to compare herself with him. Laws acknowledges that she and Berninger are very different in some ways, with Berninger and The National loading their songs with lyrics, whereas Ronboy’s songs are sparer and more repetitive. Like Berninger, Laws likes to be aloof enough in her material that people can fill in the blanks to make sense of the lyrics and music.
Performing live, Ronboy exudes energy, whether on keys and synth, bass guitar, or letting loose with just the mic. Her sound has become deeper and grittier as the tour has gone on.
Laws’ first instruments were keys and synth, but as a front person in a band, she felt her movement on stage severely limited, so has really embraced her “dream bass”—a black-on-black custom Fender model with a Precision body, J neck and chrome pickups that she says “just shatters everything.”
Playing multiple instruments has also made Laws a more versatile option for other bands.
“I like the movement. I like not knowing what’s coming next,” she says. “You get to interact with the crowd differently.”
Laws has been rolling out songs that she has been playing on tour, and plans to release a five-song EP this summer dubbed “Get Rich.” Next month she’ll be doing a video that she promises will be “a little spooky, a little unhinged.”
Among the new songs is “I Am Only Playing,” a mix of her perspective and someone else’s, with a sarcastic twist. “It’s like ‘I’m only playing with you,’ though that’s not how I feel at all,” Laws says. When she started writing it, the song had a chugging, swirling baseline, then was redone as a piano ballad, and then reworked again for the full band. The end result is a stripped down beginning, with a banger of a payoff.
“It’s a swirling vortex, you can feel something coming the whole song,” she says. “All hell breaks loose and it feels so good.”
And concertgoers, you don’t want to miss that.
@ronboymusic I’m putting out a new song on called “Disaster.” One of my favorite artists is featured and we played it on tour through the states a couple months ago. Disaster (feat. Matt Berninger) Aug 15 #newmusic #indieartist #altmusic #altrock ♬ original sound – Ronboy
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