Royal Trux

When ex-Pussy Galore guitarist Neil Hagerty and singer Jennifer Herrema formed Royal Trux in Washington, DC, in 1987, they were too weird even for college radio. Though they had the shaggy look of ’70s Rolling Stones fans, the duo reshaped rock into lo-fi anti-music on cult classics like Twin Infinitives, released on Drag City in 1990. But just when it looked as if Herrema and Hagerty would remain subterranean forever, they underwent a startling reinvention. Transforming Royal Trux into a recording and touring act, they dropped a string of albums—including the Virgin-released Thank You and Sweet Sixteen in 1995 and 1997, respectively—that are paragons of hard-rock songcraft: intricate dual vocals, epic guitar runs and well-oiled boogie. From there, Royal Trux still put out left-field material like 1998’s Accelerator, yet it now came wrapped in tweaked pop moves and the occasional dance groove. After the couple’s breakup in 2000, Hagerty launched The Howling Hex, while Herrema split time between music (RTX, Black Bananas) and fashion design. A brief reunion in the late 2010s yielded the fuzzed-out White Stuff, but Royal Trux once again receded into the ether.