Welcome to this long overdue site dedicated to the music and members of the Royal Court of China. The eclectic nature of the band is what made them interesting and what tore them apart. I want to thank Chris Mekow, Robert Logue, Oscar Rice Jr., Drew Cornutt, Darryl P. and Grace Reinbold for the good, bad and the ugly times. We had a dream and did what we could to make it succeed with wood, wires, words, tubes and speakers as our weapons.
Long Live The Royal Court...
Joe Blanton
1985: The Royal Court of China forms in September
from the ashes of Nashville protopunk faves, The Enemy.
Robert Logue (bass) and Oscar Rice Jr. (lead guitar) replaced
Lee A. Carr (RIP) and Eric Hubner to join Joe Blanton
(vocals, guitar) and Chris
"Fuzz" Mekow (drums, vocals). 
The band played as The Enemy until December 1985 and
emerged officially in 1986 as The Royal Court of China.
A name chosen for it's ambiguity and exotic relation to nothing at all.
Actually the name was tossed around by Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers
who eventually named their band, The Firm.
1986:
The band releases "Off the Beat'n Path" in the summer 
on their own Desperation Records
label. The 7 song EP and the bands
intense local live performances gain them
a large following and major label
attention. Grace Reinbold joins the team as their personal manager and works
the EP into a respectable position on the College Radio airplay chart.
The RCC play a landmark show on Dec. 12 at Elliston Sq. with David
Anderle (VP of A&R at A&M Records) in attendance. He offers the band a
record deal on the spot.
1987: The Royal Court signs with A&M and begins a tour with The Kinks.
Stevens Weiss (Led Zep biz man.) joins the
team as the bands business manager.
The band records their self-produced, self-titled major label debut at Nashville's
Woodland Studios in 7 days and mixes in Los Angeles in 4 days. Kevin Kerslake
(Nirvana, etc) directs the video for the single, It's All Changed, at Nashville's War
Memorial Auditorium and Percy Warner Park. It's All Changed released to radio
in early fall and the video premieres on
MTV's 120 minutes. The album is released
in September and supported initially by the Fourplay Tour. Tours with REO
Speedwagon and The Hooters followed
through December.
1988: Robert and Oscar leave the band to form The Shakers. Joe and Chris
continue on with Drew Cornutt (bass) and Josh Weinberg (lead guitar). The band
films a live performance on the syndicated "On Stage" television show Vic Maile
(Motorhead) is slated to produce the second A&M album. Geared & Primed is
recorded in Los Angeles at Sound City Studios during the summer and mixed in
Memphis in early fall at Ardent Studios by Joe Hardy. Jeff Mayes replaces Josh
on lead guitar. Sam Raimi (Spiderman, Evil Dead) and Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead,
If Chins Could Kill) direct and produce
the video for Half the Truth, G&P's first
single, in the fall at the Charlie Chaplin Soundstage on the A&M lot on LaBrea.
1989:
Half the Truth released to radio and the video to MTV in January.
Geared & Primed released in February and supported by tours with Joan Jett and
Cheap Trick. Half the Truth peaks at #76 on the radio airplay charts. The song,
Geared & Primed, is released to radio as the bands second single in the summer
and the band embarks on a West Coast tour. The Royal Court of China relocates
to Los Angeles and A&M releases the
Lost Angels (Donald Sutherland, Adam
Horovitz) soundtrack
containing Love Long Gone, an out take from the G&P album.
The Royal Court of China leave A&M at the end of the year.
1990-1991: Jeff Mays leaves the band and is replaced by Matt (?)
(RIP). The RCC records "Running Nowhere" for the indie movie, Across the
Tracks (Brad Pitt, Ric Schroeder) and
tours across the country.
Matt is replaced on lead guitar by Walt, Chris Hopkins and eventually Brian Jennings.
The band records Alice Cooper's " Working Up A Sweat" in 1991 for the 1993 Triple XXX
release of "Welcome To My Nightmare" Alice Cooper Tribute compilation.
The
RCC briefly changes their name to Rockhead and
tours
NY. They change the name
back to The Royal Court after a successful legal battle with
Bob Rock (Metallica).
1992:
The RCC officially disband and move back home at the beginning of the year.
The original members of The Royal Court (Joe, Chris, Robert & Oscar) reform for a reunion
show. The RCC officially reform in late fall and record new songs at 16th Ave. Sound in
Nashville. The session includes Santa Claus Is Back In Town and the band is joined by original
Elvis Presley band members, Scotty Moore, Floyd Cramer, D.J. Fontana, and the Jordannaires.
The song makes history by reuniting the Elvis members for the first time in 24 years.
Santa Claus Is Back in Town is released to
radio for the Christmas season on a compilation CD
including country greats, Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt. The RCC surprisingly make several
live performances on country music TV stations, TNN and CMT.
1993: The Royal Court of China officially disband............................ but they didn't stop!
To fill in the gaps and find out what the members did or are still doing...Click "The Rest" button
on the homepage or better yet click here!