Royal Baths is making waves within the San Francisco psychedelic garage rock scene, a scene that has been booming for the past few years with bands like The Fresh & Onlys, Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall leading the charge.


“I think San Francisco is a great incubator for writing music,” says Royal Baths singer/guitarist Jeremy Cox. “A lot of great bands come here because of that and I think we’ve been able to play what we are playing because the bands are very welcoming.”


The trio – which recently became a quartet with the addition of a bassist – manipulates lo-fi noise and fuzzy guitars into inviting melodies that have an undeniable influence from Velvet Underground.


It’s that formula that recently attracted Woodsist, an up-and-coming independent label, to sign the band last year. 


“We had put out a tape on a local label called Wizard Mountain. Our friends from The Fresh & Onlys asked [Woodsist] if they’d be interested in putting it out and they were,” Cox says. “That’s definitely helped us gain recognition.” 


Woodsist released Royal Baths’ full-length debut Litanies last fall; since then, it’s received a fairly good reception from outlets like Pitchfork and S.F. Weekly.


One of the album’s standouts, “Nikki Don’t,” is a dark, muddy heroin trip to space and back that sounds like it belongs on one of the Nuggets psychedelic compilations. 


Royal Baths’ current tour – which includes a show at the Alternative Café on Saturday – will conclude in New York City, where the band is moving to be closer to its record label and spread its San Francisco goodness along the East Coast. 


Bruce SynthStein – who says he “demonstrates various methods of analog synthesis designed to uplift the psyche” – opens the show. 


ROYAL BATHS play 8pm Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Alternative Cafe, 1230 Fremont Blvd., Seaside. $10. 583-0913.