The end of the second record weirdly felt like a dead end, it felt like closure. There was something quite emotional about making Typhoons because I genuinely felt inspired to make more music. I want to put this record out, revive the band and be heard.
The fans have been waiting for a long time. MK: “I feel so in it right now, I’m really excited about what we’ve made, I’m still listening to what we’ve made. We do the studio stuff because we want to play in arenas.” How excited are you about the future for Royal Blood, getting back on the road and making more music?īT: “Playing live is where we’ve really thrived. You don’t realise it at the time, but that is when you are cutting your teeth and learning 10 times the amount you actually think you are.” Some of the best memories of my life as a musician were when I was 14, starting my first band and playing round each other’s houses and writing songs about dumb shit. You need to suck in front of all your friends. Playing shows is the environment you need in order to become a band. But there’s not a lot you can do if we can’t go there and can’t play shows.” They’re not in a great position right now. But there’s a lot in Brighton that we would go to – the Green Door Store, Hope And Ruin, the Concorde 2. I think that’s shown with the outcome of this record.”ĭid lockdown give you time to reflect on how important grassroots venues were to the band?īT: “Most of [the ones we played in[ are gone, to be honest with you. It was like, ‘Well, let’s just keep writing for the sake of it’. It was just such a pleasure to be creating again and not having a deadline because no-one knew what was going on. We had a lot more direction of what we wanted to do. Ben tracked all these drums and took it to another level but I didn’t re-record anything.”īT: “I think we found something in ourselves. It’s probably the fastest song I’ve ever written. What was the writing process like for Typhoons? And we’re not a band that wants to play anything safe.” I grew up with that music when I was really young and it’s now just in my body.”īen Thatcher: “If you don’t progress and take risks, then you play it safe. Obviously, we love old-school rock’n’roll but we’re not drawing inspiration from that all the time. Part of the reason rock isn’t progressing is because it’s become a Preservation Act and people are preserving music that was made in the ’70s but failing to realise the music that was being made then was breaking rules and trying new things. There are so many things where you think, ‘Oh no, we can’t do that,’ or, ‘These types of fans won’t like this’, and suddenly you realise how small a box rock has been pushed into or simultaneously put itself in. Mike Kerr: “When we started writing this record, there were so many rules to break. What does it mean to be in a rock band in 2021?
Subscribers can read the full interview online, but here we present an exclusive extract from our conversation with Royal Blood. We’ve done and tried so many things, so just hopping on the Royal Blood train sometimes doesn’t work.” “It’s always difficult for a third party,” he said, “because Mike and I have been on a journey together and we’re so musically connected. The band spoke to Music Week, along with Warner president Phil Christie and manager Ian McAndrew for our April issue, and drummer Thatcher spoke of the unique closeness of their bond.
Their self-titled 2014 debut has 641,972 sales, according to the Official Charts Company, while 2017’s How Did We Get So Dark? Has 208,591. Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher return with Typhoons on Warner Records, looking to build on the huge success of their two previous chart-toppers. By the time the weekend rolls around, Royal Blood could be celebrating another No.1 album.