I know Royal Blood have moved on from their 2014 debut and their sound has undergone some transformation. It is no surprise that a song like that would get into people’s heads and pique their interest! It also had this hip-swivelling vibe and groove. I remember hearing Figure It Out when it came out and being hooked by its rawness. In the case of Royal Blood, there was a chemistry and kinetic energy between Kerr and Thatcher that resonated with people and made an impression. I am always interested seeing how groups (or duos) form and how they grow as a unit. That is because of their terrific sound and how tight they are as a duo! I don’t want to skip ahead too fast and look at where they are now without covering the time between their formation and the new single. It does seem like they were thrust into the limelight pretty soon. They were, as they recall, on “a ramp of insanity”. They became one of the few bands to have played new artists festival The Great Escape and the MTV EMAs in the same year. They had momentum and in August, when their self-titled debut arrived, it became the fastest-selling rock debut in three years, outperforming the first-week sales of first efforts by the likes of The Strokes and Kasabian. By May, they were sharing a stage with Arctic Monkeys at London’s Finsbury Park. After a bunch of buzzy support slots, a spot on the NME Awards Tour in March 2014 followed.
Their early shows got the music industry excited – the two-pronged dynamic of The White Stripes meeting the venomous riffs of Queens Of The Stone Age soon had them tagged as mainstream rock’s great new saviours (they still insist they’re not). “I got a text from two of my mates saying, “I heard that tune – yeah, nice one.’ Basically, no one gave a s**t, and I was like, ‘What the f**k? Ben, times are tough – no one likes rock anymore.’”īut just a couple of months later, their ascension went into hyperspeed. “I remember putting ‘Figure It Out’ on SoundCloud after we recorded it and being like, ‘This is going to blow people’s minds,’” says Mike. Ironically, Royal Blood was supposed to be less serious – a chance to just have some fun. Having both played in bands before, though, they decided this one was different. They formed a duo, rehearsed the next day and played their first gig in a Worthing pub the same week. In the car, he played him some demos he’d recorded. When he flew home early in 2013, Ben picked him up from the airport. Mike went travelling in Australia for nine months. The pair, friends since their mid-teens, were making do. Just four years ago, they were pulling pints back home in Brighton. “ It’s worth remembering where it all started. We discover about the modest start of two fantastic musicians: Before then, I want to bring in an article from NME from 2017 (when their second album, How Did We Get So Dark?, was being promoted). I shall come to the new single in a minute. At a time when there are not many artists who can deliver the edginess of Rock with elements of Dance and Disco, there is a lot to be said for Royal Blood’s importance and place in modern music. Ahead of the release of their third studio album, Typhoons, next month, the guys have been getting a lot of attention. I am excited to review their new single, Limbo. That seems like such a long time ago but, since then, Mike Kerr (vocals, bass) and Ben Thatcher (drums) have come a long way. Since their eponymous debut album came out in 2014.
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