Interview: Royal Blood
A riffing good yarn
In less than two years, the Worthing/Brighton duo have achieved what most can only dream of, as Jeff Hemmings finds out …
From nowhere (well, a tiny Brighton venue – Latest Music Bar – in Feb 2013, sandwiched on a bill of five indie-rock hopefuls), to making the BBC Sound Poll 2014, to high up the bill at Reading and elsewhere including support slots with friends Arctic Monkeys at Finsbury Park earlier this year, a Later… with Jools Holland scene stealing performance, a Mercury Music Prize nomination, a number one album, a worldwide tour, and a home coming gig in Brighton, it’s been an incredible journey for the dynamic duo. You could barely make it up.
With their tasteful truckers and beards look, bludgeoning riffing and Bonhamesque meets Dave Grohl drumming, the suitably monikered Royal Blood have been a breath of fresh air, an air raid siren amidst the saturated landscape of singer songwriters, electro pop acts, and TV-commecial friendly niceness. An amalgamation of grunge, Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, and a little bit of Rage Against The Machine, White Stripes/Raconteurs and Muse. Their rise to the top has been almost indecently hateful, and live they have already nailed it; their very simple set up of bass and drums is mainly about power and energy but also about songwriting nous, nuances of sound and some unique guitar slash bass trickery.
“It’s all a secret, a secret recipe. Just like the Colonel’s!” says bassist Mike Kerr, in reference to the legendary Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe of Colonel Sanders. Is it a pitch shifter? Or, maybe the clever use of two or more amps for different strings? Perhaps an octave pedal too? Whatever the case, there are gadgets galore next to Kerr’s feet. For his part, he has previously admitted that he came up with the sound by accident, whilst learning to play the bass. Whatever the case may be, it’s had many scratching their heads, such is the brilliant effect those four strings have, both on record and on stage where they really go to town: “We just filled a room with four or five amplifiers, all on full and all having a different sound,” says Mike, about the recording process for the album. And all that with just the one ‘bass’ guitar …
Royal Blood have been a breath of fresh air, an air raid siren amidst the saturated landscape of singer songwriters
Less of a secret is the Arctic Monkeys factor in helping to get Royal Blood noticed. It all started when the Arctic’s drummer, Matt Helders, was seen wearing a Royal Blood t-shirt at Glastonbury 2013. “We didn’t know them,” says Mike. “We share the same manager, they came to us before anyone really had heard of us, and they had first dibs on Royal Blood demos. They became our first fans before anyone knew who we were. We didn’t have any merch, we just made him a t-shirt for Glastonbury. So when he wore it (while they headlined the Pyramid Stage) it was a big deal for us and out friends, but no one knew who Royal Blood were. It turned into a story afterwards. It didn’t kick anything off at the time … a bizarre moment.”
The band’s name is also good. So good, you wonder why it hasn’t been used before. “I just made it up, I thought it was a good title for what the band sounded like; to sound grandiose, and English as well,” Mike says.
Kerr’s alternating moaning, growling and controlled shouting vocal style provides a neat counterpoint to the general pummelling action. “I guess the people for me that made me feel like I could be a singer are Jack White (White Stripes), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), those kind of singer songwriters.” Those musical influences abound on the album;
one minute it’s Jack White, the next it’s Josh Homme. Then Black Sabbath sneaks in here and there, while Nirvana make regular appearances, such as on ‘Come On Over’. Then there are hints of classic British blues rock a la The Groundhogs, and others littered throughout. Despite all these echoes of music past and present, the fact is Royal Blood have mixed it up enough to call their sound their own, helped of course by the unusual line up, and that distinctive bass.
“I wanted to have my own signature sound. I see myself neither as a guitarist or bassist, I see myself as a songwriter who can play piano,” says the Worthing/Steyning bred Mike, whose first instrument is in fact the piano. “Singing and playing bass felt the most comfortable way of doing what we do … I could be more myself with that set up.” Mike’s bass/guitar combo is perfectly complemented by Ben Thatcher’s (Former Rustington resident, now Brighton-based) inventive drumming. The two work very well together, and it’s this chemistry that has been key in getting it right, live on stage. “We have such good chemistry; we’ve been playing together for so long. I don’t really have to say anything in the rehearsal, we’re always on the same page.
“Sometimes the songs start on the bass, then I jump on the piano and write melodies. They are always works in progress. Over time, if I have an idea, I pick up an instrument and when we get together it’s bass and drums, how it’s going to be. It’s hard to write a vocal with just a bass line, so I get a guitar or piano and you’ve got some chords to work with and it helps me get some perspective to see where I am with the song.
As for the eponymous album, there’s a strong consistency to the point where there are no duff moments. ‘Careless’ is a typically bruising number, alternating between Black Sabbath style hard rock, while ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’ is the closest to funk Royal Blood get. ‘You Can Be So Cruel’ is lyrically (not the strongest part of Royal Blood) like much of the album, full of hackneyed stereotypes about failed relationships and people who have done wrong. Still, they serve their purpose in conveying the often visceral outpouring of darkness, interspersed with the occasional bout of romanticism, Kerr’s subtle drawl hinting more of world weariness rather than cold revenge.
At the end of the day Kerr and Thatcher are rock fans – Kerr cites fellow grungers/rockers Drenge as a band he likes – and for him it’s an outlet for his dark side; an opportunity to, much like the punters who go to their gigs, let his hair down. They have love on their fingers and lust on their tongues, as Royal Blood have it on ‘Little Monster’, and by golly they sound like they mean it.
Sat 20 Dec, Brighton Dome. Sold Out.
