WHILE their previous record was made in the studio during lockdown, Royal Blood’s new album, Back To The Water Below, was inspired by being on the road again.
Singer and bassist Mike Kerr says: “Typhoons (2021) was made with the fear we would never play live again.
I’ve pushed myself harder… I’m really proud of showing my vulnerability on new album, says Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr
“For this one, we were coming up with riffs and ideas from soundchecks and being on the road.
“We were lifted by the environment of playing shows again.”
On stage is where the Brighton duo feel at home and, says drummer Ben Thatcher, is where Royal Blood are at their best.
“We started touring in May and we’ve not really stopped touring,” he says.
“We’ve been on tour with Muse, we’ve been playing festivals and doing our own tour in between the shows.
“We only stopped about two weeks ago and had a little time off before the album is out — then we’re going to be touring in America for the whole of September, pretty much, then back here for another tour, and then another tour in America.”
I’m in a North London restaurant with Thatcher and Kerr, where the frontman arrives with his suitcase, literally just back from a holiday in the US.
“I’m not very good at sitting still,” he laughs. “When we stop touring, it feels better to keep moving so I’ve just been in America with my girlfriend.”
Royal Blood’s last album was a more groove and disco-influenced sound than we’d heard before from the rock duo. It gave them their third No1 album in a row.
Over a juice and a very healthy-looking salad, Kerr says: “I think Typhoons unlocked a lot of permission for us to go down that road.
“It unlocked something in us where we could step into this album with a broad palette.
“With this album we knew we could make songs with lots of layers and additional instrumentation.
“As well as songs that are raw and simple. We felt we had full use of the gear stick.
“On this album, Shiner In The Dark and Triggers are kind of friends of Typhoons.”
Thatcher adds: “Writing songs never feels like a compromise. Our egos step aside when one of us isn’t feeling it. I think that’s the indication of it not being right.”
Finding a studio of their own, just outside Brighton, allowed the pair to write in a more spontaneous way.
Kerr says: “The studio is a five-minute drive away.
“It’s allowed us to be more sporadic and inspiration-led and has given us the ability to record as we go, rather than demoing material, and then going into a studio.
“There’s a real magic to recording a song as it’s being written. You’re capturing a live reaction to how you feel about the song.
“And there’s always a carefree attitude to that process, because in the back of your mind you think of it as a demo, that you might re-record. That mentality leads to a much more interesting and exciting performance.
“We are very focused in the studio, very focused.
“Most of the things we post online from the studio is goofing around, but we’re not in there to f*** around.
“There’s a real magic that can be lost from spending too much time on something. This album is the fastest turnaround we’ve ever done. That was the pace of the inspiration. Weirdly at the beginning of the process, we didn’t intend to rush it. “With every album, it’s always about approaching songs in a new way — there’s no formula.
Bold steps
“It’s worth the risk of taking bold steps forward for the sake of us feeling good about it, over not changing how we write and record.”
Album standouts include Triggers, first single Mountains At Midnight and album closer, gorgeous ballad Waves, which might be the best track Royal Blood have ever made.
“That song is our favourite on the album as well,” reveals Kerr.
“It’s a moment where we made something completely fresh and different. It comes from a different emotion, and it immediately felt special. “When we play it, it’s like, ‘Holy s**t, we made this’. It came right at the last minute.
“We set ourselves a deadline for this record and I like the idea of an album being like a photograph; of a time.
“The week before the deadline there was a real creative burst and some decision-making.
“When the clock is ticking there’s no time to f*** around. It’s like your house is on fire.
“You can go in and grab one thing and you know exactly what matters to you.”
Lyrically, Kerr says: “I’ve pushed myself harder than with any other record. I put more time into words than any other aspect and I’m really proud of showing my vulnerability. It’s got that kind of feeling of hiding nowhere.”
Back To The Water Below is also the first album Royal Blood have fully self-produced.
Kerr says: “In the past we’ve found producers unnecessary, if I’m being honest.
“We have a very clear vision of what we want and how we want it to sound, so it’s always felt like someone’s in the way.
“The only exception is Josh Homme [of Queens Of The Stone Age], who produced Boilermaker and a few other songs on the last album. That opened our eyes to the recording process and induced a confidence in us to be ourselves and to equip us to make records.
“It was like training. Josh is a mentor. We keep in touch all the time.”
Thatcher adds: “He’d let us do what we do. He’d encourage us and know what we are good at.
“Working with him was about the little details from him reflecting and listening.”
Touring with Muse earlier this year, like when they supported Foo Fighters in 2015, was a special time for the pair.
The backlash over the Radio 1 show wasn’t fans but people on the internet. It was f***ing insane, says Ben Thatcher
“Muse are a fantastic band for us to open up for because our fans kind of have the same DNA,” says Thatcher.
“So, for us to go out into those stadiums is like playing to a lot of our fans really, but in places where we wouldn’t be able to play normally. Like the Stade de France in Paris, which was amazing.
“You forget how many hits Muse or Coldplay have. They’re both made for stadium shows. Muse really is an unbelievable band.”
Kerr adds: “By the time you get halfway through that kind of tour, and you start acclimatising to playing in a stadium, it’s exhilarating to mentally wrap your head around something so exotic.
“It felt good. And you get a taste for that scale of show.”
In May, Royal Blood found themselves in the middle of a very public social media pile-on, following their appearance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Dundee.
A viral video showed Kerr flipping the bird at the crowd and berating them, frustrated with their reaction to their rock setlist between the poppier Lewis Capaldi and Niall Horan.
“It’s cancel culture and it’s toxic. It’s the media wanting a story,” says Thatcher. “The backlash we got wasn’t from our fans, it was from people on the internet.”
“It was f***ing insane. It really was a roller coaster,” nods Kerr in agreement.
“The phrase [by late filmmaker Albert Maysles] “tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance” is what happened — not just for us, but it goes for everything.
“There’s no nuance on social media. It was ‘pick a side’.
“It was more than banter — it felt like a roast. The question was, ‘Were we right or wrong?’
“It was wild. I can’t understand how a lot of artists and celebrities exist in that tank.
“It was a reaction and there was no point trying to deal with it. The band is bigger than that one story.
“I probably took it too far, but it felt deeply, morally wrong. I thought we played really well that day. If you watch the whole set in context, it’s not that bad. It’s just cut down into a viral clip.
“I think the thing that we held on to is reality — what actually happened over a reaction. You can’t solve the thing per se, so there’s no point trying.
“It was more about just being realistic and balanced about what it actually was, and not measuring the severity of what happened with the reaction.”
Internet backlash
Headlining On The Beach festival in Brighton last month was a more positive experience for Royal Blood. It was a huge homecoming show.
Kerr says proudly: “It was a big show and there were a lot of people there — it was surreal.”
Thatcher adds: “It was a full circle moment, really. Not far from the stage were the Pav Tav [the Pavilion Tavern], the Black Lion and The Haunt — all local places we played around ten years ago.
“Playing The Haunt was the first time we’d experienced a show selling out.” Kerr says: “Yes, that was definitely a real landmark moment for us.” It’s ten years since the duo put out their debut single Out Of The Black.
When it comes to high points of the past decade, Thatcher says: “Getting to play with the Foo Fighters, supporting Queens Of The Stone Age on their tour and having Jimmy Page come to our gig are the moments that stand out for me.
“Brighton Beach has to be up there as well, as the release days for all our albums.
“Walking out on stage for every show is a ‘pinch me’ moment. We never take it for granted.
“Of course, we miss family and loved ones, and I miss watching Brighton play football and I really miss my dog [cockapoo Penny], but my girlfriend Becca looks after her when I’m away. We can’t complain. We don’t have many lows as a band. We love doing what we do. We get to be creative, write music and tour the world.”
What about getting another No1 album? How important is that?
Kerr says: “It’s hard. We cement our feelings about the album before anyone has heard it, so I wouldn’t want a chart position or how the album is perceived to alter that feeling.
“But, paradoxically, it is amazing to think that we could have another No1 record. We just don’t use it as a measuring device for the quality of the work.
“It’s nuts to get a No1. So, if it’s No2, it’s not a downer. To have a rock record even in the Top Ten is unbelievable.”
- The album Back To The Water Below is out today.
Back To The Water Below from Royal Blood
