/MUSIC KINGS OF NOISE
FAME and success can do funny things to fledgling musicians. Catapulted into an unfamiliar world, some musicians can become overwhelmed, suffocated by success - to the point where they can no longer even enjoy playing music anymore.
Conversely, however, there are some musicians who embrace success with great humour and gusto – a prime example being Royal Blood.
Case in point: when Royal Blood were invited to perform at the 2015 BRIT Awards, the British rock duo immediately felt overwhelmed by a room filled with musical luminaries such as Kanye West and Taylor Swift. However, rather than be cowed by their surroundings, the duo decided to inject a little irreverence to proceedings.
“That’s the best way to be,” recalls Royal Blood drummer Ben Thatcher, “to laugh at it all. We always feel like the odd ones out at these fancy award shows. So we just try to have fun. At the BRITs, I started painting portraits of all the artists backstage. I did a great watercolour of Kanye. I tried to give it to him as a gift, but I only got as far as his security guy. Hopefully he’s seen it.”
Having a good laugh within, as Thatcher puts it, “alien situations”, has been a recurring theme for Royal Blood over the past three years. Thanks to their 2014 selftitled debut album, the duo Thatcher, alongside frontman and bass player Mike Kerr – were swiftly propelled from the Brighton indie scene onto the global music stage. Along came huge commercial success, BRIT Awards, Mercury Prize nominations and all manner of surreal celebrity encounters. They’ve toured with the Foo Fighters; performed on-stage with Lars Ulrich of Metallica; and, most excitingly, befriended their musical hero Jimmy Page.
“I think meeting Jimmy Page was the most incredible thing,” Thatcher enthuses. “You’re pinching yourself thinking, ‘Jimmy Page knows who we are...and he’s a fan!.’ It’s surreal. You’re best not over-thinking things. You’ve just got to laugh and enjoy those moments.”
Laughter and enjoyment are, of course, the main reasons why Royal Blood formed in the first place. Based in Brighton, Thatcher and Kerr have been friends for more than a decade, and have played in several bands, both together and apart. It was only in 2013, however, that they finally came together as a duo. With Thatcher playing drums, and Kerr singing and extracting dirty blues riffage on the bass, Royal Blood were formed simply so the pair could play for pure enjoyment’s sake.
“We were just having fun playing and writing together,” explains Thatcher. “We’ve both been in bands previously, so it wasn’t like we were desperate to get signed or anything. Also, at the time, guitar music simply wasn’t very cool. We didn’t think there’d be a big audience for what we did.”
How wrong they were, however. Upon the release of their 2014 debut album – a thrilling blend of White Stripes blues riffage and Queens of the Stone Age visceral rumble Royal Blood were being touted as mainstream rock’s great new saviours. And, as we’ve learned, it’s a title which they owned with immense enjoyment and humour.
After such a successful – and unexpected – debut album, however, Royal Blood were faced with that most tricky and enduring of dilemmas: how to sustain their success, while maintaining the fun and innocence with which they started the band?
Those questions were brilliantly answered by the duo’s second album, How Did We Get So Dark?, released back in June to rave reviews. Unlike most bands’ second albums, Royal Blood’s sophomore effort doesn’t try too hard to experiment or dial up the bombast. Rather, the duo’s second LP offers an impressive streamlining of their ferocious bass and drums sound – a proud celebration of what makes them so different to every other rock band around.
“With this second album,” explains Thatcher. “We just made the music that makes us feel good and happy – and a lot of that comes down to the musical chemistry Mike and I share. We tried writing with other instruments but it never felt right. It really made us appreciate the DNA of our band. It was more about songwriting and less about reinvention.”
This month, for the first ever time, Royal Blood will be sharing that unique alchemy on the stages of the UK’s biggest arenas – including a show at the Arena on Thursday. For Thatcher, the challenge of filling a massive arena as a lo-fi two-piece is one which he’s relishing.
“We can’t wait for it,” he beams. “Had you told us a few years ago that we’d be headlining arenas, I wouldn’t have believed you. But now we’re in that position, we really want to put on the best show we can. It’s our first arena tour, so we’ve got a few surprises up our sleeves.”
Royal Blood play Manchester Arena on Thursday, November 16.