BLOOD’S UP
ROYAL BLOOD’S MIKE KERR TELLS JEN THOMAS HOW SOBRIETY AND A LITTLE HELP FROM JOSH HOMME HELPED SHAPE THE BAND’S NEW ALBUM
‘Playing live is the reason we started a band, it’s the lifeblood of what we do’
ROYAL Blood have a lot to celebrate right now, with a third Number One album, Typhoons, a whole host of festival dates to look forward to and a huge UK tour kicking off next year.
Singer and bassist Mike Kerr’s joy is tempered. ‘It has been strange not being out on the road. Usually, we would have unveiled lots of these tracks on stage in front of our fans. The response that we’ve had from these new songs has been amazing though, even without being able to play live. It’s been awesome.’
Typhoons is a big step forward for the duo, sonically, trading in some of the more rough-and-ready elements of their previous records for a more polished finish with groove elements to make you want to dance.
‘I think one thing this has reminded me of is this is how the band started. It was always the two of us trusting our instincts, and making music that we love,’ Mike says, earnestly. ‘We’ve made a record that we thought sounded great. We just had to trust that if the two of us think it’s good, then it’s likely someone out there will agree with us.’
Royal Blood released their debut album back in 2014, and it wasn’t long before they were playing arenas. How Did We Get So Dark? followed in 2017, but then work on their third album was derailed by the pandemic. ‘We were halfway through making our record,’ recalls Mike. ‘Looking back, it was the best thing that could have happened to us because it allowed us to explore.
‘By the time things opened up again we had essentially chopped off half the record and replaced it with these five new songs.’
The new tunes ended up being some of the biggest on the record, and those which fans are most desperate to hear live.
‘We wrote Limbo, Typhoons, Mad Visions and Oblivion, all in that lockdown. I’m so grateful. It was just such a eureka moment, it was like discovering fire.’
The band teamed up with Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age for some of the recording, and it sounds like a formative experience. ‘It was a really pivotal moment in that studio. It was like a driving test, Josh gave me the metaphorical keys, got me in the car and closed the door and said, “Good luck”. It was up to me from that point onwards.’
Mike has been sober for some time now, and he has had a positive reaction from fans for his honesty about it. ‘That’s the amazing thing about sobriety, it really unifies people. I’m not alone. I think there’s an assumption that you only have a toxic relationship with alcohol or drugs if you’re naked in a bin somewhere, unemployed, and you lost everything. It’s not like that though,’ he insists.
‘At that point in my life I felt like I was functioning. But what’s “functioning”? If you got in a car, and it takes ten minutes to start, and there’s smoke billowing out the back, one of the lights doesn’t turn off and the radio is on constantly, BUT you get to your destination, you say, “Well, it’s functioning!”
‘I defined functioning by being able to do a show, and I was able to keep up being in a band, but that’s three per cent of my life. It was incredibly unhappy. Having gone sober gave me the capacity to make the record we’ve just made. I would not have been sharp enough before.’
Now Mike can’t wait to take the new material on the road. ‘Playing live is the reason we started a band. It’s the lifeblood of what we do,’ he says. ‘Now we’ve experienced what it’s like to not have live music and people’s souls are f****** barren. Life without art sucks, it’s f****d. There have been so many attempts at emulating a live show on a computer, and it’s not the same.
‘To be in a room with people celebrating live music is going to be epic. We have a new album that’s designed to start the biggest party, and after what we’ve all been through, the world deserves a massive party – and we’re the best hosts you could ask for.’