Brighton rock duo Royal Blood released their 4th studio album, Back to The Water Below, in September of 2023, and shortly after we had drummer Ben Thatcher and vocalist/bassist Mike Kerr in for a chat. We talked about the beginning of Royal Blood in Worthing, some stats on covers and working the newest album into the setlist. Watch:
Ben: This is the beginnings of Royal Blood, really. The Hope and Ruin, in Brighton, Black Lion. The official first Royal Blood show though, is here, the Tangerine Bar in Worthing, and that was an open mic night.
Mike: That was kind of our thing, wasn't it?
Ben: Yeah. Brighton Dome, hometown show. That was a crazy year, 2014.
Mike: How many shows did we play in 2014?
Ben: 145.
Mike: Yeah, that's good-going. Is there a quiz at the end?
Ben: Stats. Well “Figure It Out” was one of the first songs that we ever wrote, so-
Mike: That's true as well.
Ben: -that's gonna be our number one. There's a lot of covers down here. We used to play-
Mike: T. Rex?
Ben: 7 times we’ve played that.
Mike: What cover would you put back in now then?
Ben: “My Sharona,” let’s go with that.
Ben: So this is the average setlist.
Mike: Opening on “Hole” was always good fun. We've been experimenting with different openers. We opened up with “Where Are You Now?” which we hadn't played in about four or five years.
Ben: Keeps it interesting for us as well. We just did a UK tour and the front row, there's a few of the same faces. It's nice to see a reaction from them as well, when we're playing a new song. And look, the new album is starting to creep up.
Mike: I think this new album it feeling natural and feeling live-friendly, that just meant almost test running the songs in the studio. Whenever you play a new song for the first time, usually people are kind of spectating it and taking it in. If we're enjoying playing it and we're buzzing off playing it, that always eventually results in a song that's gonna do well live.
Ben: We played 4 shows at “South by.”
Mike: When we play a festival, the collection of songs writes itself. It’s just really a matter of what order we're gonna play them in. In order for that to change, it just means making more records and finding new songs.
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Royal Blood have played only one show in 2024 so far - a set at Lollapalooza India on January 27th - see that 12-song setlist here.
