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Royal Blood (band)

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Royal Blood
Royal Blood performing in June 2022
Background information
OriginLittlehampton, England
Genres
Years active2011–present
Labels
Members
  • Mike Kerr
  • Ben Thatcher
Past members
  • Matt Swan
  • Joe Dennis
Websiteroyalbloodband.com

Royal Blood are an English rock duo formed in Littlehampton in 2011. The current lineup consists of Mike Kerr (vocals, bass guitar, piano) and Ben Thatcher (drums). Their signature sound is built around Kerr's bass playing style, which sees him using various effects pedals and amps to make his bass guitar sound like an electric guitar and bass guitar at the same time. The duo were signed by Warner Chappell Music in 2013 and have since released four studio albums: Royal Blood (2014), How Did We Get So Dark? (2017), Typhoons (2021), and Back to the Water Below (2023).

History

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2011–2015: Formation and debut album

[edit]
Royal Blood performing in March 2014

Royal Blood consists of vocalist and bassist Mike Kerr (born 19 June 1990) from Worthing and drummer Ben Thatcher (born 12 February 1988) from Rustington.[1] They first met around 2005 when they were teenagers; for a brief period, they were part of the same four-piece band called Flavour Country, for which Kerr was the keyboardist and keytarist.[2]

Royal Blood formed in Worthing in March 2011,[3][4][5] after Kerr met original drummer Matt Swan.[6] The band were initially a trio consisting of Kerr on vocals and bass, Joe Dennis on guitar, and Matt Swan on drums. Dennis left in early 2012, leading the band to discover what is now their signature sound, as Kerr's unique bass playing style (which sees him using various effects pedals and amps to make his bass guitar sound like an electric guitar and bass guitar at the same time) became the main focus.[7] They relocated to Swan's home country of Australia, where they recorded an EP in Brisbane. The first single, "Leaving", premiered on Australian radio station Triple J in 2012; Kerr and Thatcher later recorded a new version of the song and renamed it "Come On Over".[8] Kerr and Swan played around the Brisbane and Gold Coast area,[9] before Kerr eventually decided to return to Worthing, ending this incarnation of the band.[10][11] He was picked up at the airport by Thatcher, and the two decided to continue under the Royal Blood name together with Thatcher replacing Swan on drums.[2][12]

Initially, the new duo "couldn't get a gig in Worthing for months" and "ended up just playing a lot of open-mic nights with acoustic singer-songwriters".[2] The band developed their music in the studios of Brighton Electric, and it was during this time that they were signed by Warner Chappell Music.[1] They joined the same management company as the band Arctic Monkeys.[1] In 2013, Arctic Monkeys' drummer Matt Helders was seen wearing a Royal Blood shirt during Arctic Monkeys' performance at Glastonbury Festival, boosting interest in the band.[13] At Glastonbury Festival 2023, Thatcher returned the favour, wearing an Arctic Monkeys T-Shirt whilst playing their set on the Pyramid Stage, as the act before the Arctic Monkeys headlined the same stage.[14]

On 11 November 2013, Royal Blood released their official debut single, "Out of the Black",[15] which came with the B-side of the re-recorded "Come On Over".[16] In November 2013, it was announced that Royal Blood would be supporting Arctic Monkeys for two Finsbury Park shows in May 2014.[17] In December 2013, Royal Blood were nominated for BBC Sound of 2014.[18] Royal Blood released their second single, "Little Monster", on 11 February 2014. The band also released a four-track EP Out of the Black, featuring "Out of the Black", "Little Monster", "Come On Over" and "Hole" on 11 March 2014 in North America.[19]

Royal Blood performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas in March 2014;[20] at Liverpool Sound City festival and at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Glasgow in May;[21] and at Download Festival and Glastonbury Festival in June.[22] They performed at Rock Werchter and T in the Park festival in July, and at Reading Festival, but got cut short at their Leeds Festival show, as well as Osheaga in August 2014.[23]

Their debut album, Royal Blood, was released on 25 August 2014 on Warner Bros. Records. Well received by critics,[24] it was verified by the Official Charts Company as the fastest-selling British rock debut album in three years in the UK.[25] The cover artwork, by London-based contemporary artist Dan Hillier, won the Best Art Vinyl award in 2014.[26] A video clip for "Out of the Black" entered rotation as part of cable network AXN Japan's "AXN Tunes" programme in October 2014; music videos aired on-the-hour as filler, in between their regularly scheduled timetabled programming.[27]

In October 2014, Royal Blood announced details of their biggest European tour to date,[28] starting in Germany on 10 January, and ending in Sweden on 23 March. The band, along with Iggy Pop, supported Foo Fighters on selected dates during their 2015 UK, US and Canada tours. In February 2015, at the Brit Awards in London, Jimmy Page presented them with the Best British Group Award.[29] In April 2015, they played the Coachella Festival in California, in June 2015 they played twice at Rock Werchter and at Bunbury Music Festival in Cincinnati and, in September 2015, they played at the Rock in Rio festival, in Rio de Janeiro.

On 29 and 30 August 2015, Royal Blood played the main stage at Reading and Leeds 2015. During both of these performances, the band revealed a new song titled "Hook, Line & Sinker". In October 2015, the band had finished touring for their debut album. The song "Careless" is used as the opening theme of the French version of the TV show Tattoo Fixers.

2016–2018: How Did We Get So Dark?

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On 29 March 2016, the band released a new track, "Where Are You Now?", inspired by the American TV series Vinyl. The song was later re-recorded during the making of their second album How Did We Get So Dark?[30]

On 16 October 2016, a video was uploaded to the band's official Instagram account showing the band in the studio. The video showed Mike Kerr playing the Robbie Williams track "Let Me Entertain You" on piano, with Ben Thatcher recording the video and singing. The video was captioned "Day 1. Robbie Williams #royalblooddocovers". They then continued these short covers on Instagram, covering songs from Vanessa Carlton, Gloria Gaynor, Spandau Ballet, Elton John, Coldplay, and Michael Jackson.

Following its announcement on 11 April 2017, Royal Blood released their second album, How Did We Get So Dark? on 16 June 2017, preceded by the singles "Lights Out", "Hook, Line & Sinker" and "I Only Lie When I Love You". It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart.[31][32] Royal Blood were part of the WayHome Music & Arts Festival 2017 Line-up in Oro-Medonte, Ontario.[33] In April 2017, Royal Blood announced four UK shows, starting in Cambridge on 17 May and ending in Leicester on 20 May.[34] In June 2017, Royal Blood played at Glastonbury on the Pyramid Stage.[35] In addition, on 5 June, the band announced a tour in Europe on their social media, which took place throughout October and November 2017. In May 2018, Royal Blood went on a headlining US tour in continued support of their second album, which included more acts alongside Queens of the Stone Age.[36]

2019–2022: Typhoons

[edit]

In June 2019, Kerr and Thatcher presented Jimmy Page with the Icon Award at the Kerrang! Awards.[37] The following month, Royal Blood debuted two new songs, "Boilermaker" and "King", in Wiesbaden, Germany. In March 2020, the band announced they had begun recording their third studio album, though production was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[38] On 24 September 2020, the band released "Trouble's Coming", the first single from their third studio album Typhoons.[39] In October 2020, the single was featured as a part of both the NHL 21 and FIFA 21 soundtracks. As well as the NASCAR 21: Ignition soundtrack.[citation needed]

On 21 January 2021, the second single "Typhoons" was released, along with the announcement of the album itself, which was released on 30 April 2021 and features the previously previewed track "Boilermaker". Royal Blood contributed a cover of the Metallica song "Sad But True" to the charity tribute album The Metallica Blacklist, released in September 2021.[40] On 18 March 2022, the band surprise-released the single "Honeybrains".[41]

2023–present: Back to the Water Below

[edit]

On 23 May 2023, Royal Blood announced the single "Mountains at Midnight" would be released on 25 May 2023. The band also announced their next album, Back to the Water Below, was to be released on 8 September 2023.[42] The release date was later brought forward to 1 September 2023.

The band received some criticism for calling the energy level from the Dundee crowd "pathetic" on 29 May 2023 after playing a live show for BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend. There have been conflicting opinions on the incident, with some commentators speaking out in defence of the band.[43][44]

In summer 2023, Royal Blood supported Muse on the Will of the People world tour in the UK and France.[45][46] They also embarked on their own headlining tour to promote the album.

To complement the more dance and electronic-oriented sounds of later albums, the band are supported live for additional synths/keyboards/vocoder, currently by Darren James.[47][48]

Band members

[edit]

Current members

  • Mike Kerr – vocals, bass (2011–present), keyboards, piano (2017–present), guitar (2022)
  • Ben Thatcher – drums, percussion (2013–present), piano (2017–2018)

Current touring musicians

  • Darren James – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, vocoder, tambourine, backing vocals (2021–present)

Former members

  • Matt Swan – drums, percussion (2011–2013)
  • Joe Dennis – guitar (2011–2012)

Former touring musicians

  • Jodie Scantlebury – backing vocals, electronic drums (2017–2018, 2020–2022)
  • Zarif Davidson – backing vocals, electronic drums (2017–2018, 2020–2022)

Timeline

[edit]

Discography

[edit]
Main article: Royal Blood discography

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Organisation Award Result Ref.
2014 BBC Sound of 2014 Nominated [49]
Mercury Prize Album of the Year Nominated [50]
2015 NME Awards Best Live Band Won [51]
Best New Band Won
Brit Awards Best British Group Won [52]
Kerrang! Awards Best British Newcomer Won [53]
MTV Europe Music Awards Best Rock Nominated [54]
Best Push Act Nominated
Q Awards Best Live Act Won [55]
Classic Rock Magazine Awards Album of the Year Nominated [56]
GMA Awards
Global Metal Apocalypse 		Breakthrough Non-Metal band/artist Won [57]
UK Music Video Awards Best Rock/Indie Video – UK Won [58]
Best Animation In A Video Won
Best Editing In A Video Won
2016 NME Awards Best British Band Nominated [59]
Best Live Band Nominated
2017 LOS40 Music Awards LOS40 Blackjack Artist Award Nominated [60]
MTV Europe Music Awards Best Rock Nominated [61]
UK Music Video Awards Best Rock/Indie Video – UK Won [62]
Best Visual Effects in a Video Nominated
2018 Brit Awards Best British Group Nominated [63]
Kerrang! Awards Best British Band Nominated [64]
UK Music Video Awards Best Rock/Indie Video – UK Nominated [65]
Best Live Concert Nominated

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Barker, Emily (16 September 2014). "Royal Blood: Everything You Need To Know About The Brighton Duo". NME. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Parrish, Charlie (20 February 2015). "Royal Blood interview: 'There's such a poor community for new bands. It's a really bad thing for British music'". The Telegraph.
  3. ^ Kerr, Scott. "Royal Blood – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. ^ Zuel, Bernard (28 February 2015). "When two and the blues is more than enough for Royal Blood". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  5. ^ Houle, Zachary (23 September 2014). "Royal Blood: Royal Blood". PopMatters. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  6. ^ "MATT SWAN [swanny] - The B Side Agency". The B-Side Agency.
  7. ^ Quinton, Jon (21 December 2016). "How does Mike Kerr from Royal Blood sound so good?". onlineguitarlessons.co.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Leaving by Royal Blood". J Play. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Royal Blood at Oh Hello!". Brisbanemusicandculture.wordpress.com. 12 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  10. ^ "Royal Blood start a band after living on the Gold Coast..." Triple J. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
  11. ^ "Royal Blood Interview". Triple J. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Brighton's Royal Blood shortlisted for BBC's Sound of 2014". The Argus. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  13. ^ Bulley, Jenny (5 July 2013). "Royal Blood – Figure It Out". Mojo. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  14. ^ Geraghty, Hollie (23 June 2023). "Royal Blood's Ben Thatcher wears Arctic Monkeys shirt at Glastonbury to return 2013 gesture from Matt Helders". NME. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  15. ^ Milton, Jamie (23 September 2013). "Royal Blood Share 'Out Of The Black' Track". This Is Fake DIY. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013.
  16. ^ Lester, Paul (2 December 2013). "Royal Blood (New band of the day No 1,652)". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  17. ^ "XFM's Great X-Pectations #1: Royal Blood". XFM. 6 January 2014. Archived from the original on 26 January 2014.
  18. ^ "BBC Sound of 2014 longlist revealed". BBC News. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  19. ^ "iTunes Store". iTunes. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  20. ^ Rayner, Ben (15 March 2014). "UK duo Royal Blood heard above the noise at SXSW". Toronto Star. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  21. ^ "Liverpool Sound City 2015". Liverpool Sound City. Archived from the original on 7 May 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  22. ^ "BBC – Glastonbury 2014 – Line up". BBC. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  23. ^ "Arctic Monkeys to headline". Reading Festival 2015. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014.
  24. ^ Stevens, Jenny (23 June 2014). "Royal Blood reveal debut album details with studio video – watch". NME. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  25. ^ Moss, Liv (31 August 2014). "Royal Blood score fastest-selling rock debut in three years". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015.
  26. ^ Burns, Michael (6 January 2015). "Best album cover art: See the winners of the Best Art Vinyl 2014 awards". DigitalArtsOnline.co.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  27. ^ AXN Japan; Sony Pictures Entertainment |Royal Blood "Out of the Black" |Warner Music Japan |"AXN TUNES" video clip rotation, 9 October 2014~
  28. ^ "Royal Blood announce a major 2015 European tour". Fit4Talent.com. 17 October 2014. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014.
  29. ^ Hann, Michael (25 February 2015). "Royal Blood win best British group at Brit awards 2015". The Guardian.
  30. ^ Testa, Jessica (1 April 2016). "Royal Blood's New Track Has the Makings of a Modern Rock Hit". howlandechoes.com.
  31. ^ Myers, Justin (23 June 2017). "Royal Blood rule the Official Albums Chart to score a second Number 1 with How Did We Get So Dark?". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  32. ^ Morgan Britton, Luke (23 June 2017). "Royal Blood beat Nickelback and Lorde to UK albums number one spot". NME. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  33. ^ "WayHome Music & Arts Festival 2017 line-up". 103.9 Proud FM. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  34. ^ "Royal Blood – New 2017 UK Shows – Latest Music News + Gig Tickets From Get To The Front – Music News Magazine". 19 April 2017.
  35. ^ "Glastonbury Festival Line-up 2017: Wed 21st – Sun 25th June 2017". Glastonbury Festival.
  36. ^ Schatz, Lake (4 December 2017). "Royal Blood announce 2018 US headlining tour". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  37. ^ Kerrang!, issue 1779, 29 June 2019, p. 28.
  38. ^ "Royal Blood on Instagram: "Self isolation has begun. For the next five weeks we will be in the studio recording an album. Stay tuned into our stories and I will keep…"". Retrieved 21 March 2020 – via Instagram. Non-loginwalled link at bibliogram.pussthecat.org
  39. ^ "Royal Blood tell us about 'Trouble's Coming' and their new album: "We're seeing in colour for the first time"". NME. 24 September 2020.
  40. ^ He, Richard S. (10 September 2021). "Every Metallica Blacklist cover ranked from worst to best". loudersound. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  41. ^ "Royal Blood share storming new track 'Honeybrains'". Nme.com. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  42. ^ "Royal Blood drop 'Mountains at Midnight' and tell us about new album Back To The Water Below". NME. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  43. ^ "Royal Blood Puts Crowd On Blast, Exits Stage Flipping Middle Fingers: Watch". Billboard. 30 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  44. ^ "Royal Blood go viral for annoyed reaction to Radio One's Big Weekend crowd". NME. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  45. ^ "UK & EU Support". Muse.mu. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  46. ^ Al-Sardar, Ali. "Royal Blood 2023 Tour Dates, Concerts & Tickets". Rock Informer. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  47. ^ "UK & EU Support". Brighton & Hove News. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  48. ^ "Royal Blood review, Glastonbury 2023: Rock duo's chest-puffing doesn't make up for these riskless songs". Brighton & Hove News. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  49. ^ "BBC Sound of 2014 longlist revealed". BBC News. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  50. ^ "Mercury Prize 2014: The nominees". BBC News. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  51. ^ "The full winners list at NME Awards 2015 with Austin, Texas revealed". NME. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  52. ^ "Brit awards 2015: the full list of winners". The Guardian. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  53. ^ "All Time Low win two prizes at this year's Kerrang! rock awards". BBC Newsbeat. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  54. ^ "Taylor Swift lands record number of MTV Europe Music Award nominations". BBC Newsbeat. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  55. ^ "Q Awards 2015: Foals beat Ed Sheeran and Blur to win Best Act In the World Today". The Independent. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  56. ^ "Foo Fighters, AC/DC, Royal Blood and The Who all nominated for Classic Rock awards at Camden Roundhouse". London Evening Standard. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  57. ^ "GMA Awards 2015... as it happened". Global Metal Apocalypse. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  58. ^ "UK Music Video Awards 2015 - all of the winners!". 6 November 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  59. ^ "The full winners list at NME Awards 2016 with Austin, Texas revealed". NME. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  60. ^ "Nominations for LOS40 Music Awards 2017". fans40madrid.blogspot.com (in Spanish). November 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  61. ^ "Here Are All the Winners From the 2017 MTV EMAs". Billboard. 12 November 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  62. ^ "UK Music Video Awards 2017: all the winners!". 27 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  63. ^ "Brit Awards 2018: The winners and nominees". BBC News. 13 January 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  64. ^ "The Kerrang! Awards 2018: "This One's For Chester…"". Kerrang. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  65. ^ "UK Music Video Awards 2018: all the winners!". 26 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
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