we’re so musically connected. We’ve done and tried so many things, so just hopping on the Royal Blood train sometimes doesn’t work.” As they were making Typhoons, Kerr and Thatcher talked a lot about what it means to be a rock band in 2021. Kerr realised that being one of the genre’s bigger contemporary bands had almost backed them into a corner.
“When we started writing this record, there were so many rules to break,” he says. “There are so many things where you think, ‘Oh no, we can’t do that,’ or, ‘These types of fans won’t like this’, and suddenly you realise how small a box rock has been pushed into or simultaneously put itself in.”
The frontman looks at other genres and thinks that they are lawless compared to rock music. When contributing to pop writing sessions in the past, he was shocked and excited by the anything-goes approach. “I was like, ‘In terms of ethos, this is the most punk rock, rock’n’roll experience I’ve had,’” he says. Kerr says Josh Homme laughs at him when he invokes the phrase “rock’n’roll”, telling him that, ‘Rock’n’roll is only something journalists and record store owners say’. “Part of the reason rock isn’t progressing,” continues Kerr, “is because it’s become a Preservation Act and people are preserving music that was made in the ’70s but failing to realise the music that was being made then was breaking rules and trying new things. We listen to quite modern music. Obviously, we love old-school rock’n’roll but we’re not drawing inspiration from that all the time. I grew up with that music when I was really young and it’s now just in my body.”
Instead of trying to channel Rage Against The Machine or AC/DC in writing new material, Kerr says he’s been trying to introduce the inventive alt-pop sheen of bands like Glass Animals into his songwriting. “And then, suddenly,” he says, “we end up with something weird and different.”
“If you don’t progress and take risks,” agrees Thatcher, “then you play it safe. And we’re not a band that wants to play anything safe.” There was a version of Typhoons that existed when the Covid-enforced lockdown swept into everyone’s lives in March, 2020. But instead of hurriedly finishing what they had, the pair used the opportunity to tweak and remould. Working from their base at Brighton studio The Retreat, extra sessions birthed the anthemic, spiky hooks of the title track.
“The song was written in lockdown,” explains Kerr. “It’s probably the fastest song I’ve ever written. What’s mad is how that song is the demo. Ben tracked all these drums and took it to another level but I didn’t re-record anything.” “Making records should be fun and inspiring,” says Ian McAndrew. “Working during a pandemic doesn’t exactly help provide those conditions but we found a great studio and engineer, which allowed the band to work alone and productively in their ‘Royal bubble’. Mike and Ben were both super-focused.” “I think we found something in ourselves,” says Thatcher of their renewed creativity. “We had a lot more direction of what we wanted to do. The key songs came once we had to stop. It was just such a pleasure to be creating again and not having a deadline because no-one knew what was going on. It was like, ‘Well, let’s just keep writing for the sake of it’. I think that’s shown with the outcome of this record.”
Whilst Kerr and Thatcher used lockdown as a positive force, they are all too aware of the threats it has brought on. The duo served their apprenticeships in formative groups in their local scenes in Worthing and Brighton, playing venues that have had their shutters down for almost a year now, some permanently. “Most of them are gone, to be honest with you,” says Thatcher grimly. “But there’s a lot in Brighton that we would go to – the Green Door Store, Hope And Ruin, the Concorde 2. They’re not in a great position right now. But there’s not a lot you can do if we can’t go there and can’t play shows.”
Kerr sees the problem as twofold. Firstly, he says there’s not a 44 | Music Week
“Part of the reason rock isn’t progressing is because it’s become a Preservation Act” MIKE KERR ROYAL BLOOD
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chance for young bands to play and then, there’s all the kids who had just formed their first band only to have it taken away. “It sucks,” says Kerr. “Playing shows is the environment you need in order to become a band. You need to suck in front of all your friends. Without that, you have no chance. Some of the best memories of my life as a musician were when I was 14, starting my first band and playing round each other’s houses and writing songs about dumb shit. You don’t realise it at the time, but that is when you are cutting your teeth and learning 10 times the amount you actually think you are.”
Royal Blood could have sat on Typhoons until they were able to play proper live shows to accompany it, but Kerr says it couldn’t wait.
“I feel so in it right now, I’m really excited about what we’ve made, I’m still listening to what we’ve made. The fans have been waiting for a long time. I would rather put this out and revive the band and be heard.”
They have already started thinking about what’s next, reveals Thatcher, with their set-up at The Retreat giving them a safe space to record and jam whenever they want. “We also want to give this record a good run,” he says.
“There’s something quite emotional about making Typhoons because I genuinely felt inspired to make more music,” adds Kerr. “The end of the second record weirdly felt like a dead end, it felt like closure. But with this one, I’m like, ‘This is no way near over’. Creatively speaking, who knows what’s going to happen?”
Phil Christie simply calls Kerr and Thatcher “a one in a million musical proposition.”
Royal Blood have put a full-stop on everything that’s gone before. Typhoons is the sound of one of rock’s most exciting bands revving up for a fascinating next chapter.
Techni-collar dream: Royal Blood and (above, left) the Typhoons artwork
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