Royal Blood
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2. Thatcher firmly believed that the most cutting-edge modern music was emanating from the hip-hop world, and trailblazers like Drake and Daft Punk. For six months, the pair experimented with all kinds of permutations of the Royal Blood sound, to no avail. Once they came up with kickoff single“ Lights Out” – rooted in an ominous, undulating rhythm and a lightning-bright bolt of bass – they came to understand one thing – Don’ t fix it if it ain’ t broke. The songs flowed from that point on.
The group wanted to keep things as bracingly minimal as breakout singles from its debut like“ Little Monster” and“ Out of the Black.” It settled on stripped-down stompers like“ Don’ t Tell,”“ Hook Line Sinker,” and the tumbling“ Look Like You Know,” with the only anomaly being the string-bowed crescendoed closer“ Sleep.” Songs that don’ t have to be overanalyzed to be appreciated – they pretty much punch you square in the jaw.“ I think for us, we have the sound down, so we just wanted to experiment with it for a while and see what we could come up with,” Thatcher says.“ But when“ Lights Out” was done, we found the blueprint for what we wanted to do with the rest of the album. We weren’ t scared of adding new instruments or going out there a bit. But it wasn’ t until it was back to basics for Mike and I that we really thought the songs were feeling the most powerful and exciting.”
And if it sounds like key lyricist Kerr has sculpted a breakup album with the tracks“ She’ s Creeping,”“ Hole in Your Heart,” and“ I Only Lie When I Love You,” well, that could very well be the case. But
Thatcher isn’ t dropping dime.“ But we’ re both single and ready to mingle,” he’ ll allow.“ But the album is written from the last three years of ins-and-outs of love and relationships, and I don’ t think we really need to elaborate on the lyrics. There are a lot of feelings in there that a lot of people go through, and can relate to. So it’ s not about any specific person – it’ s just about the emotions.”
The rhetorical query of a title track seems like it might have been inspired by UK national nightmares like Brexit, or America’ s horrific Trump presidency.“ But it didn’ t come from any of that,” Thatcher guffaws.“ It was actually just a lyric that Mike wrote down on his iPhone, and then it became a song, then it became the album title. And that’ s as far as it goes.” But he enjoys the fact that fans are reading many more political slants into it, though.“ That’ s exactly what the song should do – it’ s posing a question, and you have to work it out for yourself.”
Thatcher isn’ t basking in Royal Blood’ s triumphs. He hasn’ t bought himself anything special with his royalties, save an occasional new pair of sneakers or a posh haircut. He’ s signed no endorsement deals, either.“ We’ re clean,” is how he puts it. How does he stay grounded as his career skyrockets?“ Well, I think we’ ve got a good crew around us that’ s very grounded themselves,” he replies.“ And we wake up in the morning and do regular things. But then we get to play a show, hopefully, at the end of the day. Then it’ s either get on the bus and go to bed, or go for a drink or two and have a little party.
“ But ultimately,” he says, in conclusion,“ I think you’ ve got to just keep it real and enjoy yourself. And as long as you’ re enjoying yourself? You’ re doing a good job.” Appearing 8 / 5 at Lollapalooza, Chicago.
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