Royal Blood“Hot and ready,” laughs Royal Blood vocalist/bassist Mike Kerr, “that's just the way we like it.” Drummer Ben Thatcher smiles in agreement. In fact, Thatcher pretty much sits back and lets Kerr do all the explaining about the Brighton-adjacent blues rock duo's swift rise in critical acclaim (they hail from seaside town Worthing, one-time home to Billy Idol).
The pair are midway through a week of PR and showcase gigs at Austin's SxSW, where they've been explaining their origin story endlessly to media. And, although Kerr has slipped into the spokesperson role, Thatcher remains attentive and happy to share a table in yet another generic hotel lobby while the Royal Blood story is spun out one more time.
“We draw our influences from kinda everything,” begins Kerr. “We've been in bands together since we were fifteen. And all the different types of bands we've been in together - and separately - almost cross over nearly every genre of music.”
Kerr admits they even dabbled in the dark art of the covers' band: “We were playing weddings to make money - I was on keyboards and we were playing Lionel Richie.”
But their one-true-love is Stateside rock'n'blues. So much so, they don't even hate it when they are compared to other hard rocking' duos The White Stripes and The Black Keys. Kerr decrees, “I love Jack White projects.” He then lists other favourites as Queens Of The Stoneage and Nirvana. Thatcher remains mute - take that as agreed, then.
Though Kerr admits he was unfaithful to his American idols in his younger days, “The English bands I liked were Led Zepplin or the Stones - it's like they were looking over at what America was doing. and, that's always what I've done.”
