UK rock heroes Royal Blood have touched down in the country for their upcoming headline tour and Groovin The Moo festival appearances, spending their first day here in true Aussie style.
“It’s already been a hoot,” drummer Ben Thatcher says.
“We went for a lovely breakfast, walked around Bondi Beach, which was lovely and then we just got really drunk.” Strewth! It’s like looking in a bloody mirror.
Royal Blood, the explosive duo of Ben and guitarist/ vocalist Mike Kerr, return to Australia on the back of their 2017 sophomore album ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’, which has so far produced rock radio gold such as ‘I Only Lie When I Love You’.
The band will be doing their own headline shows as well as playing as part of the Groovin The Moo touring line-up.
It’ll be their first time at GTM and Ben says he and Mike are eager to hit the stages “We’re really excited to be able to tour Australia again with this production and this new album,” he says.
“We’ve only done Splendour [In The Grass] here, on the second album, so it’s going to be a lot of fun playing the new songs and just putting on a great show hopefully and having a good, old party with everyone here.”
With Royal Blood having played a series of festival and support slots recently, Ben says for the Australian shows he and Mike will be focussing on playing high-energy, hit-packed rock shows. “We’ll be doing stuff from both albums,” he assures us.
“We have not played any headline shows for quite a while now. We’ve been on tour with Queens Of The Stone Age, doing a lot of that stuff and playing a few festival bits so we’re really excited about playing longer sets and putting on a show over here.
“We’re probably going to work on some covers maybe and some B-sides but otherwise we’re not going to be playing anything people haven’t heard, I don’t think.”
Royal Blood released their self-titled debut album in 2014 and quickly established themselves with an ear-blistering rock sound that dwarfs bands twice their size in membership.
Click here to read our July 2017 interview with Royal Blood.
Ben says that after releasing two albums and conquering international charts, endless live shows and the hearts and minds of their followers, he and Mike have minted a sound uniquely theirs and the fact they’re only two people has become moot.
“It’s a thing that we don’t really think about too much anymore because we have such a sound together and one that we created that sounds like Royal Blood. Other than that we’re really focussing on writing songs now and trying to think differently about the music.
“We just like doing whatever feels good for us, what feels exciting and enjoyable. We’re in no rush; we’re just really enjoying playing music at the moment and just can’t wait to do this tour really.”
Royal Blood Tour Dates
Tue 24 Apr - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney)Fri 27 Apr - Groovin The Moo (Adelaide)
Sat 28 Apr - Groovin The Moo (Maitland)
Sun 29 Apr - Groovin The Moo (Canberra)
Sat 5 May - Groovin The Moo (Bendigo)
Sun 6 May - Groovin The Moo (Townsville)
Mon 7 May - The Riverstage (Brisbane)
Wed 9 May - Margaret Court Arena (Melbourne)
Sat 12 May - Groovin The Moo (Bunbury)
Sun 13 May - HBF Stadium (Perth)
