U.K. duo Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher -- Royal Blood -- join host Brad Steiner today for an Audacy Check In at the Hard Rock Hotel New York to touch base while on the road in support of their 2023 album, Back To The Water Below.
LISTEN NOW: Audacy Check In with Royal Blood
On shelves and streaming services now, Royal Blood's 2023 release Back To The Water Below marks the band's fourth studio album, featuring the lead single, "Mountains at Midnight."
Just off the first leg of their North American jaunt with special guests Bad Nerves and Hot Wax, tickets for the duo's upcoming second leg shows are on sale now. Off to the U.K. and Ireland this month, they'll be back before you know it at the beginning of November starting with Los Angeles on the 9th.
Spending so much time on the road, picking a setlist for their rabid fans has come rather easy for the duo in the past. "Up until recently, there's always been obvious songs we should include," Mike Kerr explains. "But I think with this new record it's been quite noticeable for us and the fans that a lot of these songs really feel good live. Only recently have we started checking in with the fans, like 'Hey, are we playing what you wanna hear?'"
"Because we also don't want to play for hours on end," he adds, "there's only a certain point where it's not getting any better," he laughs. "The style of our music is quite aggressive and quite loud."
"That's always been a part of what we do when we're making records, but more so on this one," Kerr admits. "I think it was a response to the last album we made, which was very much a studio record and was made in lockdowns and COVID and all that. That record, we didn't know if we were going to play live again at that time. That very much still feels like a studio record, although there's songs from it which live in our live shows pretty comfortably. This album we would sort of check that they felt good live... make sure everything felt natural and fun."
"It's been a long journey for us -- I think the thing that we feel we've grown the most in it is our live show," Mike says. "That's the DNA of the band, that's the reason we do this, really."
628 shows in total (at the time of this interview), drummer Ben Thatcher reveals the duo has performed since their inception -- a tally he's been keeping on a spreadsheet but has obviously committed to memory. Ben started keeping count he says because he could never remember if he had played venues before. "We play so many shows... Like, I didn't even remember we played two nights at Brooklyn Steel in 2018," he admits. Walking back into the venue on their latest visit, he says he thought he had never been there before. "It's nice just to remind myself," he says, "and in doing that you do remember the shows and those experiences."
One of the duo's fondest New York memories was when Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page showed up at one of their gigs. "That was very early on, we had just got going," Mike remembers. "We had just started playing shows in the U.S. at that time." Speaking with him after the show, Mike says getting the stamp of approval from Page "was like getting knighted... I was like, 'I don't need any kind of award anymore.'"
Check out the full Audacy Check In with Royal Blood above, and stay tuned for even more conversations with your favorite stars and artists on Audacy.com/Live.
Take a look at Royal Blood's current tour itinerary below and grab your tickets HERE.
Royal Blood 2023 UK/Ireland Tour Dates:
10/20 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo
10/22 – Stockton, UK @ Globe
10/24 – London Eventim, UK @ Apollo
10/25 – Liverpool, UK @ Mountford Hall
10/26 – Wolverhampton, UK @ Hall
10/27 – Portsmouth, UK @ Guildhall
10/29 – Belfast, IE @ Telegraph Building
10/30 – Dublin, IE @ 3Olympia Theatre
Royal Blood 2023 North American Tour Dates:
11/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
11/10 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
11/11 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
11/13 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
11/14 – Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
11/15 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
11/17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Union Event Center
11/18 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
11/20 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
11/21 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
11/22 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
11/25 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
11/26 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
11/27 – San Diego, CA @ The Sound
Listen to Rockternative and more on the free Audacy app