Ben Thatcher — who recently picked up the hobby of birdwatching — won’t be doing a lot of looking up toward the sky when he’s in St. Petersburg. As a matter of fact, the drummer for red-hot UK hard-rock duo Royal Blood and his bandmate, bassist Mike Kerr, who injured his foot at Boston Calling two weeks ago, will be trying to recover from the bumps and bruises that come with hitting the road as hard as they do.
“We are trying to take it easy and make the rest of the shows go smoothly,” Thatcher wrote in an email to CL in advance of the band’s June 12 show at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg.
The boys — who are obviously at a crossroads in their duo-dom — will have a little help on the St. Pete show. Another UK outfit, psych-tronic rock band Turbowolf, is opening the show, and Royal Blood’s set features two backup singers which have enabled the band to play songs from its bruising sophomore album, How Did We Get So Dark?
“Having Mel & Abbie with us just gives us a confidence and freedom to really do the tracks justice from the 2nd record,” Thatcher added. “We’ve integrated them into a couple of tracks from the first record which has given a bit of a fresh lease of life.”
A third album is in the early stages of its new life, too, and Thatcher expects that he and Kerr will head back to the rehearsal room after taking some time off when this tour wraps on June 16.
“[The follow-up to Dark] is in its early days, in the incubator I’d say,” he said.
Read the rest of CL’s Q&A with Thatcher, listen to more Royal Blood and get info on the show below.
So we’re advancing the St. Petersburg, Florida show — I know you boys like the sun, but is Ben doing much birdwatching on tour?
No birdwatching so far — it’s been a busy run, unfortunately Mike had injured his foot and now he’s got laryngitis, so we are trying to take it easy and make the rest of the shows go smoothly!
Entering the cycle for How Did We Get So Dark?, you guys were riding high on all the new attention the band was getting — have you gotten used to it yet?
Not really, it’s not a good thing to get used to I don’t think. It’s still mad to us to be able to tour the world and land in different countries and there be some party there waiting for us.
How adjusted have you grown to the backup singers — could you talk about your touring set-up and how it frees you up onstage?
Having Mel & Abbie with us has enabled us to play a lot of the tracks off the new record, it just gives us a confidence and freedom to really do the tracks justice from the 2nd record. We’ve integrated them into a couple of tracks from the first record which has given a bit of a fresh lease of life.
That said, you always want to make sure that your records represent (1) the best version of yourselves and (2) an evolved version of the band. How is the follow-up to How Did We Get So Dark? coming?
It’s early days, in the incubator I’d say. We finish this run on 16th June and we’ll take some time off before heading back to the rehearsal room, but it’s exciting, as always.
You guys have always been very eclectic/dynamic in your music tastes — what else has been influencing you or giving you an itch to create recently?
Hmm I’ve listened to Gaz Coombes' new record which is great. We had Psychedelic Porn Crumpets out with us in Australia, they’re a great new act.
Your show is gaining more traction with mainstream audiences, meaning your audiences are starting to mix. Do you ever notice some of the more aggressive, more hardcore or hard rock crowds mixing it up with some more reserved, casual rock fans? Like when someone unknowingly finds themselves on the outskirts of or inside of a pit?
I think we have an eclectic audience, more so in America I’d say. Which is really encouraging, it’s nice to see young faces, old faces getting involved and enjoying the show however they see fit, whether that be in the mosh pit or not.
You’ve been against encores in the past. Have you had to start doing them on this tour?
We actually have been doing a couple of songs, it sort of just came about, now we have a few more songs!
You’ve been on epic tours with QOTSA and Foo Fighters — do you ever feel like you have to pay that forward, like on this tour with Turbowolf?
We’d love to y’know, but we just love having them out with us. We learnt so much from QOTSA & FF, I would say we’re not even close to their level yet, but if people pick anything up from us then great!
