More about: Royal Blood

Royal Blood are a band built on the foundations of bass and drum-driven hard rock music. From their snarling self-titled debut album to ferocious second record release How Did We Get So Dark?. This Brighton based duo displayed promising signs as one of the best British bands to successfully straddle the alternative rock scene and the popular music mainstream in the 2010’s, with their big, bold and bombastic blend of heavily distorted riffs and pounding percussion.

Arriving seven years after their debut, third album Typhoons turns down the bluesy garage-rock fuelled noise two notches and polishes up the dance floor and disco ball for something a little more grove laden and super shiny. 

Now as the alt rock outfit are about to perform at their biggest headline show to date at The O2 Arena on their UK tour, we are looking back at some of the more underrated cuts that lay beneath the surface of some of the bands biggest bangers.

‘You Want Me’

Acting as a B-Side to their single ’Come On Over’, ‘You Want Me’ puts a funky punk spin on noisy garage rock from the early days of Royal Blood. Mike Kerr’s recognisable heavy sounding bass riffs and Ben Thatcher’s booming drum beats make for a massively memorable jam, with an equal mass appeal to rival that of its A-Side counterpart ‘Out Of The Black’.     

‘Love and Leave It Alone’

Serving as the B-Side to the bands smash hit ‘Figure It Out’, ‘Love and Leave It Alone’ is a supercharged slice of hard rock. “So love and leave it alone/You know why and I knew the second when/I've heard you're quite like a stone/I've grown tired and I'm losing you again” croons Kerr in the killer chorus, his vocals swaying in and out of attitude and smoothness throughout the song. Up against Royal Blood’s biggest hit, ‘Love and Leave It Alone’ holds its own as a song that should have made it onto the self-titled album.  

‘Hole’

Perhaps the best B-Side in Royal Blood’s string of the single offcuts, ‘Hole’ features on the flip-side to 2014’s ‘Little Monster’, a gargantuan-sized song that broke the band out across Europe and the rest of the world. ‘Hole’, however, turbo blasts the early bluesy rock sound the band went for, with huge volumes and sublime vocals making massive waves throughout the ear deafening track. A B-Side not to be skipped in the slightest.  

‘One Trick Pony’

One final B-Side for the road, and on the flip side to the brutal whirs of ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’, ‘One Trick Pony’ is anything but a one trick kind of tune. The warming up and tuning of the bass guitar starts the song, before the colossal combination of Mike’s bass guitar and Ben’s drums burst into the song like a bulldozer out for full destruction. “I just can’t love you like I used to” rings out Kerr’s vocals, as an entirely electrifying bass riff in the bridge batters its way between Kerr’s vocals emulating the high pitched riff of his bass that screeches throughout. 

‘Blood Hands’

Bursting onto the rock scene back in 2014, the punchy and powerful force of a sound this Brighton duo make with just a bass and a drum kit can be found on the Brighton duo’s debut self-titled studio album. Song ‘Blood Hands’ lies beneath the album's big singles including ‘Out Of The Black’, ‘Little Monster’, ‘Come On Over’ and ‘Figure It Out’ with a more subdued tempo than its counterparts, but it's slower speed allies each bass riff and drum beat to elongate in the punch they deliver.  

‘You Can Be So Cruel’

You’ve probably heard the opening bass riff of ‘You Can Be So Cruel’ plastered across British mainstream TV shows circa 2014, yet the song still remains in the shadows of its singles. But not anymore. Mike Kerr’s simply sublime vocals that croon ‘Cruel’ throughout its chorus and Ben Thatcher’s crashing percussion that clammer in coalition with Kerr’s circling riff to create a super cool Queens Of The Stone Age inspired tune.  

‘Sleep’

Following up on a colossal first album didn't prove to be a hard task for this rock duo. Royal Blood’s sophomore album ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’ is a ten track album full of monstrous riffs and bombastic drums that maintain the intensity of the debut but maybe lacked a little creative difference. If one thing, at least its consistent. Amongst singles such as ‘Lights Out’, ‘I Only Lie When I Love You’, ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’ and ‘Hole In Your Heart’, closer and deep cut ‘Sleep’ sees Royal Blood climax with a four-minute slow burning belter that swaggers with pure loud confidence and lyrics that let the love jealous mind wander to dark thoughts as a result of a troubled relationship, one that is hitting the rocks hard: “I just can’t help myself/Thinking you’re with someone else/Sick to the bone/I don’t wanna sleep” sings Kerr in its killer chorus. 

‘She’s Creeping’ 

Remaining in the dingy depths of Kerr’s romance-filled issues, ‘She’s Creeping’ details Kerr’s obsessive infatuated state further. “I’ve stopped listening/I’m just waiting for an answer to a question that I already know/I’ll let you down/Words are so cheap/But lately I’ve been feeling like I’m always living in your shadow” Kerr sings, his voice filled with clear jealousy and uncontrollable obsession as his bass whirrs seductively and Ben’s drums plod on by in style in the background. Try and dig your way out of the infectious harmonies, killer bass sounds and romantic lyrics that How Did We Get So Dark? exude because you won't be able to escape their allure.   

‘King’

Now this is what you call a Royal Blood rarity. Released on the deluxe US version of the bands third LP and most recent record Typhoons and a track road tested alongside the renowned ‘Boilermaker’, the second song mentioned getting features on Royal Blood's third full-length. Unlike the first, ‘King’ combined the sultry swagger of Kerr’s bass and audacious attitude drive vocals that crave to “have it all if I could be a king”. An underrated and understated B-Side that should have had its glory on the main record, ‘King’—whilst it didn't fit into the groove of the colourful dance and disco tinged direction of Typhoons—is killer. 

‘Million And One’ 

A sonically expansive album that sees in colour for the very first time outside of the monochrome world Royal Blood have been in for their first two albums, 2021’s Typhoons is the ultimate collection of dance rock bangers to fill your Friday night hitting the town playlist. Whilst some songs lack a little less sparkle than others, namely ‘Who Needs Friends’, ‘Either You Want It’ and brave piano ballad closer ‘All We Have Is Now’, the album bursts to the brim with colour, more groove ridden bass and drums than ever before and lyrics that will be forever ingrained as some of the bands most personal to date.

‘Million And One’ encapsulated the essence of Typhoons to a t, its scuzzy bass, danceable drums and glowing atmosphere emitting a vibe that will make you want to get up on the dancefloor and dance like nobody's watching. 

‘Mad Visions’

...likewise, ‘Mad Visions’ has a super sleek and almost sultry appeal to its sound. The song starts out with a deeply distorted bass riff and a steady drum beat in the background that veer their way noisily through the verses, before reaching its chorus that builds with harmonic backing vocals and euphoric keys. Its post-chorus and bridge sections however are the pinnacle of this disco dance tune. If you’ve ever witnessed Royal Blood live before, you know that Mike Kerr does this real passionate head bopping routine to his killer bass riffs: well, 'Mad Visions' will make you do this unknowingly and uncontrollably in its post-chorus instrumental.

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More about: Royal Blood