Royal Blood returns to LA for Fonda show
It is hard to imagine that behind the adorable accent of Ben Thatcher is a legendary drummer and member of the rock group Royal Blood. From Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and many others, the band has been praised by the best and most iconic of the genre as the saviors of rock. With a platinum album, Royal Blood, that was released August 2014 and a future tour with Iggy Pop and Foo Fighters, those lucky enough to grab tickets to their gig at the Fonda Theatre on April 13 are sure to get a concert of their life.
Royal Blood is more than just talent and passion, though those in themselves are more than enough to make the music stand out. The uniqueness stems from the band setup. Following in the footsteps of other rock stars like The White Stripes and The Black Keys, Royal Blood is a two-piece band consisting of Mike Kerr on bass guitar and Ben Thatcher on drums. They never had any intention of being a two-piece band, but as Thatcher explains, they never had any intention of being a four-piece band either.
“We didn’t really think at all, we just knew that we wanted to write some music together and have a good time,” Thatcher said. “We just got together and started jamming and kind of started writing some songs and we were pleased with the sound of it so we didn’t add any members.”
This laid-back attitude extends beyond just how the band originated — it is apparent in all of Thatcher’s responses, and it is at the very core of their mentality in handling their success and their career.
“We write music initially because we love it and we love playing. What we think is good is good enough for us and it’s great to kind of share that with other people who think it’s great as well,” Thatcher said. “There’s so much hate for artists. If you don’t like it, it’s totally cool but we write it because we enjoy it and we share it so other people can share it as well.”
And what is good enough for Royal Blood is certainly good enough for the world, or at least that is what their sold out shows, their several festival appearances and the Best British Group award would imply. With just a bass guitar and drums, Kerr and Thatcher create powerful sounds that fill whatever space they are in. Each song is impossible to play on anything less than the maximum volume capacity to allow the intensity of the bass and the technical perfection of the drum to take over the listener’s heartbeat.
It goes beyond their technical skill — Royal Blood has found a way to perfectly combine the classics with the modern. Apart from the quality sound mixing and production, their music could be placed in any time and fit in while still sounding edgy and ahead of its time — whether it’s the 1960s, now, or in 20 years. One can only assume that their eclectic music taste and open-arm view of music helps influence such a revolutionary sound.
“We’re actually into a lot of different things. We don’t care about genre. We care about good songs and good songwriting. If you feel something from a song, an emotion, it’s good. It means something,” Thatcher said. “No matter whose singing it or what they’ve done in their personal life, that doesn’t matter. It’s all about what you feel when you hear that song.”
Though Royal Blood is being heralded as the future of rock, they won’t let that pressure them into defining their music. Thatcher made it clear that despite what people think and where they end up, their music will be what they want to create and what occurs organically between the two passionate musicians.
“I think, as a band, we’re always going to push ourselves and push each other musically to do things we’re not used to,” Thatcher said. “We’re gonna keep on going. We feel like we’ve started to write some good new songs for the record and we’re really excited about putting them into recording and seeing how that all turns out I guess.”
Thatcher said the group has many varied influences for live performances.
“We’re influenced by many different things from the old and new rock bands,” Thatcher said. “But lots of different performances but we kind of go and do our own version of that and basically our show is all about having a good time and giving the audience what they can take away with them and having a lot of fun and loud and good.”
With regard to their upcoming L.A. performance, Thatcher said he fell in love with the venue and had fun during their previous two L.A. performances.
“The L.A. crowd is very exciting and we love playing here,” Thatcher said. “It’s gonna be a good time and we’re absolutely looking forward to it.”
Los Angeles, give a warm welcome back to Royal Blood. The band is not just taking rock by storm, but the whole music industry. Don’t let the joyful demeanor and blush-worthy accent mislead; these two mean business with their music.