Royal Blood at The Stage AE

Royal Blood are an English rock duo formed in Brighton in 2011, consisting of Mike Kerr on vocals, keyboard, piano and bass guitar, and Ben Thatcher on drums. They are winners of two NME Awards, a Brit Award, a Kerrang! Award, a Q Award and two GMA Awards! With two albums, Royal Blood and How Did We Get So Dark? Debuting at number One in the UK on its launch, which they are touring with now and an as yet to be named third album is reportedly in the works.

“Combining crushing drums and Kerr's hybrid bass setup — which is ingeniously split through both a bass amp and a guitar amp, with pitch-shifters, modulation, and heavy distortion bolstering the rugged sound — the duo draws immediate comparisons to luminaries the White Stripes, with "Loose Change" bearing significant familiarity, while there are nods at various times to Muse and Two Gallants as Royal Blood pummel their way through "Figure It Out." When Kerr and Thatcher aren't pounding their instruments hard, the limitations to their sparse setup does leave songs feeling a little flat, with "You Can Be So Cruel" and "Ten Tonne Skeleton" suffering slightly to fill the dynamics, but at the same time strains of early Queens of the Stone Age creep into the rolling guitar riffs and Kerr's voice is stretched to its limits. However, it's not all guitars and drums, and singles "Little Monster" and "Come on Over" illustrate their aptitude for well-crafted structures and melodies, and the moody delivery of Kerr's wholehearted vocals is prominent in the radio-friendly mix.” – Scott Kerr, AllMusic.com