Jul
20
10.12am

ROYAL BLOOD // Bleeding With A Grin

Royal Blood

Missed out on Royal Blood for Splendour and their Sydney show? Fear not! They’ll be returning to Aussie shores! You’ll just have to wait until April 2018.

The British rock duo will play six headline shows, with some firsts in the mix. This tour will mark their inaugural Brisbane, Perth and Auckland shows. The tour will support their massive second album How Did We Get So Dark? out now via Warner Music Australia.

As for the album, How Did We Get So Dark? came to life in Brighton, UK, Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Nashville. The album itself was recorded in November 2016 in Brussels. The pair spent six weeks with producer Jolyon Thomas, in a studio “decked out like a New York diner and featured a warehouse of antique gear.” The duo completed How Did We Get So Dark?  in a final London session with their debut album’s co-producer, Tom Dalgety.

“Can’t wait to come back over next year and do some bigger shows & get out to places we’ve never played before. We hope you’re enjoying the new album & we’re excited to play you these new songs. Hope to see you there!” the band says in a statement.

Tickets go on sale via Frontier Touring on the 2nd August. A special members’ pre-sale begins on 26th July. Click here for all details.

Read our interview with Ben Thatcher below!


Shifting from the title of ‘buzz band’ to ‘legitimate powerhouse’ is a difficult one. For Royal Blood, their self-titled debut catapulted them onto the world stage almost immediately. Grungy pubs became stadium tours, and their fans lapped up every moment of the explosive sound produced (somehow) by only two guys on stage.

Speaking to drummer Ben Thatcher about their follow-up How Did We Get So Dark?,  we find out the band had lofty plans to write the record on the road with the Foo Fighters in 2015. We could’ve had new Royal Blood so much sooner, but unsurprisingly they decided to actually live instead of putting their noses to the grindstone. “We tried to start writing it on the road from work with the Foo Fighters at the end of 2015,” says Thatcher. “Well it was proving to be quite difficult to write together because obviously we’re travelling a lot and it’s pretty exhausting when you’re travelling and playing shows. It’s hard to get the time to dedicate to writing. Especially in that moment you’re meant to be enjoying yourself with, you know, you’re on tour with the Foo Fighters. So you want to party as well.”

We love being out in Australia. It’s just a fun place. We’ve felt very welcome, when we come, ’cause, I think it’s one of the first places where the people really latched on to the music there.
[BEN]

Fans of the band know that they’re not bound to anyone but themselves. That being said, there are certain pressures with following up a record like their debut. “You realise that actually people are gonna be listening to this at some point,” says Thatcher of their mindset going into record number two. “But I think we got it out of our system quite well with: ‘Let’s just do exactly the same as we did in the first album. And let’s just write songs that we enjoy playing and we feel are good.’ And so that’s what we did. We just kept on writing until we found something that we both really enjoyed together and it’s as simple as that really with us. And we just record it.”



Oz fans should give themselves a pat on the back too; their support hasn’t gone unnoticed. Splendour In The Grass goers and Sydney are lucky to have the band in their town this month. The singer says when asked if they have more plans for Australia, “We love being out in Australia. It’s just a fun place. We’ve felt very welcome, when we come, ’cause, I think it’s one of the first places where the people really latched on to the music there.” In terms of record writing and following up with a third effort, Thatcher sums it up best describing their debut process. “We actually had a ball on the first record, you know. It was the first time we were ever in a bank together where we thought, ‘You know what? Let’s not do this for anything rather than ourselves. Let’s just enjoy this.’”

WATCH >


Catch Royal Blood at Splendour in the Grass and a special Sydney sideshow on Thursday, 20th July. 

Listen to more Royal Blood on Hysteria Radio!

ROYAL BLOOD AUSTRALIA/NZ TOUR 2018

Tue 24 April – Hordern Pavilion Sydney, NSW (AA)

Tue 1 May – Logan Campbell Centre Auckland, NZ (AA)

Thu 3 May – TSB Bank Arena Wellington, NZ (AA)

Mon 7 May – Riverstage Brisbane, QLD (AA)

Wed 9 May – Margaret Court Arena Melbourne, VIC (AA)

Sun 13 May – HBF Stadium Perth, WA (AA)



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