There was a moment where I was tuning, or doing something, and Ben was rehearsing it on his own. The beat was an alternate beat to ‘Loose Change’. We were actually in the middle of writing ‘Loose Change’ when we wrote it. I was thinking of ‘Killing in the Name’-if that’s your opening statement, it’s just so bold. Mike Kerr: “It seemed like the ultimate entrance. Kerr and Thatcher guide us through it, track by track. Royal Blood’s debut heralded the arrival of a brilliant rock talent.

Jimmy Page, Muse and Metallica were among those who turned up to witness Royal Blood’s blistering live show in those early days, performances that prompted Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello to tweet, “I’ve seen the future of riff rock and its name is #RoyalBlood.” “It made us realise how small the rock community had become, because it meant that we were flying a flag for something that wasn’t really being represented either very well or by anyone that has actually had success,” says Kerr. It was a surreal period for Kerr and Thatcher, who knew their music was connecting on a huge scale-not just because of lofty chart positions and a rapidly growing diehard fanbase, but also because of the rock icons watching on from the crowd. “I was just like, ‘Oh my god, this sounds so good.’” It was a sentiment shared across the globe over the next year and a half as the pair’s blend of heavy riffs, bluesy licks, pummelling drums and anthemic choruses earned their 2014 debut a Mercury nomination and made it one of the biggest British rock albums of the decade. “From the first note, it was just like this energy exploded in the room,” Kerr tells Apple Music. “How can we be this loud with just bass and drums?” they wondered. The first time that Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher played in a room together as Royal Blood, the noise they created was so ferocious that it made frontman Kerr burst out laughing in astonishment.

Royal blood music on utube