Back To The Water Below Royal Blood

• 1 Mountains At Midnight 03:06
• 2 Shiner In The Dark 03:27
• 3 Pull Me Through 03:08
• 4 The Firing Line 03:22
• 5 Tell Me When It’s Too Late 02:44
• 6 Triggers 02:55
• 7 How Many More Times 03:11
• 8 High Waters 02:45
• 9 There Goes My Cool 02:56
• 10 Waves 03:48
• Total Runtime 31:22

Info for Back To The Water Below

From the very beginning, Royal Blood’s story has been one of two life-long friends whose shared passion and dedication for writing and performing has led them on a remarkable adventure together – a story that has yet to be repeated, and is a feat as rare as it is remarkable. Long before Royal Blood were even formed, they spent years together in various bands playing to half empty bars around Brighton - and only then did they suddenly become a decade-in-the-making overnight success story. One day they were plotting how to recoup the meagre £300 they had spent on their first recording, but within a year they were at the top of UK album charts, storming Glastonbury and winning the BRIT Award for Best British Group.

Speaking about the album Ben Thatcher says, “I think this record was about letting the ideas take us where they needed to go. If there was a song that was calling us to do something that wasn’t typically what we’re known for, that’s where we’re going to go. The songs are in charge and if that means having a record that’s quite varied that’s what we’re going to go for, rather than trying to shoehorn everything into the same world. As a result, we’ve made a record that’s a bit of a rollercoaster. It’s everything we could do.”

Mike Kerr adds, “No-one saw the years of us playing in loads of bands to no-one, that all gets swept under the carpet because the other story is magical and much more wondrous. Luck is where passion meets opportunity. We got our golden ticket and walked out as tiny ninjas. We were in the right place at the right time, and we have to remember to give ourselves the credit that we didn’t get into this position by winning a quiz show, we put in a serious amount of work. It’s taken us four albums to realise this isn’t luck, we’re good and we’re committed to this.”

Mike Kerr, vocals, backing vocals, bass, production (all tracks); synthesizer (tracks 2, 5–7), piano (3, 4, 7, 9, 10), keyboards (8), guitar (10)
Ben Thatcher, drums, percussion, production
Guest musicians:
Tom Hobden, viola, violin (10)
Ian Burdge, cello (10)

Royal Blood
Brighton duo Royal Blood channeled the blues-rock dynamism of the likes of the White Stripes, the Black Keys, and Two Gallants, yet they amped up the ferocity and volume with scuzzy riffs and blustering energy. Comprising drummer Ben Thatcher and bassist/vocalist Mike Kerr, the two-piece formed at the beginning of 2013 when Kerr returned from a trip to Australia and Thatcher picked him up from the airport.

They managed to play their first show the very next day and continued to write new material throughout the year. Although constrained to just two instruments, they made their presence known with pounding drums and heavily distorted bass guitar that drove the melodic intensity of their songs, alongside Kerr's emotive vocals. They were championed by the BBC on their Sound of 2014 list, as well as Arctic Monkeys' Matt Helders, who wore their T-shirt during their headlining 2013 Glastonbury performance and invited them to open their huge Finsbury Park shows.

The duo then released the single "Out of the Black" and signed to Warner Bros. later that year. A second single, "Little Monster," appeared in February of 2014, while a four-song EP, Out of the Black, came a month later in March, collecting the A- and B-sides of the two singles. Their debut self-titled full length was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and was released later that year.

This album contains no booklet.