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Royal Blood launch new album with 5k Brighton run

James Dunnin Brighton
Instagram@Directedbymad Two men with short dark hair and dark stubble are in a venue, with people behind them. The man on the left is wearing a dark top, the man on the right is wearing a black shirt, black cap, and is pointing a tattooed hand at the cameraInstagram@Directedbymad
Royal Blood's Mike Kerr (left) and Ben Thatcher launched their new album Dead Company with a 5km run

Sussex band Royal Blood have launched their new album with a 5km run through the streets of Brighton.

Singer and guitarist Mike Kerr gave up drugs and alcohol in 2019, and described the challenge of running as "a part of that journey" to stay sober.

He said running had been a large part of the song-writing process on the new album, Dead Company.

"We were writing these really heavy, full-on songs and I was going out and training but then I was also bringing this refreshed energy from running into the writing sessions," Kerr said.

Instagram@directedbymad A man with short dark hair, and dark stubble, is wearing a black running top and standing outside a graffitied lock-up door, with his arms foldedInstagram@directedbymad
Mike Kerr says running and fitness have helped him stay sober after giving up drugs and alcohol in 2019

The band are from the Worthing area and released their first single in 2013, going on to support The Arctic Monkeys, play Glastonbury and launch their debut album Royal Blood the following year.

In 2015, they supported Foo Fighters and won the Brit Award for Best British Group, a rapid rise that Kerr said had contributed to his drug and alcohol abuse.

"I had basically a seven-year stag do and even if I wanted to carry on part of me was tapped out of the whole thing and there was a desire in me for a new experience," he told the BBC in 2022.

At the launch on Tuesday, he said: "I had time and energy on my hands for the first time in a long time, and I really like challenges so for me running ticks a lot of boxes."

Instagram@directedbymad The pair say the writing process for their fifth album has involved staying closer to home, playing at their Brighton studio and focusing on their friendshipInstagram@directedbymad
The pair say the writing process for their fifth album has involved staying closer to home, playing at their Brighton studio and focusing on their friendship

Speaking about Kerr's training, bandmate Ben Thatcher joked: "Luckily Mike makes plenty of time for me and keeps his runs to around 10km.

"Although he did train for a half-Iron Man, and that was a gruelling time for both of us, especially me."

The duo joined club Run the Lanes in Brighton for a launch party that finished in a nearby pub where the album was played for runners, days before the actual release on Friday.

The run started at the FMG project, a charity that helps disadvantaged young people aged 14-18 through exercise in the Brighton and Hove area.

Alice Fontecilla, community lead at the FMG project, with exercise equipment in the background
Alice Fontecilla, community lead at the FMG project

Alice Fontecilla, FMG community lead, said: "Whether they've been kicked out of home, school, they come here and we put them through a 10-week movement and mindset programme and I think it's quite life-changing for them."

Royal Blood described their fifth studio album as a "return to form, to how we started".

Kerr said: "One of the things that felt reminiscent of how we started was how we wrote the record - being in our studio, playing live, playing together and placing more attention on the chemistry we have."

Thatcher added: "I think our friendship comes first, before the band, we check in on each other, and I think that reflects in our music, how we tour, and it all comes together in that way."

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