ROYAL BLOOD

As architect of Royal Blood’s wall of noise and mighty riffs, Mike Kerr is a bassist inspired by the great guitarists. But the set-up of his rig has remained a closely guarded secret – until now. “This is a worldwide exclusive!” he tells TG as he reveals all about his gear – from signal-splitter to a bespoke baritone guitar that plays “like a giant bagpipe!”

- Amit Sharma

Taking his cues from guitar giants such as Jimmy Page and Josh Homme, Royal Blood bassist/vocalist Mike Kerr has created some of the greatest riffs of modern times. Better still, he knows how to deliver them, using a signal splitter to route through different amps and effects, filling out the spectrum in a contrast of layers, effectively doubling up on guitar, while the other half of Royal Blood, Ben Thatcher, pounds away on the drums.

The duo’s wall of noise has made them one of the biggest British rock acts to emerge over the last decade, and ever since their self-titled debut album was released in 2014, Kerr has refused to reveal the specifics of his rig. Many interviewers have tried and failed, met with stone-cold answers: “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you!” Or more direct refusals: “I don’t talk about my pedals... Ever.”

But now – with new album Typhoons just released – he opens up to TG in what turns out to be, by his own admission, the most revelatory discussion on his signal-splitting methods to date. “I’ve never disclosed any of this information before,” he says.

The new album’s first single, Trouble’s Coming, has more of an electro groove than your previous work – almost closer to bands like Justice and Daft Punk at points...

I think the initial riff came to me on a synth, with that envelope filter kind of sound on this tiny little keyboard, which we put over a simple beat at the time. When I played it on bass, I realised that it translated well and it got us thinking about this style of playing. It just made complete sense at the time.

The main riff sounds simple, but there’s actually quite a few pushes and pulls in there.