Royal Blood, courtesy.

Royal Blood drummer Ben Thatcher didn’t expect to already be back at his Brighton home not long into the band’s return to touring in the U.K.

“The weather here has been four seasons in a day. We’ve had snow, rain, clouds, and now sun,” Thatcher said, laughing.

Although the setback was just momentary—Thatcher and singer-bassist Mike Kerr had to reschedule some shows due to positive COVID-19 tests—it’s a part of the new reality for musicians.

“We built the band to play live, so getting back to our natural habitat was nice and a good feeling,” Thatcher said. “It wasn’t the easiest start; we’re just reminded that the world still isn’t quite right.” Thatcher said he was frustrated by the uneven start but ultimately relieved that the Royal Blood team was able to reschedule just about all of the shows.

For several years, Royal Blood has delivered electric performances that have captured an audience across the globe. Now Thatcher and Kerr are both touring 2021 album Typhoons and working in their follow-up album. They released a new single, the first song from that next album, just before getting back on the road.

“We wrote it, recorded it, and did a video in such a short time,” Thatcher said. “It was kind of how we used to do things. Normally, we’d be writing for an album campaign and the songs would be years old, but this one is fresh and it felt right to put it out right away.”

The pandemic didn’t really change the way the band recorded, he said, because it was always a varied process to begin with.

“Some time we hit the studio with four songs, sometimes with one, and all the songs come from different places, so we haven’t found one method that we stick to,” he said.

While Typhoons is a year old, it’s not only fans who haven’t yet experienced it live; Royal Blood hasn’t, either. This meant the duo had to re-arrange the songs to play them live.

“We always have writing on our mind, but it’s very hard to do that when we’re on the road, as we like to live in the now,” Thatcher said.

By living in the now, Thatcher wants to enjoy bringing Typhoons to life while, at the same time, diving further into the next record. Does “Honeybrains” provide a glimpse of what that might sound like? Not so fast, Thatcher said.

“It’s anything goes up until the moment we feel like we’ve captured something brilliant and then roll with that,” he said. “Then, everything else kind of fits in from there.”

While Royal Blood has established itself as a force in modern rock, Thatcher acknowledges it’s still a big deal to play in the United States, where the band will arrive following the U.K. tour. He and Kerr haven’t toured the U.S. tour in years, and he said that he can’t even remember what it’s like to do so. The band has opened for Queens of the Stone Age and the Foo Fighters here.

The Foo Fighters shows in particular stand out for Thatcher, who was a friend of the late Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins. He said he grew up  listening to Hawkins with Alanis Morissette and then the Foo Fighters. Thatcher dedicates a drum solo to him at each show on their current tour, with images of Hawkins projected.

“I watched him every single night, we hung out loads,” he said. “His legacy behind the drum kit is so great and inspiring; he means the world to not only me but so many drummers out there.”

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.