British rock duo Royal Blood have surprised fans with the release of a new single, Honeybrains.
The song revolves around an angular and convincingly guitar-like lick from bassist and frontman Mike Kerr and, compared to their stomping past sound, feels like it plants a foot in garage-rock territory.
The surprise release is therefore in keeping with the off-the-cuff feel of the track and the sentiments of a band who are clearly itching to get out on the road.
“Instead of sitting on new music, waiting for it to grow old,” say Royal Blood. “We thought it’d be fun to let you in on what we’ve been working on over the past few weeks before we head out on our biggest tour so far! It’s as new to us as it is to you. Crank it x”.
On that note, Royal Blood have a huge list of dates scheduled between now and the end of July, taking in a run of European appearances, an extensive UK tour and 27 shows across the US and Canada.
Honeybrains follows just 11 months after the release of the Royal Blood’s third album Typhoons. Back in 2021, around the release of that record, Mike Kerr shared some of his previously closely-guarded gear and writing secrets with our sister mag Total Guitar.
“It’s all about understanding space, more than anything,” he said of his approach to writing for Royal Blood. “Being a two or three-piece, your immediate insecurity will be about filling space and sounding as big as possible. You might think the way to do that is to have all of you playing all the time and filling every part of the spectrum. Whereas it’s actually the opposite.”
Play Honeybrains on the service of your choice (opens in new tab), or head to Royal Blood’s official site (opens in new tab) for tickets and tour info.
