The Downbeat - Ben Thatcher (Royal Blood)
Episode Date: August 12, 2024My guest on the podcast this week is Ben Thatcher, one half of ROCK GODS Royal Blood. We talk about his band of course but also about the time he nearly blinded Taylor Swift and drew a portrait of Kan...ye West - on the same day.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello, is it me you're looking for?
If you're listening to this on Spotify,
you probably thought you've accidentally gone on to the page of,
what was his name?
Can't even remember his name.
Lionel Richie, got it.
You haven't.
It's the Downbeat Podcast.
You're listening to the Downweek Podcast.
Or if we're on YouTube, you're watching the Downbeat Podcast.
Ooh, a return to the unhinged intros.
Why, you might ask?
Well, this is an emergency intro recording because I had a guest cancel their episode,
and I've just got to go quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.
My guest on the podcast this week is Ben Thatcher,
drummer and one out of two members of the band Royal Blood.
He's an unbelievable drummer.
He's a great guy.
I caught up with him before their show at the Glasgow Academy,
which was ripping.
We had mutual friends, we became friends,
hung out of him a bunch of times.
We get a little bit boozy, it's a bit boozy,
it's a bit of a boozy one.
I hate to tell you if you don't like boozing.
We were boozing.
Can't remember what we talked about.
It's pretty good, though.
I remember at the end going, yeah, that was good.
So enjoy that.
Before we get started, I want you to know we have a Patreon,
patreon. patreon.com, forward slash, the Downbeat.
On it, you get these sweet little episodes.
You get them early.
You get them ad-free.
You can get early access to merch.
I'm wearing brand-new merch right now, which is out right now.
Patreon.com forward slash the Downbeat helps me go on trips.
It helps me just make the podcast as good as it can be.
We've also got merch.
www.
the downb-e-e dot a-t so it spells downbeat we got sweet new stuff we got cool hoodies we got new
basketball jerseys we got tie-dye got loads of stuff www www the downbbee dot a t as ever this
episode of the podcast is brought to you by the wonderful glorious people at display display
display make metal posters they are designed to make your scabby walls look great have you
got holes in your walls have you got stains on your walls have you got walls that have no tensile
strength, you can't put anything on them. Well, guess what? Displates mount on the wall with a magnet
and there's no drilling. If your walls are made of tablet, right, that is a Scottish type of fudge,
very crumbly. If you live in a tablet house, let's say you're from Scotland and you live in a
tablet house, a house made of tablet, you could probably, I imagine, just apply the protective leaf
followed by the magnet, followed by a display that could be anything. It could be a sports team. It could be a
movie. It could be the downbeat. It could be a band like Gojira. And you could just pop it on that little
tablet house and continue whatever
whimsical little fairy tale life
that you have. Listeners of the
Downbeat podcast can get 22%
off 1 to 2 displays or 33%
off 3 or more by going to
Display.com forward slash the downbeat
and using the code downbeat
check it out.
Oh, at last. He's fine. Look at him
straight to the drink. Come on.
Ben, sitting in front of me. Ben Thatcher.
Cheers. Hello. Cheers.
Simon, this is a Bluetooth. Cheers.
Come on, Simon. Simon's first
margarita.
Tom has never had a margarita in his life before.
Very good.
Thoughts?
Are you okay with that?
Yeah, it's really good.
I'd give that a nine out of ten.
Nine is good,
thank you.
You are a connoisseur.
Could have had half salt rim.
Maybe the glass could have been colder.
Well, you were late.
Yeah, I was late.
I was late.
And it has been sitting here.
Yeah.
Only have you been adjusting all these.
Oh, so that's one of all, actually.
So, okay, it's still a nine.
Still a fucking nine.
Still a nine.
Had to use brown sugar.
Heroin.
Yeah, which is,
It gives it not a greatest look, but it does, I like the taste of a brown sugar.
Did you put syrup in it?
No, just brown sugar, homemade.
Lovely.
The issue with Simon having never done it, you can't give it a real rating.
Simon, just rate it out of just drinks.
See, I'm not a big alcohol, guys, so you can, you said there's a lot in, I can barely taste it.
So I'm going to say, like, a good nine as well.
Is it like a...
But I don't know what a 10 is.
Like a phanta lemon would be like a 7.
What's your number 10?
What's a 10 out of 10 drink for you, just all drinks?
It has to be a nice cold beer.
I've got cold beers as well.
On a summer's day.
What's your brand?
Actually, now I've thought about the summer, winter, a Guinness.
It's a Guinness.
Oh, Guinness and Winner.
That's a hard 10.
Yeah, in an old Irish pub.
Like, he really smells like wood and leather.
Fire on.
Big fan of that.
Yeah.
Making me miss winter and we're not even in the fucking summer.
Drinks are seasonal, aren't they?
Diamond, what's your number one drink as?
in a drink that you would give a 10, alcoholic or non-alcoholic?
I'm a fucking nightmare, so I just drink that pink monster.
Pink monster, fuck me.
Never had a margarita, pink monster on ice.
What a fucking guy.
I'll tell you what mine is.
Go on.
I feel like you were even going to hard agree.
There's going to be like a look of, oh my God, you're right, or you're going to disagree.
Specifically, Japanese grape fanta.
Do you know the one I mean?
Have you ever had it?
No.
Fucking amazing
Is it?
Purple can
Yeah
But it's not like that
American grape flavor
Yeah
That's where it can go wrong
I feel
Yeah the grape
When it's not a real grape
Yeah it's too sweet
Japanese grape fanta
Okay
The fucking one
Actually yeah
Now you say it
The green melon
Raminet soda
Oh there you go
Back on the Japanese shit
Yeah
Time's lippy today
Because he's had a drink
He's had a fucking
He's drunk already
Ben Thatcher
A.K.
Benji Talent
What do I call you?
Ben's
fine.
Just Ben.
Where did talent come from versus Thatcher?
Billy Talent.
Really?
I love Billy Talent.
That's literally what it was.
Yeah, and it was my MSN name.
And you just stayed?
And it stayed that way.
I haven't even changed it.
I know, yeah, because in my head before we actually met, I was like, I wonder if
his second name is just talent.
No.
Talented man.
Don't really like the name Thatcher either.
Why not?
Oh.
Commentations.
Big connotation.
Yeah.
And my girlfriend's Irish.
So she doesn't.
Not a big fan in Ireland, Thatcher.
What you should do?
Take her name.
Not to put you on the spot.
No.
I'm getting married.
No.
We're not,
well, that's why we're not getting married.
Just the name.
To ruin.
Yeah.
I mean, it's just a name, isn't it?
And it's, uh,
but Talent and Thatcher,
it wasn't a,
it wasn't a thing.
It wasn't like,
I hate my name.
I need to change it.
No.
It was just that I love Billy Talent.
Do you know those guys?
Yeah.
Isn't that weird?
Like you were an MSN kid.
Did you?
Yeah, twice.
What, like a full set?
No, I'd just come on and do a couple of songs.
What did you do?
The first time was at the Roundhouse, and I did,
this is how it goes,
which is my first song of theirs I heard.
And then I did River Below in Brighton.
They just let you, but I guess you are.
It's well known that you're a good drummer.
Thank you.
If I was in the crowd and I didn't know who you were,
I'd be like, why you letting someone else play that song?
Yeah.
But I bet you smashed it.
I saw you smash Phil Collins lately.
You actually were there.
I was there.
Yeah, that was a...
You killed it.
You smashed it.
It certainly did you.
Yeah, but you were in a different realm.
No.
I find, yeah, because you had the...
You were playing your tunes.
Yeah, I did assist.
They're technically very difficult.
And so there was a lot of people doing this in the crowd.
It was quite scary for them.
If anyone doesn't know what we're talking about,
me and Ben both played.
the Zildian 400th.
Yeah.
It was really fun.
It's not often you get to go to a 400, 400th birthday.
It's not ever, really.
I don't know many 400th.
I can't think of another 400th that I'd go to.
Just went to Tammar's 80th.
Eightieth.
Yeah, nowhere near.
Yeah, not even, I think it was 50th.
You won't even make their 400th.
There advances in technology I might.
I might be frozen.
I don't think that's in our time.
Or it's Mars attacks yesterday, actually.
No, it's just fresh on my brain.
that sort of taking the head off, putting it on, Pamela.
I think we need to do the face off things first, don't we?
The movie.
Yeah, that's the first thing.
Yeah, great movie, yeah.
I went for a thing in the pandemic.
I'm sorry we're not talking about Royal Blood, but fuck you.
I went for a thing in the pandemic where I went through classic Nick Cage movies.
Some underrated bangers, the rock.
Not seen that.
You haven't seen The Rock?
No.
I was thinking of, what's the one where he's a prisoner on the plane?
What's that one?
Conner, yeah.
Conner is fucking...
With a bunny.
Yeah, Conner is number one for me.
And now I go face off, but then I go to Rock.
Sean Connery.
So it's...
It's on Alcatraz.
They filmed it on Alcatraz.
Wow.
And it's like this little, like, chemical weapon that can just kill everyone.
And it's like...
Maybe we should watch it tonight.
We should watch it work.
You want to go out for dinner?
Yeah, but then we'll watch.
I'll watch the fuck it.
I've got it bought on Prime.
That's how dedicated I am to the fucking rock.
Have you ever bought anything on YouTube?
one thing.
What?
Wait,
what have you bought
on YouTube first?
One thing.
I wonder if we bought the same.
No,
it's definitely not.
I brought it legend.
Tom Hardy.
Yeah.
Why did you buy it on YouTube?
It's on everything.
Yeah,
but I think at the time it wasn't.
Ah.
Do you know what mine is?
What?
Life's too short.
Oh, yeah.
With the Ricky Jervais,
Stephen Merchant,
Warwick Davis.
Yeah.
I think it got taken off
streaming platforms
because some of it
some of it,
some of it,
you can't really
say anymore.
And then I was like, I really want to watch it
because it's fucking funny. Yeah, it's great.
And the only place I had it was YouTube.
Okay. So sometimes I'll dip back into that. Are you a YouTube
premium man? No. If you thought about it.
I don't really go on it. You're not a YouTuber.
I'm not a YouTuber. What the fuck do you do in your spare time?
Instagram Reels.
Really?
No, I don't.
Just saying yes.
Yeah. Becca, my girlfriend, she's a TikTok.
Like.
All the good girls are TikTok girls.
She takes the piss out of me when I
tell her about a real
well is she like team ticot
yeah and she's already seen like months ago
well I'm sending her
have you got a TikTok
no I have one right and all I do is post a podcast
clips I don't bother with like trying to be funny or a trend
that makes sense I guess
it makes decent money that's the thing that's shocking
about TikTok to me right
like I'll just post and close it
and forget about it
and I posted a video yesterday about
with Will Thompson about
like top five job stopping tattoos
Yes, I saw that.
And I just popped it on.
Yeah.
And I was like, I forget about that.
And I opened it up today.
And it made 168 quid.
Wow.
That's amazing.
I know.
And I was like, fuck.
Yeah.
That's dinner paid for.
I know.
Yeah.
I got you on that.
I got you on that.
YouTube premium.
So, wait, wait, wait, man.
Let's get into the man.
Yeah.
For disclaimer, we know each other.
Yeah.
But we're always really drunk when we hang out.
Which is going to happen in a minute anyway.
Yes.
nothing's going to...
Nothing's going to fucking change.
There'll be cuts in the episode
where suddenly there's different drinks on the table.
That's what will happen.
It's a bit like the hot ones, isn't it?
I would love to...
See, the thing with them, they have...
They have that thing.
They have something to do together.
Which everyone knows.
Well, obviously, I know you,
so this is a fucking breeze.
Yeah.
But, like, sometimes there's someone sat there
and we don't know each other.
Yeah, a bit awkward.
Yeah, and I'm like fucking...
Yeah.
Scrabbling around for...
If I could just make him eat a fucking hot wing and shut the fuck up, then it'd be fine.
What does the man Ben Thatcher do in his downtime?
I love to watch football, and I go to the football.
I'm a big Brighton fan, and I love walking my dog.
I actually don't really get bored when I'm at home.
So I think I'm on the road so much of the year that when I come back, I just want to do nothing.
Do you get in trouble from your girlfriend for not wanting to do things when you get home?
Not so much.
I get more in trouble when I come back
because I feel like the Saviars return
I'm like, babe, I'm back
and she doesn't care.
That's a good way to be though.
Yeah, but I think like she's just so,
she likes her routine and that
and I just come in the first week's chaos
because I just disrupt it all and I'm like,
hey, what's up?
But then I think when you're at home
you get into like a routine.
I love like mundane things like,
doing the washing.
You love doing the washing?
I love doing the laundry.
What rig have you got?
Because I know something about you and it is that...
I've got a good rig, yeah.
We've bonded before about being UK people who are world travelers and we've seen
the site.
Now I know for a fact you have air conditioning.
In my bedroom, yeah.
In your fucking bed, which is not, if you're watching this in the States, you've got
air conditioning, that's fine.
Yeah.
That's not done here.
It's not done here.
It's not.
And it's getting.
hotter. And you've done it.
I have. So what's this? Have you got a washer dryer?
I haven't separate. But you got a good dryer? Yeah. Like a, like, oh yeah, it's got
Wi-Fi and shit. I get a message anywhere in the world when the washing load is done.
I know that before anyone. That's fucking sick. How are you, how are they plugging this dryer in,
though? Because I looked at dryers. My mom had a tumble dryer. Yeah. It didn't, it, it just tumbled.
There was no dry. Oh, really? Yeah.
Oh no, it's just like heat, isn't it?
You got a full, like, I'm in America rig,
because I love to, I'll hold my hands up.
Yeah.
I love doing laundry in America
because it's put things in one thing
then put it in the other thing, then fold.
That's it.
Hanging is when I'm out.
I'm out on a hang.
As you can see up there.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shit hanging up there.
You can't do that on the road either.
You can't have things hanging.
Fuck, no, you can't.
I often have people, like you give it,
give it to a fluff and fold on the road,
so you're not actually involved.
In the process.
Oh, you're at that next level.
I like the process.
Yeah.
And I like putting things in it that make it smell nice.
This actually brings us on to our,
something that I wanted to talk about quite nicely.
Now, I once had a little peek into your dressing room.
Do you know where I'm going with this?
You're going to go on to the sausages, aren't you?
No.
No?
What's the sausages?
I'll teach you that in a bit.
We'll cut to that, maybe we are talking about the same thing.
Is it the T-shirt rolled up in the socks?
It's absolutely that.
Yeah, that's why I call the sausage, the tour sausage.
Would you like to talk me through it?
Because I was quite shocked when I first saw it.
So I'm just very consistent, let's say, with my packing.
And I wear the same trousers, same shoes most days, jacket.
But the base layer is your pants, your socks and your t-shirt.
Yeah.
Which I have the same every single day, which is just a black t-shirt, which is just a black t-shirt,
which you fold up your black t-shirt and then you put your underwear in the middle and then
sock either side yeah this is this is what i remember then you roll up and then you tuck the socks
in so it becomes this like sausage shape and then that's you set and that's that and how many of those
go and it's in a big flight case yeah have them in a flight case that how many are loaded in there i go
10 10 at a time 10 and then the fluffer all go clean them but also i have like little spare things just in case
I remember seeing a lot of hats.
Yeah, there's a hat rack.
Hat rack.
Yeah.
The dream.
Yeah, it's good.
Is that the sort of thing?
Have you ever been in a band that had more than two people?
Yeah, loads.
Not loads of people, but loads of bands with more people.
Pros and cons?
Definitely at the start, it's difficult with more people because people have jobs.
Yeah.
And it's hard to live the dream in that way, isn't it?
It's hard to get everyone on the same boat.
Yeah.
I guess for Royal Blood, we based the whole thing on restriction.
It was whatever we could both do together.
And it worked.
What year did you start Royal Blood?
2013.
Just jamming.
Yeah, well, Mike, so Mike called whatever he was doing Royal Blood, really.
And he had, he went out to Australia and was doing raw blood.
He started it really out there with another guy.
And then came back from Australia.
and then we were in the rooms together and just writing songs.
He had like a couple of skeletons.
He basically had that the bass sound.
Yeah.
And it was like struck gold.
It's like it's crazy, isn't it?
Yeah.
It's just like that's Royal Blood.
You hear it and it has been emulated since then.
Then when we played together, it was like, okay, this is it.
We've, you know, the chemistry between that and the dynamics.
It just works.
I can only dream of having two people in a band.
Decisions get made quick.
Decisions?
There's no possible.
I guess, though, do you have, like, someone who is a decider, like the tiebreaker?
No.
We have never really had a disagreement about anything.
We both, musically, are focused on the same thing, and it's about writing the best song.
And we both normally come to the same conclusion.
That's a, you are in a dream.
Yeah.
Fucking dream.
Speaking of Nicholas Cage,
your dream scenario.
You've seen that movie?
No, I haven't.
It's fucking great.
It's new.
It's new.
It's new.
It's fucking weird.
This is a movie podcast now.
Oh, how about that one?
Is it Knowing?
Is that Nicholas Cage?
No, it's Knowing.
Is it about aliens?
Yeah, it's about end of the world.
Shit.
I can hear Simon typing away.
Simon.
Knowing.
That is Nick Cage, yeah.
Thank you.
Give me the synopsis of knowing.
When John learns.
about the time capsule containing cryptic messages about the coming apocalypse that mentions dates
of disasters he sets out to prevent them.
Is it good?
You haven't you seen it?
I have seen it.
I have seen it.
I have seen it.
Yeah.
Are you a DVDs man?
I was, yeah.
What about now?
No.
I don't know why I'm obsessed with knowing about your home life.
Actually, I do have them all still.
I got rid of all the cases.
Put them in folders.
Alphabetic.
You got a lick of the tism?
Probably.
Do you know what?
The clothes rolled up.
The thing is, all of those things do say that.
Yeah.
But I...
It's a spectrum.
I don't know.
Maybe.
Maybe it's OCD.
Could be that.
I don't like to label it.
Yeah, nice.
Good for you.
Yeah.
I just think I'm, I like, I like organization.
I like knowing where things are.
I like order.
Is that the opposite of ADHD?
No, because I think I have a bit of that as well.
We're all just fucked.
Drummers often have...
Yeah.
I'm definitely fucked.
I was talking to Simon
when I was bringing these margaritas over,
I was like,
I had to use every single bit of CPU in my brain
to get them over here without spilling.
I'm the same.
I used to be a barman.
I couldn't even like,
couldn't take trays over at all.
But you think that's now
because you've got stuff like a fluffer
to go and fucking do you.
Maybe.
Like, because I get,
there's certain levels of like,
getting comfortable in music.
And once you go past them,
it's hard to go back.
Let me ask you this.
When was the last time you flew an economy?
Not too long ago, but it wasn't by choice.
You can't go back.
It's difficult to.
I have to go back because we don't have the money.
But when I'm doing something for my own...
Again, two-piece.
Oh, that's what I mean.
Yeah.
I'm so...
I want to kick everyone else out of my band.
Yeah.
It's me and Tom and I'll sing.
It's another, yeah, it's another pro for the two-piece.
But, yeah, it's different.
When you get a two-piece, let's say
business class flight,
when you get, let's say
you're going to the States. Yeah.
B.A.? What are you flying with? B.A.?
Yeah, I'm assuming B.A.
Clicking the points. Are you next? Yeah, same.
Well, you're gold?
Yeah. I'm so close
to gold, but I'm not going to make it before my tier point ends.
Come on B.A.
Come on. Give me some fucking free shit.
At this point in the podcast, you are probably
thinking, how can I start a band
and be as cool as the guest in this podcast?
Well, I mean, I play the guitar.
but usually I just play it without an amplifier because I can't afford an amplifier and
all sorts of stuff like that will stop because the lovely people at Neural DSP are giving you 35% off
plugins. You can make yourself sound like royal blood. You can make yourself sound like Gojira with
archetype Gojira. There's a, I think I'm saying it right, rabia, rabia, I don't know. You know the guy with
the afro? Well, he's got a absolutely rocking pack. If you play the bass, right, I'm
not going to slag you off right you know what i'm thinking about it realistically if i didn't
play drums i'll probably play the bass well they've got the base they've got a dark glass pack
they've got nollie's own pack we love nollie on the podcast neuraldsp dot com
use the code the downbeat and you can get 35% off any plugin you can sound great you just
plug in you go plug in press a couple of buttons away you go neuraldisp dot com the code is the
downbeat do you ever have you know because it's like two pods next
to each other is it ever you and mine used we used to do that but we both like the window seats so um
we're both away and there's other randoms in between yeah because if you're in business you only have
like the one seat do you ever talk over the over the random person about anything no i don't know
why i'm i'm so obsessed with your home life yeah and the two-piece dynamic in my head it's like a
fucking like a Harry Emfield, like sketch, like a double team thing.
Yeah, well, it used to be a lot different.
Maybe not in the greatest way.
When Mike's made a lot of changes to himself,
he stopped drinking, which he's absolutely nailed and like he's doing so well with it.
And yeah, he's just, he's a very different person to me in that way.
He, he's well into magic.
I don't know if you've seen any of the car tricks.
David Lane.
And he's very, yeah, he's very good at them.
Is he?
Stroke one up to the royal blood, tism.
Yeah.
Tism test.
And then he, he's really into fitness.
He's got like weighted vests that he's running around in.
I mean, you're into your fitness.
I am, but I'm also into my drinking.
Yeah.
But they are at odds with each other, yeah.
Yeah.
See, I hate running, but I do it sometimes.
I sometimes go to the gym.
I think if you quit drinking, you'd go mad on the gym.
Yeah.
I feel like we're very similar.
Yes, I think so.
What's your tour bus situation if there's two of you?
Two people on the bus?
No, we travel with all the crew.
Oh, no offense.
That sucks.
No, it's great because we have all the crew,
mainly from Brighton, actually.
Oh, they're all just fucking mates?
They've all been with us from the start.
Okay, that wasn't a shade on crew.
It was more like, in my head,
like I'm just imagining having two people on the bus
would be fucking amazing.
Yeah, well, we've had a,
We've had a couple of times where we've had to have like two or three buses,
and our bus has become a little bit vacant.
I suppose you would get fucking...
I'm saying it like it's a really good thing,
but I would get so fucking bored.
You've got a drum tech's your boy.
He's been your drum tech for a minute.
Yeah, Davey, shout out.
What's the other crew?
You don't have to give them names,
but I just mean like the numbers of crew on a two-piece.
We have 16 normally with us.
But you do have...
There's the guy that also, I don't know his name, I'm sorry, plays a couple of simps and stuff.
Darren, Darren Watts, yeah.
So he's, does he count as crew or band or what's?
He counts as band normally.
He travels with band a lot because that's our schedule.
16 people to deal with two of you.
Yeah, it depends on the production of things, but yeah, normally it's about 16.
Monitors, lights.
Real fucking, real rock show.
It is, yeah.
coming tomorrow.
Good for you.
Of course I am.
Do you know how close it is to hear?
No.
You're on a fucking dock where I am actually, but I'm going to.
You're swimming.
Swimming.
That's where it is.
And that's where we are.
It's fucking on this street.
I walked from there to get to here.
Oh, really?
I would love to come.
Amazing.
Yeah, we've got no one on our guest list, so as many as you want.
How does this Royal Blood write a song?
Different ways every time.
Sometimes it comes from riffs.
sometimes it comes from drums.
Are you in a room together or is it like Michael record it, send it to you?
Depends.
Let's take a hit.
Let's take the hit.
Let's take number one.
What is that?
What are you putting as your number one before I say, what's your number one?
I can figure it out.
Yeah, that's number one.
Yeah, that was Mike.
Mike sty that intro.
Are you in a room together?
No, he did that before and he showed me.
And I was like, done.
It comes to you as a full demo.
Yeah, pretty much.
Now, yeah, I think that, I think so.
I think he had all of that until, and then I think I put things in at the end and like,
when he goes, da-da-da-da-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-dit.
I'm intrigued with like how obviously being only two of you, no disagreements,
how much input either side has.
Yeah, I think we both listen to each other.
And I think we both, like, out of the black was,
Both of us in a pub, and I was just tapping it out on the table.
And he was playing stuff, and he was like, I was like, how about you just copy me?
And then that's how that kind of came up.
It's playing stuff in the pub?
No, no.
So I was doing that in the pub.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then when we came to do it, and he was like figuring stuff out.
How often do you get together and have like a jam, or is it way past that?
We did on the, like, the first and second record.
third was pretty much
demos that
drums that he was programming
but that was a bit of a diversion
from our normal sound
and it was during COVID
and then the third one we did go back
to playing together a little bit
and it doesn't take long
like we'll start playing some stuff
and then it
you need to hear it
what it sounds like on through the speakers
so you just loop like parts of my drums
and then he will just write to that for a bit.
How long does it take you to record an album?
Like the actual process of recording it?
It can probably take up to a year.
Wow.
We like to take our time with them.
We've had four records out and it's been 10 years.
So yeah.
Four records, 10 years.
A lot of big, a lot of famous fans.
You've got like famous fans.
That happened quite early.
And I think it was about the time of us coming out.
And I think at the time when Royal Blood came out,
there wasn't a lot of rock music.
in the mainstream.
There was Biffy Cliro,
bowls.
I got beef of Bivy Cliro.
Have you?
Yeah. And then you,
I would literally put you guys in,
in with that.
But all of those guys
were a lot older than us as well
and had done it for a lot longer than us.
Yeah.
So when we came out and it was a two piece,
it was like we got people's attention
and we had a number one record very quickly.
What do you attribute that to?
Because it was real fast,
you were just suddenly massive.
I think we had to be prepared.
Like we had been so many bands before Royal Blood
and we knew how to play together.
So when we did get that bit of interest,
we were like, right, let's ride this wave,
let's go with it.
And we've kept it going.
Was there ever a moment where you thought,
oh my God, my band is big?
Glass and Bree the first time we played it.
I didn't expect.
We were playing at that time to like 200 caps.
venues selling them out and then we played glastonbury and there was we filled the tent and more
what year was this 2014 or 15 14 let's go 14 yes this is the john peel tent r i p yeah and then
it's not called that anymore though is it isn't it it got renamed to the woodsies the woodsies
thank you you do glass and brie yeah but obviously there's not big money by that point i yeah i yeah
I don't really know what's going on.
You were just like, this is...
I'm in this whirlwind of excitement with the band.
And also, at that time, yeah, we had no idea what was going to happen.
We were just enjoying finally...
Best way to be.
Yeah.
Authentic.
Now look at you're getting a fluffer to do your fucking laundry.
I know.
So obviously, stratospheric success happens.
You know, it happens.
You get there.
Do you ever buy your...
Other than air conditioning in your bedroom.
Did you ever buy yourself something with like when you got like first album advance that was
fucking massive?
You've bought anything extravagant?
No,
I've been very down to earth.
No extravagancies.
Apart from,
I mean,
I bought a house.
Yeah,
but that's a necessity.
Yeah.
Nothing.
You haven't got one thing that's,
you haven't got one thing in your possession.
You were like,
I shouldn't have fucking paid for that.
No.
Not a single thing.
I have bought things for people that have maybe been that,
but not for myself.
What an altruist.
Yeah.
Anything that springs to mind?
Yeah.
Well, I don't regret this at all, but we had a bit of an in-joke with our tool manager, Steve, at the time.
And every time we went to Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, we would always go into the Paul Smith store.
Yeah, I know the one.
There was this rubber cactus that was up there.
And we would always ask about how much it was.
And just because it was ridiculous.
and it was a fair few quid.
And Mike and I thought it would be funny one time to,
for his Christmas present, to buy the cactus.
The one from Heathrow Airport.
Yeah.
Amazing.
So we, yeah, we bought him the cactus.
That's fucking...
And it's, yes, absolutely.
I'm looking at your...
The bear brick.
No, the scratching...
Have you got a cat?
Yeah, this is a cat.
That's not for me.
Yeah.
Yeah, but it looks.
little bit like the cactus.
Oh, right.
I thought you were looking at...
Kind of like triggered me, I think.
I thought you were looking at the bare brick,
which is also an extravagantly stupid amount of money.
Very similar.
Yeah, very similar.
Really fucking expensive for what it fucking is.
That would be my one, actually.
Incident.
Incidentally.
There we go.
Both together.
I love fucking dumb shit.
Yeah.
I love fucking dumb shit.
I brought a nice car.
Yeah, that's what I was getting at.
Yeah.
What did you get?
I got a brand new...
This is a bit of a hairdress.
car but it was an Audi TT
Roadster so it was
that's very you
yeah it was um
very fast
and it had two seats so I didn't have to take
anyone with me perfect you still got it
no we got a dog so
I had to change you oh no
yeah what we've got now like family run around
I have a Q3
I do like a Q3 though I looked at a Q3
I got an S3 and I did
look at a Q3 yeah
I'm a big Audi guy so am I
fucking love an Audi they're great
it's a shame I've had so much
drink, otherwise you can have a spin in mind.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Speaking of your famous fans,
do you remember these?
Yes.
Have you seen what I've done to it now?
If you're just listening to the audio,
I get no fucking money from it,
so watch on YouTube.
Someone made me.
We were actually just this pair of drumsticks.
That is amazing.
Ben gave me these,
who he got from the man.
Yeah, himself.
Would you like to tell the story of how that happened?
Because they're a treasure possession of me.
Someone made me this.
That's very good.
Well, Lars has been a big fan, and I'm a fan of his.
As a person and as a drummer, I fucking love him.
I don't know him as a person, but I love him as a drummer.
He's brilliant.
You need to get out to the architect shows.
I can't.
I can't.
I can't.
There was one this weekend.
to come to a show and to show his face.
And he's such a good hang.
Amazing.
And I've been lucky enough to see him a few times
and sit side stage.
And those drum kits,
those drumsticks came my way.
And I was like,
I know I need to get these to you.
Do you remember how they came your way though?
Because there's a photo.
It's a photo.
Yeah, because you were aware.
Oh, of course, yeah.
I was wearing the last t-shirt that you made.
Yeah.
Of course, yeah.
And then he gave you the sticks to give to me.
Yes.
Which is incredible.
And I don't know, no, you know this because I had to send five more t-shirts
to his wife.
And I don't know what happened with those.
His kids probably have the...
Yeah, I assume somewhere there is a family photo.
Of, yeah.
Family all rich, my fucking literally...
literal God wearing a t-shirt that I made with him on it. I would love to know.
I think Jess sent me one of her wearing it.
I'd love there to be a family for it. I would literally, I'd kill myself with happiness.
Well, do you know those boys as well? They play in a band called Taipei Houston.
I thought you were about so type A negative.
Type A, no. Lars's two of those boys.
Oh, type A, like the place? Yes. Yeah. I've seen it. I haven't heard it.
Well, there are now a three piece, but they were a two piece.
Both of them in the same band?
Yeah.
Tell me one of them as a drummer.
Yeah.
Thank God.
Lane and Miles, man.
I'm a big, I'm a big Lars fan.
There's a bit of Lars in your playing.
There's a bit of Phil in your playing.
You've got some...
Yeah, there's bits of...
There's a bit of old-school influences.
There is.
What would you say your top five?
Top five.
Influenced, drummers.
I've gone backwards with this, so...
Dave Grell would be one of mine,
and then I went backwards to Bonham.
So, because he got influenced by Bonham, obviously.
John Theodore
So good
From the Mars Valter record
Oh
That intro
When it just blew my mind
And then
Yeah then when
Him with Queens is just
Incredible
I've never seen him with Queens
And I'm desperate to
Oh he's amazing
He's amazing
Chad Smith
Great drummer
You said that
You said that like it was a
No he was
Blood Sugar Sex Magic
Was one of the first records
I ever remember playing to
So that's how many have I done now?
Four.
All big hitters.
I have to go, Taylor Hawkins.
You've literally just said the five rock drummers.
Yeah, I know.
That's good.
That's a good thing though.
And it comes across in your playing.
Yeah.
Did you ever meet Taylor?
Yeah.
We toured with them in 2015.
Oh, fuck.
Yeah.
So that hit extra hard.
Yeah.
We had a great time with him.
He was obsessed with the police.
when I was just...
I assume the band, not the organisation.
Yeah, he loved Stuart Copeland
and he loved Roger Taylor
and he would just fucking be listening
to that the whole time.
He was a machine.
Great fucking drummer.
Yeah.
Big RIP there.
Bonham as well, right?
Sometimes I forget how fucking good Bonham was
and then I'll play...
Because if you're out and about
and you hear a Led Zeppelin song,
it's never like fooling.
the rain or anything like where there's real fucking some bonham magic on it yeah and then when you go
back it's like he was doing shit yeah 30 years before everyone else oh yeah john bonham was like
the mishugger yeah of 1970s yeah insane every every drummer that i love has has been inspired by him so
yeah i feel like i'm a bit like you i was machined backwards from john bonham i would get into a
drummer and then they would be super influenced by john bonham and then they would be super influenced by john bonham and
then I went backwards.
Yeah.
Oh,
this is the guy it came from.
And I think that's the same with,
like,
Chad Smith with him with,
uh,
the James Brown drummers and all that funk stuff and,
moving the back beat to the end of four.
Spicy.
Neil Purt as well.
Like,
that was Taylor again.
Yeah.
I feel like I'm sort of,
I mean,
I did used to love Rush,
but like my,
the things that interest me with like parodils and shit like that.
Mm-hmm.
Came from like Gojira.
Mm-hmm.
But that came from,
fucking Neil Perk.
Yeah, exactly.
He was the guy
that started doing
the paradigdal shit.
Simon Paradigdal,
do you know what it is?
I know it's a drum thing.
Do you know what the...
Look it up, Simon.
Do you know what the sticking
is without looking it up?
I have no idea.
No.
Now do it.
I mean, everyone says that you're like
the Paradigidol guy.
Yeah, and it should be the guy
from Gojira,
but I've fucking stolen it.
You've coined it.
So people will backwards engineer for me.
There we go.
I'm well into that.
Well, guess what?
He needs it off.
this guy who nicked it off of this guy.
There you go.
The way it is, though, and I feel like drums is the only instrument
where we're like okay with it.
We're like rip each other off and we do shit.
And everyone's like, oh, that's fucking sick.
Yeah.
But if you ripped off a chord progression,
everyone goes fucking mental.
I guess you can get like licks off the Hendrix lick,
Jimmy Page lick.
If you did it note for note, like we often do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaking of people getting annoyed,
we're in Scotland.
Oh, okay.
we go in there
what the fuck happened
it was a radio one event
and we were playing
in between
Noel Horan from
one direction
and Lewis Capaldi
very poppy
yeah and it was a radio
event you know
we were there for Radio
one and the audience
win tickets
to be there
so nothing's paid for
or like
yeah or anything like that
and you
you know there's people that do like royal blood and there's people that don't move it's free tickets
and louis capaldi being being the biggest fucking artist in scotland yeah you'd assume
oh yeah almost everyone's and him and nile will have a thing yeah and uh we were a little bit
we felt a little bit awkward i guess and we went on did our thing we had fun um said a few silly things
did a few silly acts and then it blows up the next day.
But we had a good show.
We didn't mean any offence and yeah, just got blown out proportion.
What was the silly thing?
I think Mike walked off with his fingers in the air.
Yeah, I'm struggling.
But he was a joke.
He wasn't angry.
He came off and we were like laughing about it.
Yeah, I feel like he got totally blown out of proportion.
It did.
People fucking hated us.
People went fucking mental for it.
And there was people saying for you, like, you were spitting at the crowd,
and it was like, you were just fucking...
I know.
I think there's just people that didn't understand, like, a rock drummer.
That's what we do.
Yeah.
I spit a bit of fucking water around.
Yeah, I didn't even do...
I think I just did a little...
I saw people call...
Yeah, but people do all the fucking time.
Yeah.
People calling you Tories.
My dog got called a Tory.
Your dog got called a Tory.
And then there's the Waitrose thing.
What was the Waitrose thing?
Just these guys shop at Waitrose.
Which is fine.
I've got nothing against waitress.
Yeah, Wade Troyes is pretty fucking good.
But I'm more of an M&S guy.
You an Eminet's?
Even more Tory than Waitrose.
Yeah, but it's nearer to my house.
But then I do the M, I do, I'm not going to even say it.
I do three shops.
Yeah, I'm a bit, I'm a multi-shopper.
Because Eminest don't, Eminest just do their own shit.
Eminest can't be your main shop.
No, you do your main shop.
I'm fucking agree with everyone.
Yeah, you go to Asda or Sainspris for your bits.
For your bits.
What are you going out of MNS then?
I get more of the...
Acutramant.
Yeah, just the chakouteries.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, all that stuff.
The meat, the more meats and cheeses.
The Tory shit I get from there.
I get the Tory shit from there.
I don't get it from fucking wherever.
But you get your products from...
What's your main product, product place?
ASDA.
Asda.
Now, this man is not a Tory.
He's going to ASDA.
The ASDA and M&S are super near each other.
So I just go from one to the other.
and then yeah go home do you want to know a funny thing about scotland got one waitrose that's maybe why
they were calling us wait true yeah yeah there's one and it's in the west end of glasgow maybe not in
the whole of scotland but the one in glasgow it's in the west end and actually listen i love
waitrose it's when you actually when you i've done it when you crunch those numbers yes
against a morrison's now morrison's i think is the this is i'll go out on a limit if you're just listening to us
this in America.
You've got no fucking idea
what we're talking about.
I will go out on a limb
and say that actually
Morrisons...
It's more Tory.
Is the more Tory.
And this is why.
Because it is marketed
at the working class
but the prices...
Did you get the double meanings?
Absolutely fuck the working class
because the cost of stuff
in Morrisons is the same as Waitrose
but they got the ads
with all the guy
with all the normal people.
Yeah.
They're fucking you.
Like the Tories are.
But Waitrose, same price, has that posh connotation, is better.
Yeah.
The guy behind the deli at Waitrose stream.
Andy, shout to Andy.
Again, I'm trying to talk about the band.
Now we're on fucking, what's your supermarket?
What's your supermarket?
I think I heard your back on Twitter.
I think I've got some shit.
Yeah, you did.
Thank you.
I got you as well.
And is what it is.
It's gone.
It's past.
We were the news that week.
And we were actually on the news.
That's how mad it was.
Grand scheme of things.
Good publicity.
Or bad publicity?
It was bad.
I had a really bad week.
Yeah, you were quite cut up.
It was, um, it wasn't nice.
The things people were saying, that's weird though.
For something, for such a benign situation to get you that much hate.
That was one of a few turning points in,
Twitter actually that made me stop being on Twitter so much.
I came off of it.
Listen, when someone deserves a pile on, I'm kind of all for it.
When someone's really fucked up, I'm like, yeah, let's fucking go.
But like, the mutation to now just like, okay, what's the next fight?
And then when I was seeing some real, like, putting your fingers up at a crowd, you're a rock band.
Yeah, yeah.
that happened the amount of photos that we have from stray and drew is
flipping everyone like that's literally just what you fucking do the thing is
we weren't doing that either we weren't he was just walking off stage as a joke was doing
that because he knew the cameras were on him it was just like it was just stupid it was
it was stupid and we did deserve a little bit of of it not as much as we got but
you can't control it and it's it's done it's whatever
That's not our band.
Our band's about the music and it's about...
We're about having a good time.
I mean, the first fucking 10 sentences of this,
you were talking about how you hate your second name
because it's to do with Margaret Thatcher.
The man's not a Tory, confirmed.
He's been Tory checked.
He's been autism checked.
We've done it all.
Done all the checks.
Now, I've been around your drum kit a couple of times.
Now, just to your left,
there's a little custom-made thing.
Yeah.
A custom-made, what is it?
Talk to me about it.
It's the tequila box.
It's the tequila box.
It's a bit of hardware.
Yeah, it's a bit of, um,
it's a bit of wood that has a thing cut out of it that holds a nice silver petron.
It perfectly fits.
I fucking blew my mind when I first saw it.
Yeah.
Now, was that custom made?
Yeah.
Who made it?
My drum tech Davies to do that.
To do it up and it just comes.
Does that fly?
Is that a fly item?
Yeah, yeah, that comes.
It's just one or you've got multiple?
Uh, there's just one.
And it flies.
It flies.
It flies.
It's in the fly rig.
It just needs that and it has that silver bottle of patron.
Yeah.
So you've got a bottle of tequila on stage.
Yeah.
Mike's sober.
Yeah.
Sometimes I don't have a tequila bottle on stage nowadays.
What do you do with that?
That's still there, though.
That's still there.
Yeah.
I put things in it.
That doesn't fit like a bottle of patron.
No, it doesn't.
Because I've seen that bottle of patron.
That is fucking laser.
Yeah.
Laser tight.
And there's a little cup holder with it.
Oh, it's glorious.
Sometimes I don't drink.
Really?
Sometimes I do.
For you?
Yeah.
Never butt heads of like you're drinking and he's not?
Is he like, he's real good at it?
Yeah, he's done so well with going in his lane and like doing his thing and doing what he wants.
It's the same, Drew, asking her quit drinking.
Yeah.
Never once has he been like, I can't be around this or whatever.
He's just like, yeah, you guys just do whatever.
I think there's a commendable.
I think that Mike's been sober for six years now.
And I think probably at the start of that,
It would have, you know, but it's something that I would talk to him about.
And it's not a thing.
And also, you can't stop people from doing things that they enjoy.
And also, I imagine if he said to you as a problem,
you just fucking just get rid of the completely custom-made patron thing.
Exactly.
Yeah.
But also, I know myself.
I know my limits.
I know growing older, hangovers are getting worse.
I don't, and I want control of what I put in my body.
How old are you?
I am 36.
Fuck me, I'm older than you as well.
I'm older than every fucking motherfucker that I bump into these days.
I always forget my age.
When it comes to mid-30s, I'm like, I think I'm 35.
Am I 37?
This happened to me yesterday.
Literally, I think I was in bed and I was thinking...
How old are my?
No, I was thinking about being 35, and I was like, I'll be mad when I'm at 38.
And then the other part of my brain was like, my friend, you're 37.
Yeah.
Like 38 is coming.
In my head, I'm 35.
Yeah.
That's the same.
So old.
Yeah, we're getting...
Fucking hate it.
I hear you on the hangovers, though.
I went out last night for the first time
in fucking ages and I had of four drinks.
I've been in the fucking bin all day, all day.
And now we're packing.
I feel fucking great.
Now I've had a couple of drinks.
I feel great.
Here's a story.
There's a rehash story.
Okay.
You can tell me if we can't talk about it.
What about this roadie hurting their bollick?
Okay.
This was on Stern.
I know.
I've watched the stern ages ago.
I can't remember what the thing.
Poor guy.
Is he still with you?
He might.
might be.
Okay.
Yeah,
let's keep it that way.
Absolute legend, yeah.
He, uh,
yeah,
he just got caught in a bad situation.
And,
um,
for you that are listening,
um,
be careful when ladies or men are,
or whatever you,
any in between,
any in between,
are sucking your member,
member,
um,
just be careful of the two,
the two balls.
What happened? What happened?
I wasn't there.
But I think what happened is it got a bit intimate, let's say.
And I woke up on the bus with a text message from said person.
I'm saying I'm just about to go into surgery because one of my testicles has contorted.
Wait, so you were out together the night before or he'd gone out?
We were out together and then he had gone out further.
Gone out further.
Met someone.
Yeah, things happened and then things got very complicated in the night.
And he had to get the bus driver to pull over.
That is an aggressive sex session if you're twisting your bollocks up.
Yeah.
I actually know a few people who have had a twisted ball.
I've got quite lucky.
I've got quite small balls.
They sort of stick to themselves.
They sort of just fucking tuck up.
Yeah.
Fingers crossed, no, no issues.
Yeah.
I'm also not really into.
Ballsucking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It fucks me out.
I'm like, nah, that's not good.
Yeah.
I'm out on it.
I fucking hate it.
But bless him, like, we were on Howard Stern the next week.
And we had not told anyone about this.
And he was asking us a couple of questions.
One was about Mike had just started dating someone.
and he was like, Mikey, you know, dating,
Mike was like, no, you know.
And then he, I was going through a divorce.
And he was like, so Ben, what's it like, you know,
with you with the ladies?
And I was like, oh, it's a bit difficult.
Anyway, we kind of like dismissed those things.
And then he was like, so I heard that one of you,
the other week got your dick sucked
and your balls have fallen off.
It wasn't that.
It was, I'm paraphrasing.
your balls
one of your balls exploded
he said actually
and we both looked to each other
and we're like
yes that happened
like yeah that
it wasn't us
how does he get his fucking info
I don't know
he's a fucking goat
you must have a team
big up the divorce group
by the way
I think that's how we
divorced
yeah that's how we first
fucking
oh yeah
this is what I was saying
every time we met
we've been fucked out of our brains
we met at that time
in that little cocktail bar
maybe we're not divorced
we met at that
little cocktail bar.
We have mutual friend, Sam Carter.
And I was literally going through a divorce and you'd just gone through one.
And we were like, fucking, that's right.
Boys, a couple of divorce dads just fucking hanging out.
Did you do a two truths in a lie for me?
You've got it, you've got it.
Yeah.
So two truths.
Is this a thing that's always on your podcast?
I've started to try and do it, but I also don't really understand how the game works.
And then also I forget to do it.
Okay, so there's two truths and one lie.
One lie and I've got to decide for which one is a.
Okay, yeah.
Here's number one.
Yes.
A.
A, thank you.
One A.
I once did a line of cocaine off of George Washington, the first president of America's silver food platter.
I want that to be true more than I want anything else in the world.
Carry on.
Number two, B.
Tennis player John McEnroe once tattooed my arm after I played a show in Madison Square Guard.
Wow. These are the fucking best ones. Yeah. Okay. Three.
And number three, a few years back, Bono invited me on a boat party down the River Thames.
We got smashed and ended up getting a McDonald's at 6 a.m.
I'm so stoked that two of these are true, because they're the best ones anyone's ever done.
And that's why I asked you, because I was like, this motherfucker's got fucking, this guy's got story bars.
Okay, let's break them down.
And I'm going to fucking, let's really get into this.
Okay.
What was it, George Washington?
George Washington's silver platter.
Food platter, yeah.
Food platter.
Where was this?
In Fort Lauderdale.
Okay.
How did you bump into it?
It was owned by someone that I know.
Someone owns that?
Yeah.
It's not in a museum or anything.
No, no.
This one's the life.
This one's the line.
This one's the fucking line.
It's in his house.
I think I'm just going to say that that one's the lie.
Okay.
What was the next one?
John McElroe tattoo.
Madison Square Garden.
Where's the tattoo?
On my arm.
Let me see it.
No.
Why not?
Wait, have you given me two lies and one truth?
No.
Oh, you're just really into this.
Okay.
So you're not going to show me the tattoo?
Nope.
Who own the tattoo equipment?
Harry Robbins, who tattoos a lot of my tattoos.
What was the billing on Madison Square
Garden.
Queens of the Stone Age.
Queen's the Stone Age Royal Blood?
Yeah.
Is that a thing that happened?
Happens quite a lot.
Side note, that's fucking amazing.
We've been on tour of them just recently.
When was the MSG?
November, 2017.
I was going to say, fuck me.
What's it?
It's just side note.
What's it like playing Madison's Prairie Garden?
That's on my fucking list.
Insane.
Yeah, amazing.
That's literally a bucket of this venue for me.
And it's annoying, right?
Because when the Rangers score, they play,
but we've never played there
Glasgow Rangers
No sorry New York Rangers
at Madison's Gregorffey
But you're right to think maybe that was a thing
No when the New York Rangers
Score
They play fortune teller is one of the songs that they play
Which is fucking sick
That's wicked
But also let me fucking play there
Yeah
John Maccrow so I assume
How did John McEnroe get the tattoo needle?
He just gets involved
I've been with him a few
times. You know John McAro? I don't know him, but I've come across him quite a few times in my life.
One of them being retatooed your arm. Yeah, the second time he, um, came up to me and went,
Hey, I'm John. I'm an actor. Nice. And I was that, John, I know who you are. Yeah, and you are
somewhat of an actor. He is, yeah. But you are a tennis player. Um, what did he tattoo on
you, if you're not going to show me? Um, it's like a, it's like a claw. There's no fucking way.
Okay, next one.
So there's two lies so far.
So far, two lies, I'm going to have to come back.
And then Bono's boat party,
River Thames.
And you've got McDonald's at 6 a.m.
Yep, with champagne.
At the McDonald's?
We brought the champagne with us.
Okay.
Where did it more?
Where did it, where did it, what do they call it when it fucking kicks a boat off?
Do you think I remember that?
Well, River Thames?
Yeah, I mean, we were, I don't know where we were on the River Thames.
Do you know where the McDonald's was?
Nope. But I know where we
took off from the O2 Arena.
That's what I meant. That's what I meant. Okay.
From O2 Arena.
You two are playing.
Yep. On the boat for a party.
Were you supporting or?
No, I was just there.
Just hanging out. I was there.
Bono, how did he ask you? Do you want to come on the boat party?
He had asked me before the gig that this was where the after party was going to be.
Now, I get a really rare opportunity to quote Alan Partridge in context.
here. Do you know Bono?
Do you know Bono? I've met Bono
a few times. Yeah. Lovely, lovely man.
I look a bit like Bono. Stick a pair of glasses on me. It's fucking Bono,
yeah, isn't it? Fucking mad.
Do you know his son? Yeah, it's me.
No. He's in the band Inhaler.
No. Very good band.
What kind of music is it?
Rock. Asthma. Oh, it's rock.
Rock, asthma. That sort of thing.
Yeah. Cortico steroids.
inhalers. Anyway, back to this fucking thing.
Okay, what did you get in McDonald's?
In McDonald's? I don't remember.
You don't remember? No. That doesn't surprise me
because you're often in a state of don't remember.
But it was at six, eight, it was a McDonald's breakfast.
That's what I'm saying. After a night.
I thought it was going to catch you out. You were going to say Big Mac and I go, ha.
No, it was the breakfast.
Bono was in McDonald's?
Yeah, a bottle of champagne.
What did Bono?
Dublin McMuffin.
I think so. I think that's what we both had.
The coffee?
No, we had champagne.
Champagne.
But she didn't get the meal?
No.
I don't know which one's a lie.
I think they're all a fucking lie.
Can you just tell me what it is?
Because I literally, I think if I had to guess,
I'm guessing the fucking George Washington ones are lie
because why is your friend going to have a silver platter owned by George Washington?
That's the truth.
Divulge before we go on.
Yeah, it's just a friend of mine in Miami.
Is it a fucking famous friend?
No.
Why do I still think this is a lie?
Tell me the story.
We were just at his house and we were being partying.
It was after one of our shows.
He's a, yeah, he's a rich man.
Yeah.
And he was showing me around his house.
And he opened up this silver platter.
Like you know those ones that haven't been laid on.
Like George Washington would have.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And there was just some lines of...
Pre-plined?
Mm-hmm.
And then you just, right, okay.
so now I'm like what the fuck is
I don't think John McElroe could tattoo a claw
the fact that you said claw
made me think maybe
it's so obscure though
it's really hard to decipher which one of these is not true
I think I'm going to have to find another question
what kind of boat was it
it was like a ferry
Noel Gallagher was DJing
no actually Noel Gallagher wasn't DJing
he was just there
Bono was DJing
Bono was DJing his own boat.
I think he was.
You think he was or he was.
I think he was.
You know, definitely wasn't old Gallagher.
And you can't remember what you ate.
No, I had a McDonald's breakfast.
I feel like if I had McDonald's breakfast with Bono, I would remember.
I remember what I had.
No, I asked you what you had.
You said you didn't remember.
No, I didn't remember what he had.
What did you have?
I had a double sausage denet of McMuffin'Hill.
You just know how to live life, my friends.
Extra Hash Brown.
Extra Hashbrown?
Oh, glorious.
Had you disembarked the boat by this point?
At McDonald's.
Yeah, but I'm trying to think at McDonald's
or you disembarked somewhere and went to McDonald's.
Yeah, that.
Was there a captain?
It must have been.
I got nothing.
I got nothing to decide for these two fucking things.
Does John McElroe have any other tattoo experience?
Not that I know.
So were you getting tattooed already?
And how did him getting involved happen?
I was already getting tattooed.
I just gave you that line, but carry on.
And he came into the dressing room and did part of it.
Ah, now that's...
Either way, both of these stories are fucking incredible.
I'm going to say the Bono one is the lie.
Correct.
Yeah.
It's a half lie.
A half lie?
Yeah.
What happened?
I did go on a boat with Bono.
But it was no McDonald's.
It was no McDonald's.
Was it after a show and it was an old thing?
Yeah.
Did you meet him and his sound and everything?
Yeah, he's brilliant.
That's fucking cool.
You ever play with you two?
No.
Surely they'd ask you.
I think in different realms.
You're both in rock world now.
You're just standard rock.
No offense.
I know you're playing download, but you're rock.
Yeah, we're playing download.
That's fucking cool.
You'd have done it by now, so how was it?
Yeah.
Well, we first played download 10 years ago.
And this is our comeback.
Come back to Download tour.
Are you excited?
Are you a headline?
No.
Queens are.
When you come to that?
I can't.
Where are you going?
I've got a, it's this weekend, isn't it?
I've got a podcast on Saturday.
Yeah, it's this weekend.
Yeah, and then I've got, do you know what?
I'll say it as well because it'll be out by now.
They all asked me to do a live show at Download.
Oh, did they?
And the money was like not really enough to cover doing everything.
But I was like, okay, I'll do it because I'd like to do it.
Yeah.
But can you let me, I was going to use my own money to do up a van?
Have you ever seen Steveo's podcast?
Yes.
So I was going to do up a van.
Yeah.
And I was just like, do me a favor.
Like, loop me in with the press team.
Just let me put this van in the backstage, like the actual backstage, not the fucking
BIP bit.
Yeah.
And then I can do podcasts all weekend.
That will cover the loss that I'm going to make on hotels for Simon me, guest or
whatever and all that stuff.
And then they just ghosted me.
Oh.
I was really annoyed because I wanted to do it.
I had the guests all sorted for the live one.
It would have been fucking seen.
Could have got Theodore on it.
There was so many.
that I could have just popped in.
It would have been fucking amazing.
If you're watching this,
let's do it next year.
Please, I want to do it.
Okay, so John McEnroe's true.
It's not there.
Which bit did he do?
He just did some of that.
I've got a video.
John, no.
Go on, John.
John, go in a...
Be really careful with me.
No, no, no.
A tiny bit.
John, a tiny bit.
A tiny bit.
Go on, go on, a tiny bit.
Fucking out, John!
That's fucking amazing.
Yeah.
And it went down like you said.
He just fucking popped his head in.
Yeah.
Does he like rock?
Yeah.
He plays, I think he plays guitar.
He does play guitar.
I know he does.
He's so sick.
Yeah.
The episode of curb that he's in is fucking...
Oh, it's brilliant, isn't it?
What a fucking guy.
Yeah.
Double feature, two truths and a lie.
Here we go.
One more for you.
Thank you.
Okay, the first one.
I was in a festival in Canada.
It was, yeah, outside.
It was quite near a lake.
and I managed to corner a frog that had got into our dressing room,
put it in this little shoe, it wasn't a shoe box,
it was a box from the beer box.
I put it on the bus and we kept it with us for a few days.
You kept the Tor Frog?
Yeah, that was Tor Frog.
Okay, next.
I got into watercolouring and I did a watercolouring of Kanye West.
Okay.
Just a portrait.
And we were playing at the, I think it was the Brit Awards,
and he was doing something there.
And I gifted it to him.
And I popped it through his dressing room,
and his security guard came back with it and was,
he was quite angry.
And he was like, who did you guys do this?
And I was like, yeah, yeah.
And then he just took it away.
And I don't know what ever happened to the watercolouring.
I did a Kanye West.
Okay.
There was another event.
This is the third.
one another event and Taylor Swift had asked us to go into her dressing room and I was
very excited by this news and thought I'd bring a bottle of champagne with me and I kicked
the door of Taylor Swift's dressing room and I went way and it shot straight at her head
and she literally did that and it just dodged her face
and yeah and that was my introduction to Taylor Swift
wow one of those is a lie another three bangers
what was the frog's name Jeremy now I know that's true
based on knowing you yeah based on the love and affection
that came from you telling me that frog's name
Jeremy is true
Tell me right now
Just tell me right now
Is Jeremy true
I can't tell you
Until we've discussed them all
Fucking Jeremy's of the truth
Okay that's fine
Now I knew it
I saw it in your fucking eyes
How did you get rid of Jeremy
Just while we're on Jeremy
Before I decide for the others
We let him go
We decided it was enough time
To be with us on the bus
Do you remember where you let him go
In Canada somewhere
Some side of the road
No it wasn't just a side
It was water
Water based
Yeah
We pulled yeah
Jeremy living his best life
somewhere else
We did have him
For a couple of days
On the bus
Still in the box
Or you let Jeremy
Just run free
He wasn't
He was in the box
But we made sure he had water
Yeah
He had a good surrounding
He wasn't on the bus
For that long
Did you ever just get him out
No
I'm terrified
You terrified of frogs
Yeah but I had a bit of confidence
Because I wanted him to
I wanted him to
I wanted the story
You wanted the story
Yeah
To tell on a podcast
Yeah exactly
Let's go
Taylor Swift next
What was the meaning
of her wanting you to go to the dressing room
Irrespective of what happened
They were opposite each other
I think there was some award ceremony again
Just to say hello
Yeah I think we were just partying
And you kicked the door down
And you fucking nearly took her eye out
Now I believe that
Yeah
Because that's something you would do
Yeah
Karnia West watercoloring
Why was Kanye West at the Brit Awards
I think he was either performing
or winning.
A Brit award for British people.
Yeah, but it was for like international artists.
That thing?
Yeah.
Interesting.
I think Kim Kardashian was with him as well.
Really?
No, this is your sociopath if this is a lie
because that was such a fucking,
you know, when there's a compulsive liar in the room,
they're like, yeah, I think actually Kim Kardashian was there.
Watercolour, full colour portrait.
I'd love to fucking see if it is true.
I think that one's a lie.
Even, ah, Taylor's was the biggest fucking artist in the world.
I forget that you know, you know so many people.
Where was the Taylor Swift situation?
I think it was the Brit Awards as well.
It was a, yeah, I think it was that.
Why is the Brit Awards always your fucking number one go-to?
No, I think they're all lies, except for Jeremy.
I don't know.
It was probably the only awards ceremony that we get invited to, so.
Never been up for a Grammy?
No, we should be.
Yeah.
Kerang, we've got a Kerang Award.
An enemy.
Yeah, all the UK ones.
They're really tiring you with that UK brush.
Yeah.
Kineo West security guard.
Did he look angry?
You did.
Genuinely angry?
Yeah.
Is that a representation of your poor watercolour skills?
No.
I don't think it's just, you'd be in the room.
He had taken it away again.
Did you let yourself in the room to leave it there?
Or do you slide it under the door?
I slid it under.
Slit that under the door.
Yeah.
That really, unless you are a fucking Bob Ross,
that is never going to look good.
No offense.
than your watercolour skills.
I thought it was the best I could do
and I thought it was quite a gift.
What was the picture of Kanye
that you used as a reference?
It was just one off Google images, I think.
At this time, I was doing a lot of T-shirts
with people's faces on as well,
not watercolour, obviously, but...
I think Kanye West one's a lie.
Because I think you would remember
the photo that you used.
Okay. Well, do you want to know?
Yeah.
That one's true.
No.
Yeah, I'll show you the picture of that later as well.
We'll put that up.
Convierre your passion in a
business with Shopify
and bathe records of ventas
with the form of pay
with a better conversion of the world.
You've heard of bien.
The best conversion
of the world.
The incredible system of
Shopify
facilita the companies in your
website web,
in the reds social
and in the world.
That is music
for your ears.
No,
you'll be more whelts.
Your business
will be a super-exit
with Shopify.
Empeza your period of
Peruvre per month
in Shopify.combeer records
Can the picture come up?
Yeah, that's fucking
There it is there
We'll have it up there right now
The bro, no wonder he was pissed off
It's not fucking
Get back to your microphone
We need to talk about this
You slip that under his fucking door
Yeah
I don't know the rules
But as a white man
I don't know if you can do it
I mean it looks like he's wearing a choker
That's the only thing I'd say.
I think that's pretty good.
It looks like a fucking hieroglyph.
You can't just slide that under his...
It looks like him.
I'll give you that.
Thank you.
It looks like him.
Fuck me.
That's fucking incredible.
Yeah.
So you've just told me actually by accident, but it doesn't matter.
So Jeremy is a lie.
Jeremy's a lie.
Never happened.
I can't believe.
You came in so hot with the name Jeremy.
I know.
It was Taylor Swift pissed off that you nearly hit her in the face?
She was she all right?
No, she was fine.
She was fun about it.
Her security guard was a little bit.
You spent,
it was that the same day as Kanye.
You were on a fucking mad one with the security guards.
Yeah,
they had a separate security briefing for you.
That's it.
That drummer.
He's crazy.
He's left Kanye some weird unabomber fucking manifesto.
And he's tried to kill Taylor.
Taylor Swift, yeah.
Oh my God.
You've had some fucking stories.
Yeah.
That's just one night.
And a fake night involving a frog.
Yeah.
I think we can leave it there.
That's a good ending.
Thanks.
Thanks for coming on.
Thank you for having me.
It's a long time coming.
Yeah.
I'm looking forward to seeing tomorrow.
Thank you.
Can't fucking wait.
Let's go and eat some food.
I'm desperate.
Bye, everyone.
