The pair, drummer Thatcher and singer/bassist Kerr, say they've spent too much time being compared to other artists and it quickly became a chore. "Being a new band, you spend half your time just defending yourself against comparisons," Kerr tells Drowned In Sound. "I feel sorry for the next band that's going to get the question about Royal Blood and go, 'Obviously, we sound a bit like them, you know�' and it's just going to go on and on.

"When Led Zeppelin started, all they got was 'You sound like Black Sabbath'. You look back at that now and it's a f***ing joke. How did that even happen?"

The pair release their self-titled debut album on August 25 and go on the road with Pixies across North America next month, and they hit back at some who say their sound is unoriginal.