Royal Blood frontman Mike Kerr has addressed his on stage antics (Picture: BBC)
Royal Blood singer Mike Kerr has insisted he ‘meant no offence’ at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
The rock duo took to the main stage of the Dundee festival last weekend nestled between Niall Horan and Lewis Capaldi, and the frontman caused uproar as he called the crowd ‘pathetic’ and left with his middle fingers in the air.
However, now he has claimed his sense of humour is ‘dry as MDF’ and he was simply ‘trying to make light of the situation’.
The band have been lambasted online for the behaviour from fans and fellow musicians, with the performance cut from the BBC’s online coverage while a video shared by The Rock Revival went viral on Twitter with more than 18 million views.
Speaking to Greg James on his Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Mike said: ‘I’m amazed at how that escalated to that kind of size.
‘Walking off from that show I felt I was being entertaining, in a way of trying to make light of the situation, perhaps I was doing a performance where I felt a little bit out of place.
‘I expected to be a little bit bemused and maybe confuse a few people, but not to that kind of scale. [It was] pretty wild.’
Drummer Ben Thatcher added: ‘It was a moment of madness that has gone out of control I think. We actually loved the gig. We love playing music, and we love doing what we do. So it has been a bit of a mad week to come out of this.’
Mike continued: ‘It was somewhat of a blip on my part, because it would have taken me three minutes to think, “Maybe these people don’t know who you are”. But I wasn’t going through that thought process.
He branded the Dundee crowd ‘pathetic’ and raised his middle fingers in the air (Picture: BBC)
He and bandmate Ben Thatcher were surprised by the backlash (Picture: BBC)
‘I was very pumped backstage and I actually really enjoyed playing, I had a great time. The ending to me, I felt like a sort of pro wrestler. I was walking off like a sort of pantomime villain, I didn’t feel like I’d done anything morally wrong.
‘I felt like a bit of a wind-up. Honestly, that’s kind of how I felt.’
Mike has since watched the performance back, and noted that when he’s ‘in that zone’ there’s a side of his personality that ‘only exists on stage’.
He explained: ‘I can’t find any other context in which I’m that energised. I feel like I look different when I’m on stage. Offstage, I’m very quiet and sort of awkward.
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“That’s why I love it, because there’s an energy to it. I guess it’s very easy to get sort of swept up in that energy and honestly, it’s quite fun and I don’t mean any offence. My intention is never to alienate anyone or anyone away.’
He also had a message for the crowd from Dundee, and said: ‘My message is that I meant no offence. We look forward to coming back.’
He quipped: ‘And applause is optional.’
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The duo have responded to the backlash.