Mike Kerr says success “created a lot of paranoia” for him.
The 31-year-old musician – who is one half of rock duo Royal Blood alongside Ben Thatcher – has admitted he would hate to be “can’t-go-outside famous” because not being able to tell who is “real” would be “extremely toxic” for him.
During a low time in his life, Mike – who is now two years sober – was unable to tell who was really there for him and who was “against” him and couldn’t imagine how “lonely” it must be for major stars having the same experience on a heightened level.
In an interview with The Independent newspaper, he said: “Success, for me, created a lot of paranoia. And being in the state I was in, I became unable to identify who was for me and who was against me. I now can make that distinction and it seems quite comical to me how lost I was in that. I think that’s why [fame] can be a lonely experience. Me and Ben are super grateful we’re not famous. We feel like our music’s famous, but the idea of being can’t-go-outside famous must be so lonely, and that feeling of not knowing who’s real and who isn’t must be extremely toxic. There was definitely a point in my life where I isolated myself as a way of protecting myself from that.”
Meanwhile, the ‘Figure It Out’ hitmaker recently admitted the band wouldn’t “exist” if he hadn’t gotten clean.
The pair will return with their third studio album, ‘Typhoons’, on April 30, their first since the vocalist-and-bassist dealt with his drug and alcohol addiction that took its toll during the band’s second tour.
And Mike has admitted they wouldn’t have been able to make another record or continue without the musician tackling his substance abuse head-on.
He recalled: “I wasn’t really functioning very well after the end of that second tour.
“Instead of destroying the bass, I was basically destroying myself. I got to a point in my life where I had to change my life and reorganise everything. Part of getting f***** up and exhibiting that is also a way of asking for help; you almost want someone to catch you being in a state. The darkest thing is that you can get away with insane s*** and it can go unnoticed.”
He continued: “The problem wasn’t what was happening; the problem was me.
“The journey we went on was incredible, but for me and the way I handle things, I didn’t know that I didn’t have an ‘off’ switch. By the time we were touring the second album I was like, ‘Oh, I’m this guy now – I can’t stop now. I have to go further than anyone else’. Being someone who didn’t want the party to stop meant that I didn’t stop the party when I got home. It’s like coming back to work but still thinking you’re on holiday in Ibiza, wearing a Hawaiian shirt while you cook a barbecue up in the office.”