The Amazons have shared a new collaborative single with Royal Blood in the form of ‘My Blood’ – check it out below.
The Reading band are preparing to release their fourth studio album ‘21st Century Fiction’ on May 9 via Nettwerk Music Group and unveiled its lead single ‘Living A Lie’ and follow-up ‘Pitch Black’ in the final months of 2024.
Now, they have unleashed ‘My Blood’, a raucous, triumphant rock track that makes use of the thunderous drumming of Royal Blood’s Ben Thatcher and the production of Mike Kerr. Listen here:
“Why do we carry on when the chips are down and all we hear is ‘stop’?,” Amazons frontman Matt Thomson has said about the track’s inception. “‘My Blood’ is an exploration into why, when you truly believe in something, you can push yourself past the point of pain. It’s not something you can intellectualise, it’s something you feel. With age comes more responsibilities, obstacles, reasons to quit. But in ‘My Blood’ I wanted to illustrate a force out of our control, deep inside of us, that forsakes that rational thinking.”
Thomson has also spoken about his choice to work with Royal Blood on the song. “Mike was one of the first people I spoke to about collaborating on ‘21st Century Fiction’,” he explained. “He’s become somewhat of a mentor over the years. He’s one of the few in the industry I can pick up the phone to and sink away the hours.”
“I felt this album and ‘My Blood’ was the right time to dig deeper into the shared language I feel we have. And any opportunity to work with artists we respect and admire is one we want to take.”
The Amazons recently spoke to NME about working alongside Royal Blood on the song. “There’s definitely a shared language, which was a thrill to see… in the barenaked creative process, in Royal Blood’s studio,” Thomson said. “Mike was actually the first person attached to this record. I picked up the phone to him and said, ‘Do you want to [produce] an Amazons record?’ I think he was surprised, but excited and adamant that we were only going to do one song instead of the whole album. He said, ‘We need to make sure that we shake each other’s hands and remain friends after.’”
Expanding on the input of Thatcher, Thomson described him as a “blockbuster drummer”, adding: “Some of the fills that he was pulling off were just jaw-dropping. He’s got these gospel chops, this technique that’s really baked in from a young age. He hits like an absolute monster.”
The Amazons’ last album was 2022’s ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?’, which NME awarded three stars, noting: “‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me’ certain packs enough mainstream punch to keep the band on their perch as a British festival fixture, while also showing glimmers of what The Amazons are capable of, but it’s hard not to wonder what they’d sound like if they leant further into those more diverse sounds and influences.”