Chart-topping British rock stars Royal Blood have revealed that they were asked to appear on last year’s Band Aid 30 record for charity, but that they turned the opportunity down when they were told that they couldn’t sing Bono’s line.

The duo were being interviewed by The Telegraph when drummer Ben Thatcher said that the highlight of their meteoric rise was having a lengthy conversation with Bono at the MTV Music Awards. The ceremony took place on November 9th, in the run-up to the recording of the single when the cast was being assembled, and the conversation turned in the direction of Bob Geldof's famous charity song.

Royal Blood
Royal Blood in action: Mike Kerr (l) and Ben Thatcher (r)

“We were actually talking about the Band Aid single,” said Thatcher. “It was just about to happen. We'd been approached to do it but it didn’t work out. Ed Sheeran and all the other pop stars were also there, and everybody was standing around talking about whether or not they were going to do it.”

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“I said to Bono I would only do it if I could sing his famous line with him. And then he said, ‘Funnily enough, I'm actually changing my line’. So I said, ‘Well, I'm not doing it then’.” Singer Mike Kerr added “We’d only do it if Ben could dress up as Bono.”

The Band Aid 30 single was released to raise money and awareness of the fight against the ebola virus in West Africa. It debuted at Number 1 in late November last year.

Bono’s line was indeed changed, from “well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you” to “well tonight we’re reaching out and touching you.”

Royal Blood's self-titled debut album was released last summer to rave reviews, hitting the top of the UK charts and becoming the fastest-selling rock album in three years in the process.

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