Royal Blood is a rock ’n’ roll band that has eschewed the use of that rock ’n’ roll staple, the six-string guitar, but don’t ask why. No, really. Don’t. Singer-bassist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher have made it quite clear in recent interviews that they are weary of being called upon to explain their project’s lineup.

Fair enough. The Brighton-based pair have earned the right to avoid questions they find tiresome at this point in their career. Royal Blood’s self-titled debut album hit No. 1 in the U.K. when it came out back in 2014, and its second, How Did We Get So Dark?, did the same upon its release this June.

It’s worth noting, however, that the latter LP rarely comes across like the work of only two men. It’s a huge-sounding affair, and while Kerr’s bombastic, distorted bass-playing and Thatcher’s hammer-of-the-gods drumming are what propel riff-driven rockers like “I Only Lie When I Love You” and “Hook, Line & Sinker”, it’s a more sophisticated and nuanced record than its predecessor. “Look Like You Know”, for example, boasts ambitiously layered vocal harmonies, while “Hole in Your Heart” is buoyed by an electric-piano line that carries the verses.

Calling from his dressing room at the WayHome festival in the township of Oro-Medonte, Ontario, Kerr tells the Straight that when he and Thatcher were laying down the tracks for How Did We Get So Dark?, they weren’t concerned with how they would pull it all off on-stage.

“I think every musician recognizes that playing live and making a record are two different worlds anyway,” he says. “There’s always an element of separating those two. I guess for us, it doesn’t really matter what we do on a record, as long as it’s me and Ben doing it. I think it’s just sort of by chance, really, that we’re able to do all of it live without anyone else, currently.”

Currently? Surely Kerr realizes that he’s making it very, very hard not to ask questions about Royal Blood’s lineup—like why the band hasn’t added a third member to flesh its sound out even more.

“It just so happens that currently there is two of us,” the cagey bassist continues. “I just think we abide by the music, really. And, at the moment, the music we’re making we felt sounded better with less on it, you know. We’ll cross that path when we come to it, basically, but we’re fairly open-minded about that happening.”

If that does happen, it will inevitably alter the group’s sonic dynamic, which is based on the telepathically tight interplay of two men with a common aesthetic. Kerr seems surprisingly willing to let that happen.

“I think every artist looks to develop and move forwards,” he says. “Whether they do that or not is a different story. For us, it’s about development. We’re always looking to evolve and try something new. We’re probably quite fortunate in the sense that two records in we have a fairly established sound—so we’re probably in a good place to destroy it.”

Royal Blood plays the Commodore Ballroom on Tuesday (August 8).