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The Bowery Presents Live Features Band of Skulls

May 10th, 2012

The English trio Fleeing New York—Matt Hayward, Russell Marsden and Emma Richardson—began playing shows around London about eight years ago. At first blush, their songs might have come across as just your standard guitar-drums-and- bass fare. But the music was like a restaurant with a straightforward menu comprised of high-quality ingredients. And so what seemed simple was actually a bit more complex. This really began to become obvious following the group’s name change to Band of Skulls (in 2008) and the release of their debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey (in 2009), with its lead single “Light of the Morning,” which later appeared in a Mustang commercial. Cut to this year, and Band of Skulls have put out another top-flight album, Sweet Sour. As the featured band today on The Bowery Presents Live, see them play the album’s title track, above, in a sculptor’s studio in Brooklyn and then watch them talking about letting their experiences into their music. And, of course, make sure you subscribe to The Bowery Presents Live for plenty of performances, interviews and live-streamed shows.

Tags: Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, Band of Skulls, Emma Richardson, Matt Hayward, Russell Marsden, Sweet Sour, The Bowery Presents Live, Video
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Two Nights of Two Great Bands

March 30th, 2010

Parker Gispert (guitar, keys and vocals), Julian Dorio (drums) and Hank Sullivan (bass) formed the Whigs in the music hotbed of Athens, Ga., while attending the University of Georgia. They played live shows for about three years before finally recording their frenetic garage-rock sound on their first album, Give ’Em All a Big Fat Lip, in 2005. A year later, Rolling Stone suggested that they “may well be the best unsigned band in America.” Since then, the Whigs have released two more albums, including In the Dark, which came out just two weeks ago.

Emma Richardson (bass and vocals), Matt Hayward (drums) and Russell Marsden (guitar and vocals) also met in college, in Southampton, England. They soon formed a band, Fleeing New York, and played as many London nightclubs as possible. They later changed the group’s name to Band of Skulls and put out an attention-grabbing demo in 2008. The following year, they released their bluesy debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, and toured the world. And now they’re back in our corner of it because the Whigs (above, playing “Already Young” and “Like a Vibration” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!) and Band of Skulls (below, playing “I Know What I Am” also on Jimmy Kimmel Live!) will take turns headlining tomorrow at The Bowery Ballroom, which is sold out, and on Thursday at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tags: Band of Skulls, Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Preview, the Whigs, Video
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When Three Sound Like More

August 18th, 2009

Band of Skulls – Mercury Lounge – August 16, 2009

Band of Skulls is a three-piece rock group that sounds like more. Perhaps, there are glibber ways to explain the volume and density coming out of the speakers at Mercury Lounge last night but, in this case, we’ll settle for: Band of Skulls is a three-piece rock group that sounds like more.

In a move that was either arrogant or knowing, the band chose the radio- ready single “I Know What I Am” as the second song of the night. It is one of those upright, wide-open, fist- pumping rock songs. It’s hard to replicate. They would either have the songs to support playing something so big, so early, or they wouldn’t. In this case, they had enough up front to carry the set.

The most striking thing about Band of Skulls is the two singers’ interplay. Though one is female and the other is male, the qualitative conjunction is powerful. In the fourth song of the night, the two came face-to-face, in vaguely seductive magnetism, and for a moment they looked as though they might kiss. I would be lying if I said the crowd wasn’t rooting for this. It ended up being more collaborative than sexual. Something that, I suspect, is exactly why a three-piece rock band can sound this big. They played nine songs and a single encore with playful back-and-forth throughout. This was rock music: loud and certain. It maybe even sounded like more. —Geoff Nelson

Tags: Band of Skulls, Mercury Lounge, Review
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A Night of Guitar Rock at The Bowery Ballroom

June 23rd, 2009

Spinnerette/Band of Skulls/the Gay Blades – The Bowery Ballroom – June 22, 2009

When I ran into the Gay Blades’ Clark Westfield at last week’s Metric show, he squealed with excitement at the prospect of playing The Bowery Ballroom for the first time. Well, last night, the NYC-based duo put on a rockin’, cherry-poppin’ show. Westfield (vocals and guitar) and drummer Puppy Mills play trash pop—the result of two wannabe hipsters without a bass player, but making up for it with loads of confidence. However, perhaps what sets them apart most from the legions of other two-person noise-making bands out there is what they have to say—both in their humorous live show and their witty, often wordplay- and metaphor-filled lyrics. “O Shot,” which features some hard-hitting drums from Mills, had more than a few fans rocking out hard.

The three-piece Band of Skulls, from London, played a tight, grungy retro-rock set, though a bit more subdued than either of the bands they shared the stage with. Front woman and bassist Emma Richardson mesmerized with howling vocals and an oh-so-cool swagger.

The headliner, Spinnerette, featuring ex-Distillers members Brody Dalle and Tony Bevilacqua, on vocals and guitar respectively, put on their own rockin’ show—almost unexpectedly because the record’s sound is a bit more toned down and moody. All eyes were on Dalle. Years ago, she was quite obviously still coming into her own, perhaps somewhat left in the shadow of her famous then-husband, Tim Armstrong of Rancid. However, with her transition to a new life, including Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Homme on her arm and their daughter, Dalle has physically turned from girl to woman in front of our eyes, and her onstage persona has changed to accompany this new image: She’s seemingly softened over the years, and perhaps it’s because she no longer carries a guitar onstage, instead spending more time dancing and crooning rather than shredding and screaming. Interestingly, Dalle still has the adoration of her fans—many girls sported haircuts similar to Dalle’s previous styles, and the starry-eyed boys pushed up front to sing her lyrics right back to her. Overall, it was a great night of loud, distorted guitar rock. —Kirsten Housel