Two Nights of Two Great Bands
March 30th, 2010Parker 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.
