Band of Skulls

Having released their fourth album back in May earlier this year, Band of Skulls stopped off in Manchester on the second night of their headline tour of the UK.

The Albert Hall is a perfect venue for the airing of tracks from Band of Skulls’ recent album ‘By Default’. The majority of the album was composed in a little charming church in their hometown, Southampton, so the Albert Hall, with its rich, gothic style, and origins as a Methodist Central Hall in the 20th century, couldn’t be any more fitting.

The trio, made up of Russell Marsden (Guitar, Vocals), Emma Richardson (Bass, Vocals) and Matt Hayward (Drums) took to the stage around 9pm, kicking off their extensive set with ‘In Love By Default’, the recent album’s part-namesake.

Band of Skulls’ sound is instantly impressive and manages to reach every corner of the venue, and really accentuates the punchiness of ‘Light of the Morning’ and the echoing harmonies and thumping of ‘Himalayan’.

The catchy ‘Bodies’ is another track whose harmonies benefit from the ethereal resonance of the surroundings, whilst ‘Black Magic’, the album opener of ‘By Default’, is full of fun live. Once the fast-paced ‘Black Magic’ ends Marsden takes a rare moment to talk to the audience to say: “Let’s see what you can sing and we’ll start with something easy” before launching into the intro to ‘Patterns’, from their 2009 debut album ‘Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’. During their warm-up shows back in April and May ‘Patterns’ was left out of the set-list, which was a surprise for all fans, but its inclusion meant the dropping of lead single ‘Killer’.

Part of the success of Band of Skulls’ music is the blending together of Marsden and Richardson’s voices. Richardson’s voice is powerful but some of the songs seem to hide her ability, and it’s only on songs such as ‘So Good’ and ‘Honest’ (which saw its first UK debut) that truly work to highlight her voice live.

‘Sweet Sour’ seems to get the biggest reaction of the night, whilst ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and ‘Blood’ seem to fall a bit flat until the crowd’s energy picks up again with ‘I Feel Like Ten Men, Nine Dead and One Dying’.

What Band of Skulls manage to do well is the incorporation of a spread of songs taken from their various albums. There’s a dominance of ‘Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’ throughout, mixed with several ‘Sweet Sour’ and ‘Himalayan’ tracks, and lastly an air of ‘By Default’. It’s hard for an audience to complain about the selection when Band of Skulls have such an extensive collection of tracks and a variety of people and tastes to appeal to.

Band of Skulls may have the catchy songs with the heavy and boastful riffs, but they don’t play them with the arrogance that some bands would. It could be the result of rarely being off tour, but at the same time there isn’t any impression that they are bored of touring; they’re simply unassuming.

The songs are strong enough themselves but sometimes the audience just needs a little edge out of their comfort zone. This could partly be down to the angelic essence of the venue, but never-the-less Marsden does attempt to rouse the audience, which eventually pays off towards the end of their gig. The gig really picks up with outings of tracks such as the 70s glam-rock crossed with Tame Impala ‘Hoochie Coochie’, and ‘The Devil Takes Care of His Own’.

‘Death By Diamonds and Pearls’, a song that shouts a Jack White style with anthemic-sounding drums, could easily have been the last song of the set with people ready to go home before the band had been back out to play their encore. They soon return to the stage to play ‘I Know What I Am’, the melody line echoing their previous touring buddies, The Black Keys, and ending their set with the forceful and assertive ‘Asleep at the Wheel’.

Having toured with the likes of Muse and Queens of the Stone Age it’s no wonder Band of Skulls’ live shows are memorable and exact, having learned from the best. The blues-rock trio from Southampton won’t stay out of sight for long and it’s only a matter of time that they get their due.