In a little over two years Band of Skulls have been catapulted from obscurity into the minds and onto the lips of hipsters and rock fans around the globe. Formerly known as Fleeing New York, the band was formed by Marsden and childhood friend Matt Hayward (who plays the drums), and rounded out by the sultry Emma Richardson (on bass and vocals), whom Marsden met during his time at an art college.
After three failed attempts to contact Marsden via the reception at the Swiss hotel in which he is ensconced, I finally manage to get him on his cellphone. “No wonder you couldn’t get through,” Marsden tells me with a chuckle, “I still haven’t been able to find the phone in this room. I’m not even sure there is one.” Having been on tour for months already, with no end in sight, I asked Marsden if the hotels all begin to blur into one another. “Absolutely,” he says with an audible sigh, “Some days I wake up and have to remind myself which country I’m in. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s a very tolerable problem to have.”
As Fleeing New York the band enjoyed some success in the underground segment of the UK indie scene, but it’s as Band of Skulls that the trio have really found their stride. I ask Marsden what prompted the name change. “Fleeing New York wasn’t as organised as Band of Skulls. We used to write songs intermittently, so they weren’t always that cohesive when played in a set, and the sound was much more… [pauses] mainstream. We’d been writing a lot of new material, this time with an album in mind, and we felt that our sound had changed so much that we needed a new name too.”
“Changing your name is also a chance to break with your past, and that was something we wanted too. We used to play a club night back home in this venue that had a picture inspired by Hamlet outside and we liked the image of the skull and decided to incorporate it into the name, so I suppose you could say Band of Skulls is the adult version of Fleeing New York. We’ve got a plan now, we know what we like and what we want.”
Their debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey is an incredibly diverse collection of songs, some of them seething, riff-laden, gain-heavy rock anthems in the style of The White Stripes, while others are ballad-like and soothing. I ask Marsden how the songwriting process works for the band, and whether there are ever clashes over which ones make the final cut and which songs get relegated to the recycle bin.
“We’re really passionate about every song on the album, each one is like a child in some ways. I think that’s because of the way we work in studio. We’re all involved in the songwriting process, and we all have veto rights. It can be tough when the other two shoot down a song you’ve been working on for days, but I think the results speak for themselves. I’ve had to learn to be less precious about things. We definitely bash heads occasionally, but for the most part we like to think we know what sounds good, and we have to trust each other. We’re really proud of this album.”
Two of the biggest breaks afforded Band of Skulls to date were the inclusion of their track Friends on the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack, and iTunes featuring their track I Know What I Am as their single of the week back in March. With Friends having been leaked (and not actually making the final album) and iTunes having expressed interest (and subsequently imposing an unanticipated deadline) before the album was complete, I‘m curious as to how lucky they may have thought they were…
Russell laughs, “Luck? Not really. Things just happen, and sometimes they’re unexpectedly good. New Moon was a huge surprise. The track got leaked from the studio and somehow it got picked up by the movie studio. We didn’t know anything about it until we got a call about clearances. It just worked out really well and for that we’re grateful. Similarly, we were still working on the album when the people at iTunes got hold of us and told us they wanted to feature the single and distribute the album. The deadline was only a few weeks away, so we had two choices: either miss the opportunity and take our time with the rest of the recording process, or compress a couple of month’s worth of work into a couple of weeks and take the chance. We figured we should take the chance. We’re really glad we did. It forced us to hurry up, but I think because we’d done so much groundwork the album still came out sounding like we’d wanted it to. We’ll be taking our time a bit more with the next one.”
While on the topic, I asked him how the next album is coming along. “Slowly. Very slowly. We’ve been touring pretty much non-stop. We’re hoping to get back into the studio by the end of the year though.” That incessant touring has included support slots for the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Dead Weather and, more recently, Muse. I’m curious as to what it’s like meeting, and playing alongside, bands you admire. “It’s been amazing!” He enthuses, “You go in with certain expectations and preconceptions about people, but what I’ve found over and over again is that they’re generally just really nice, hardworking people who like making music. It’s not difficult to get on when you’ve got those sorts of basics in common.”
Written By : Craig Wilson
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