BAND OF SKULLS return to the UK this October for a run of seven headline shows, following close on the tail of the band’s extensive USA tour and a summer festival run which included Glastonbury, The Secret Garden Party, Leopallooza and Benicassim. The UK tour will see the band joined by MILO FITZPATRICK of The Portico Quartet to showcase material from their acclaimed new album BY DEFAULT.
Produced by the legendary Gil Norton [Pixies, Foo Fighters, Patti Smith] and recorded in Rockfield Studios, BY DEFAULT is the sound of a group on the sharpest form of their career, more engaged and focused than ever before. The album is the follow up to 2014’s HIMALAYAN, with the English trio – RUSSELL MARSDEN [guitar and vocals] EMMA RICHARDSON [bass and vocals] and MATT HAYWARD [drums] – recording the album after taking the conscious decision to take a step back from their relentless worldwide touring schedule, to decamp to and write songs in a Southampton Baptist Church.
After accumulating a sackful of new ideas that had withstood the band’s punishing audition process, the group went into Rockfield Studios with Norton to commit the new songs to tape, bringing with them sounds sampled in the Church.
They also brought with them some of their strongest songs yet – the primal brilliance of opening track BLACK MAGIC and the irresistible dynamics of the BBC Radio 1 supported lead single KILLER – and some of their most surprising songs too. The slow burning drama of the powerful EMBERS and the measured mid-tempo hush of SOMETHING mark new ground for BAND OF SKULLS, demonstrating form and a natural progression with aplomb.
From their 2009 album debut BABY DARLING DOLL FACE HONEY, through to SWEET SOUR in 2012 and HIMALAYAN in 2014, each BAND OF SKULLS release has been heavily supported by their omnipresence on the global touring circuit. This ethos as a live band was established in the UK long before their debut single, I KNOW WHAT I AM, had been given away as iTunes’ first ever Single of the Week, thus granting the band a calling card to book a slew of tiny gigs across America before these quickly turned into larger venues in larger cities.
BAND OF SKULLS LIVE [with support from BONES]
OCTOBER
Thu 20 LEEDS University Stylus
Fri 21 MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Sat 22 NEWCASTLE Northumbria University
Mon 24 BRISTOL SWX
Tue 25 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Wed 26 LONDON Roundhouse
NOVEMBER
Thu 17 SOUTHAMPTON Engine Rooms
