Russell Marsden - Band of Skulls (16/06/2014)
Band of Skulls are a band from Southampton, a town known for its cruise ships, tell us about the music scene there.
You’re right, whenever we describe the city it is a port. For the last five years or so we haven’t really been at home apart from playing gigs, before that I can talk about what it was like then and I think a very mixed music scene and we always felt like we were on our own, we were outsiders, it was only in later years that we met some other bands from our city. I think it’s good, it’s a college town so there’s always people coming and leaving, it changes year to year. There’s still young kids forming bands.
Back in 2009 the band signed to a USA label which really got the band out there, did you form a relationship with a label overseas because of lack of opportunity in your home town?
Yes we did have connections in the USA from the get go I think for us, that was our first opportunity which was ‘would you like to go out on the road in the states’ and we took it and it was a great learning curve for us, touring such a big country and playing up against lots of other bands, the states really taught us a lot, there’s something about the work ethic and the amount of pain you have to go through to get around such a vast country and continent so once we had achieved the first or second tour we’d learnt so much, it improved us as a band. It didn’t come easy, we had to go and play to ten people a night in a bar and rehearse for 12 hours a week so we did that, it’s character building.
Those tours obviously opened so many doors for the band and developed relationships with TV shows & movie soundtracks how did that change the bands status being so commercially popular?
The thing is it’s true our music has been used in various things it’s never interfered with how we make music it’s always after you make a record and then the song that you made finds a home somewhere and gets out another way, so it never enters our mind when we’re making music or when we are playing songs at a gig, it’s just another way to reach people and let people hear you who wouldn’t hear you on radio or at a festival and there’s people who have discovered us through that and it’s been really helpful but it never effects how we create it.
And being on the Twilight soundtrack did you attract a lot of teenage fans after that release?
There was a month where it was a bit weird and the audience changed a little bit I mean people came to check it out and some of them stayed and became fans of the band, we didn’t know what Twilight was until we were on the soundtrack. We went to one of the premiers of the film to see what it was all about and met some of the actors, it was a very strange whirlwind at the time and it looked like they hadn’t been asleep in a while and that was it really, we met the actors and everything was back to normal.
Is that a world that Band Of Skulls don’t feel comfortable in?
It’s an interesting window into someone else’s world. We’re not actors so there’s another world, we’re a rock’n’roll band so night clubs, bars and festivals is our natural habitat, it’s where we grew up. I’m sitting outside one right now, this is the David Attenborough of rock’n’roll, I’m in my natural environment (laughing) believe me it’s not that special, I’m at the security door of a theatre in Portland, it’s raining. It’s pure glamour.
With being so busy on the road how do you work on recording?
We had to find a new way of working and find the time to work naturally, we steel any time we’ve got now, the latest records just come out but we’re already planning the next one, what songs people have got and what we can do. Writing songs is not something you choose to do it’s something you’re meant to do and it’s good seeing the other end of ideas, we are excited to see what we do next.
Saying that, with the first album I understand it was released early due to popular demand, looking back are you happy with the final product?
Yeah I think you can overwork things and in the future we want to make more records than less, that’s your legacy as an artist, what songs you’ve written and what songs you’ve released. I’d like to put more out. There’s no point messing with things, sometimes the best ideas are left a little bit raw and that’s when the excitement still exists, in the 1950s you could make a whole album in an afternoon so a couple of months will do fine thank you very much.
New album Himalayan was one of 2014s most anticipated releases were you aware of the hype when making it?
No. it’s nice it’s anticipated and it’s nice that people know about the band now, on our first record it was a matter of putting the record out and then people discovering it. We had our own set of expectations and we’re really happy with how it turned out, I think the live show now is the best it’s ever been we always want to be opening doors for ourselves and not closing any, not type casting ourselves and we love the fact that we could do anything next, that’s what really motivates us.
Cassie Walker
Tuesday 17th June || Hi Fi || Melbourne SOLD OUT
www.thehifi.com.au 125 Swanston St Melbourne
Tickets from http://secretsounds.oztix.com.au
Doors open 8pm
Wednesday 18th June || Doc Martins Stand For Something Series || Melbourne
https://www.facebook.com/drmartensausnz/app_208195102528120
Friday 20th June || Hi Fi || Sydney
www.thehifi.com.au Entertainment Quarter Moore Park
Tickets from http://secretsounds.oztix.com.au
Doors open 8pm
Saturday 21st June || Hi Fi || Brisbane
www.thehifi.com.au 125 Boundary St West End
Tickets from http://secretsounds.oztix.com.au
Doors open 8pm
You’re right, whenever we describe the city it is a port. For the last five years or so we haven’t really been at home apart from playing gigs, before that I can talk about what it was like then and I think a very mixed music scene and we always felt like we were on our own, we were outsiders, it was only in later years that we met some other bands from our city. I think it’s good, it’s a college town so there’s always people coming and leaving, it changes year to year. There’s still young kids forming bands.
Back in 2009 the band signed to a USA label which really got the band out there, did you form a relationship with a label overseas because of lack of opportunity in your home town?
Yes we did have connections in the USA from the get go I think for us, that was our first opportunity which was ‘would you like to go out on the road in the states’ and we took it and it was a great learning curve for us, touring such a big country and playing up against lots of other bands, the states really taught us a lot, there’s something about the work ethic and the amount of pain you have to go through to get around such a vast country and continent so once we had achieved the first or second tour we’d learnt so much, it improved us as a band. It didn’t come easy, we had to go and play to ten people a night in a bar and rehearse for 12 hours a week so we did that, it’s character building.
Those tours obviously opened so many doors for the band and developed relationships with TV shows & movie soundtracks how did that change the bands status being so commercially popular?
The thing is it’s true our music has been used in various things it’s never interfered with how we make music it’s always after you make a record and then the song that you made finds a home somewhere and gets out another way, so it never enters our mind when we’re making music or when we are playing songs at a gig, it’s just another way to reach people and let people hear you who wouldn’t hear you on radio or at a festival and there’s people who have discovered us through that and it’s been really helpful but it never effects how we create it.
And being on the Twilight soundtrack did you attract a lot of teenage fans after that release?
There was a month where it was a bit weird and the audience changed a little bit I mean people came to check it out and some of them stayed and became fans of the band, we didn’t know what Twilight was until we were on the soundtrack. We went to one of the premiers of the film to see what it was all about and met some of the actors, it was a very strange whirlwind at the time and it looked like they hadn’t been asleep in a while and that was it really, we met the actors and everything was back to normal.
Is that a world that Band Of Skulls don’t feel comfortable in?
It’s an interesting window into someone else’s world. We’re not actors so there’s another world, we’re a rock’n’roll band so night clubs, bars and festivals is our natural habitat, it’s where we grew up. I’m sitting outside one right now, this is the David Attenborough of rock’n’roll, I’m in my natural environment (laughing) believe me it’s not that special, I’m at the security door of a theatre in Portland, it’s raining. It’s pure glamour.
With being so busy on the road how do you work on recording?
We had to find a new way of working and find the time to work naturally, we steel any time we’ve got now, the latest records just come out but we’re already planning the next one, what songs people have got and what we can do. Writing songs is not something you choose to do it’s something you’re meant to do and it’s good seeing the other end of ideas, we are excited to see what we do next.
Saying that, with the first album I understand it was released early due to popular demand, looking back are you happy with the final product?
Yeah I think you can overwork things and in the future we want to make more records than less, that’s your legacy as an artist, what songs you’ve written and what songs you’ve released. I’d like to put more out. There’s no point messing with things, sometimes the best ideas are left a little bit raw and that’s when the excitement still exists, in the 1950s you could make a whole album in an afternoon so a couple of months will do fine thank you very much.
New album Himalayan was one of 2014s most anticipated releases were you aware of the hype when making it?
No. it’s nice it’s anticipated and it’s nice that people know about the band now, on our first record it was a matter of putting the record out and then people discovering it. We had our own set of expectations and we’re really happy with how it turned out, I think the live show now is the best it’s ever been we always want to be opening doors for ourselves and not closing any, not type casting ourselves and we love the fact that we could do anything next, that’s what really motivates us.
Cassie Walker
Tuesday 17th June || Hi Fi || Melbourne SOLD OUT
www.thehifi.com.au 125 Swanston St Melbourne
Tickets from http://secretsounds.oztix.com.au
Doors open 8pm
Wednesday 18th June || Doc Martins Stand For Something Series || Melbourne
https://www.facebook.com/drmartensausnz/app_208195102528120
Friday 20th June || Hi Fi || Sydney
www.thehifi.com.au Entertainment Quarter Moore Park
Tickets from http://secretsounds.oztix.com.au
Doors open 8pm
Saturday 21st June || Hi Fi || Brisbane
www.thehifi.com.au 125 Boundary St West End
Tickets from http://secretsounds.oztix.com.au
Doors open 8pm