UK trio Band of Skulls have been dogged by comparisons to the White Stripes and Black Keys since the release of their 2009 garage rock heavy debut, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, bolstered by standout tracks like “Fires” and “Death by Diamonds and Pearls.” But with last month’s release of Himalayan, links to other artists have been pretty much severed with a running order of songs that sound more spacious, atmospheric and arena ready. Due in no small part to hooking up with producer Nick Launay, who’s impressive pedigree includes work with Nick Cave, Arcade Fire and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, record number three continues the upward trajectory.
Vanyaland caught up with singer and guitarist Russell Marsden over the weekend before Band of Skulls took the stage in Philadelphia to talk about fan expectations, doing something as epic as “Purple Rain” and feeling like an American band prior to landing at the House of Blues in Boston tonight.
Michael Christopher: What excites you most about coming over to the States and playing, because it’s kind of where you got your start, unlike most English bands?
Russell Marsden: It was kind of our first bit of touring, playing in America, so in a way it feels like coming home for us. In a way it’s more familiar, but now the venues are bigger and we’ve got more records under our belt but there’s a sense of excitement that’s still there. The other thing is that we’re a rock and roll band, and we’re playing the sort of music that belongs here as well, so we’re very honored to come back to the States and play rock and roll music. It feels right, you know? It’s the land of the guitar [laughs].
So many artists I talk that are from outside of the States say how intimidating it is to play here because of how vast it is and there are so many cities to hit. But it sounds like you avoided that feeling by kicking things off here.
It’s weird; obviously we played a lot of shows before we were signed and everything, but when our touring life began, we left L.A. and started traveling and playing gigs, so it was the opposite. What happened was after we toured America a few times, we went back to Europe and realized how close everything was, and it was really easy. It was an American experience for us.
As a producer, what did Nick bring to the table that maybe you were lacking before?
I don’t see it as us lacking something, I think we wanted to work with somebody else as a challenge to see what we brought to the table in a sense. It was a moment for us to grow as a band. Nick as a person is amazing; he’s got a lot of enthusiasm and confidence to try new things. The first thing he did was he came in and sat in the middle of the studio and he had this boombox thing and played “Purple Rain” and said, “We should make a song as epic as this.” That was the first day.
He’s done some pretty amazing records in the past, working with The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and The Church. What was it from his catalog attracted you to him specifically?
For me it was the Nick Cave angle of things. Nick mixed our last record, Sweet Sour, and we were excited to get that raw, punchy [element]. He’s very dynamic and “brave” is the word I’d use for Nick, he’s always pushing for something new.
You’ve said that going into Sweet Sour there was a sort of pressure because there was now an audience in place waiting on material; did that feeling carry over into the process this time around?
The situation stayed the same, that’s true, we didn’t have an audience the first time around, it wasn’t like we were a buzz band, and we made our record in complete obscurity. This time we knew our audience a lot better and we wanted to grow as a band and take them with us. I think on this record we really discovered the core of our own sound – and it’s a good feeling, it gives you confidence.
There are a wide range of styles on Himalayan, was there anything you were listening to musically going into the recording process that played a part in shaping these songs?
We had done some arena tours with artists like Muse and The Black Keys and I think, not musically, but how our songs might translate not just in a bar. You have to think about how it works playing a bigger stage in front of more people. That occurs naturally, because you have to survive on these big stages and it must have shaped how we worked on the record.
That makes sense, because on songs like “Nightmares,” and “I Guess I Know You Fairly Well” I’m hearing more room to breathe, was that something you consciously wanted to do?
Those songs crush when we want them too, and in the realm of a song, if you don’t go all out in the beginning, it really punches you in the head when it does happen. You can play with those elements, it’s about light and shade. You’ve gotta have some space there.
“I Feel Like Ten Men, Nine Dead, One Dying” – which is probably one of the greatest song titles ever – has sort of a rolling 50s rock vibe to it.
It’s kind of my thing really; I’m into anything rockabilly or 50s, the birth of rock and roll still fascinates. There’s some heavy guitar riffs that aren’t very loud but they’re heavy because they’re brutal. I was listening to a little bit of Duane Eddy last summer, A Million Dollars Worth of Twang – that’s another great title – and I was thinking about what it would be to have a Duane Eddy song with a Black Sabbath chorus. It’s opening doors and breaking a couple of rules along the way.
In the past, especially with the first album, critics found it easy to compare you to big name garage rock bands. Do you think that opening those doors this time around distances the band from that?
We were really lucky that the bands we got compared to the first time around were bands we thought were great; we weren’t being compared to bands we thought were shit. It was a compliment at the time, but yeah, I think everyone wants to have their own thing. We were a garage band, and we still are, and that sounds like rock and roll. But we can only sound like ourselves, I don’t even know how we would begin to sound like somebody else, that would be a whole different career I think.
On the title track you sing, “Himalayan – bigger than you and me” – is that the goal with Band of Skulls?
I think so. It was a line that turned into a song that turned into the album title, and you could probably put it across to the whole band; the band is bigger than us as individuals and we worked really hard to deserve it. And now, having found an audience, we’re very fortunate. I’m really fucking excited about things.