Band of Skulls top the rock body

RUNNING the microscope over the Splendour in the Grass lineup, it soon becomes apparent the bill is anatomically correct.

Band of Skulls Hit

RUNNING the microscope over the Splendour in the Grass lineup, it soon becomes apparent the bill is anatomically correct.

Band of Skulls, Muscles, Bleeding Knees Club, The Shins, The Afghan Whigs and Gloves all feature.

Thus, it makes sense to suggest to Band of Skulls' effortlessly cool frontman and axe-slinger Russell Marsden they will band together and gang up on the others. Surely.

"Yes, we will form a rock-body. And seeing as we're on top of it that sounds fine," he quips in gentle English tones, not missing a beat. "We'll have quite a good view of everything."

In truth, Band of Skulls doesn't really need back-up.

In three years the band has gone from making a dusty rock album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, to a retina-searing, stadium-cheering second record, Sweet Sour, consolidating their sound without jagging off course.

Sweet Sour is a grunting, lurching bunch of songs that harmonises while it pulverises. And just as Jane's Addiction and The Kills proved on their last albums, with great riffs come great rewards.

Originally called Fleeing New York, the Southampton trio of Marsden, Emma Richardson on bass and vocals and Matt Hayward on drums decided a name-change was ripe when they started recording their debut album.

Now they're playing the main stage at bigger-than-Texas US festival Coachella. No big deal. Marsden shakes his head at the memory.

"We played Coachella two weekends in a row," he says. "That was the peak of intensity. It was good to step up to that challenge of the main stage and get stuck into it. You have to bring your A game because you're around a bunch of great bands."

Great bands and, um, exhumed virtual reality rappers.

"The 2Pac hologram was quite something. It even made the mainstream news back home. We got to watch it twice and we were up quite close. It wasn't quite the same the second time. It was all about the surprise. That festival is essentially Groundhog Day," Marsden says.

Band of Skulls is playing plenty of sideshows while it's here for a second Australian tour, but Marsden has festivals on his mind, specifically blowing bands off stage at Splendour in the Grass.

Which artists in particular? "All of them," he replies. "We want to see Smashing Pumpkins. I love those songs. I'm also curious to see Jack White. He always does something interesting with new records," he says.

"But Bloc Party aren't on my radar really. I remember them a few years back but I've never seen them before. If I have an hour off I'll check them out," he shrugs, giving a cheeky backhander to Kele's skull.

Band of Skulls are well aware of their position in the UK's rock 'n' roll hierarchy, especially being a band that owes much to older groups such as Black Sabbath and other deceptively blues-y acts. When they decamped to record at Rockfield Studios in Wales that history was practically dripping off the walls.

"Right outside the Rockfield Studios there's a curry house that says 'The Best Curry South of Birmingham - Ozzy Osbourne'. Everything's touched by the hand of rock 'n' roll," he says.

"The Welsh may be mad but they're very good at attracting rock legends to their studios." 

HEAR Sweet Sour (Mushroom/Liberator Records) out now. 

SEE BAND OF SKULLS

NSW The Factory Theatre, Sydney, July 27, $49.50+bf,  factorytheatre.com.au; Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay, July 28, sold out.

VIC Corner Hotel, Richmond, July 22 and 26, $49.50+bf, cornerhotel.com