Words and photography: Jack Flynn
Throwing down effortless, gargantuan riffs intertwined with acoustic ballads, Band of Skulls celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their debut album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey with an enamoured Sheffield crowd.
The Southampton trio begin with the funky swagger of ‘Love Is All You Love’ – the title track of their 2019 album – but to really up the ante, the band treat us to the relentless gallop of ‘You’re Not Pretty But You Got It Going on’ from 2012 album Sweet Sour. It’s a fantastically intense track, brimming with energy, limbering up the crowd up before the band launch into the full debut album playback that had drawn us all to Leadmill tonight.
Russell Marsden plays some pretty formidable guitar, gleefully hopping between fuzzy octave pedal-driven riffs and warm reverb-soaked clean chords. Emma Richardson’s highly effective basslines join in to make a truly massive sound for only three band members. Nashville-based drummer Julian Dorio is a relatively new addition to the band, joining before the 2019 release of the Love Is All You Love album, but he slots in brilliantly and ensures the debut album tracks still retain the necessary muscular drum sound that accompanies the thumping trademark Band of Skulls chugging rhythm.
After the stomping groove of fan favourite ‘I Know What I Am’, a curious looking vintage-style microphone is brought out to centre stage. Still smoking from the previous blistering song, electric guitars are quickly holstered and exchanged for a pair of acoustics. Russell and Emma gather around the single microphone “Beatles style” and begin playing the two soothingly mellow tunes, ‘Hometowns’ and ‘Honest’, with the dextrous and ambitious vocal harmonies that are Band Of Skulls’ secret weapon. Adding a rich but subtle contrast to the heavier songs, this short acoustic sanctuary within the set, allows the captivated crowd to hone in on delicate vocals in a hushed Leadmill. This prompts one fan to call out into the pin drop silence: “That were bloody beautiful, mate!” Russell replies “No, you’re beautiful! Well… I can’t actually see you, but I’m gonna assume you are anyway!”
After huge applause, it’s back to business with the massive lurching rocker ‘Patterns’, this time with lead vocals expertly performed by bass player Emma. The rest of the debut album is received with great enthusiasm by the crowd, who don’t usually get to hear their favourite debut album deep-cuts. Complete with sprawling psychedelic breakdowns that bridge soothing melancholy verses with monstrously boneshaking chorus riffs.
The set closes with a string of singles from the later albums:‘Sweet Sour’, ‘Himalayan’, and ‘That’s My Trouble’ and ‘Asleep At The Wheel’ as an encore. Each one is a furiously pounding high energy rock’n’roll masterpiece, complete with a barrage of Jack White-esque guitar solos, which left the faces of the Sheffield crowd well and truly melted.
