Saturday 8 May 2010

Band of Skulls, Leeds, Cockpit, Friday 7 May 2010

So last night Jase and I piled into the car with the babies and we headed down the motorway to Leeds.  Dump the kids off with my ever lovely Auntie Lisa and away to Leeds we went to see Band of Skulls at Cockpit.  You might remember me blogging about the first single ('I Know What I Am') a little while ago.

We got there when the support act was part way through their set - a combination of setting off late and having to drive fourteen times around Leeds' loop road waiting for a flashback to where Cockpit actually was bubbled up to the surface of my memory.  Fourteen times round Leeds loop road is NOT BAD AT ALL given the last time I was at Cockpit I littered the way out with a path of puke puddles like some hammered Hansel from the totally wrong version of that fairy tale. EDIT:  This was like... in 1998 or something, btw!

Anyway -- where was I? 

(hic!)

Support band.  Right.  A cute little indie packet out of Southampton called Thomas Tantrum.  We only saw three songs (sorry about that, kids) but hey -- they were pretty cool! Light and head boppy but not in an annoying fluffy way yet with a driving thunky thuddy rhythm section; right up my street.  If you were dancing to them, you'd definitely be doing a lot of spinny-aroundy moves.  We both enjoyed them and were a little sorry my poor urban navigational skills prevented us from getting there to see the whole set. 


Band of Skulls were brilliant - a short little set, though!  They came on just before 9 o'clock and we were walking back to the car at 10!  That's what you get for only having one record.  I took some really lovely photos.  Jase and I were both a little smitten with their cute-as-a-button bass player, Emma Richardson.  Entranced by her sexy Chrissie Hynde meets Joey Ramone stage presence, we were quite happy to watch her rock out.

Obviously, I know this isn't Emma Richardson.  She's a few photos down.

 Their singer, Russell Marsden, was a powerhouse.  Look up 'reckless abandon' in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of him.  Totally uninhibited, even in such a tiny little venue (and you all know how I love me my tiny little venues).  Jason stood in a kind of rapture only possible to be induced by live hard heavy rock combined with comradely appreciation for a a guitarist and a drummer who also have fucking giant beards.  (No offense, Skull boys, you're lovely -- I JUST WANT MY HUSBAND TO SHAVE ALREADY.) 
Rock me, rock me, rock me.

For a teeny little three piece these rocknrolla's sure do make a lot of noise.  They played most of their record -- not a lot of between-song-banter but who needs that shit anyway -- from where I was standing, the energy and synergy and electricity zapping around their triangle was visibly buzzing, resulting in a tight little rock-your-face-off setlist.  Highlights for me?  Of course the aforementioned 'I Know What I Am'-- but also Death By Diamonds and Pearls and Hollywood Bowl (which I thought was going to be a cover of Bauhaus' 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' at first and nearly shit myself).

Well done, Skulls! 

Here are the photos I took - hope you enjoy them.


3 comments:

msa said...

I have "Friends" in heavy rotation on my iPod right now. Actually I just looked up their album to see if All Music gave it a decent rating and a) All Music hasn't rated it (WTF? It was released last year, and it's not like this band is obscure) and b) "Friends" isn't even on the album! Turns off it's off the Twilight movie soundtrack. Eh wah?

Anyway, at the off chance you haven't heard "Friends" yet, definitely check it out!

Mammy P said...

Ah! I remember it from the gig and we just assumed it was a new track. Twilight soundtrack? Hack, bleargh.

They lend 'I Know What I Am' to a Swatch commercial here, where all the people in the ad have more than one watch of. Hey wait - that reminds me of someone... :-)

Mammy P said...

More than one watch ON. ON!