Band of Skulls – Live
There are times, just a few as a rule, where a great band gets slated to play in a venue where it really has no business playing. You know, Nirvana gets contractually obligated to play the Puyallup fair, or U2 ends up playing at Kilby Court because no one in Utah has heard The Unforgettable Fire yet. To a lesser degree, such was the case on Thursday night when Band of Skulls (we discussed their album here) played the small room (it’s really small) at the Murray Theater in Murray, Utah with just shy of twenty people in attendance (the room probably could not have held many more, anyway. It was just so small).
I have no idea how this came about. I’m sure there’s a juicy story somewhere which tells us why the band was not even headlining in this tiny little venue (when you close the door, the light automatically goes off. It’s very very small). I’m sure there’s a publicist or a booking agent somewhere who probably still has no idea what a weird twilight zone evening he or she created. When asked about the bizarre situation, lead guitarist and vocalist Russell Marsden only smiled and rolled his eyes. But it’s best not to inquire too deeply into such things. Partly because you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, and that’s what these evenings are: a perfect little gift that a fan can unwrap and enjoy. We enjoyed standing at the edge of a very small stage (if the band sat down on it, they would have had room on the stage for only one butt cheek each. It was, you know, small) and listening to this band play more than I can possibly express.
The words, “virtuoso performance” spring to mind, but even that seems to fall short. The band makes wonderful, innovative music, but to see them live is like seeing a rocket launch after only hearing rumors about it before. It was just a brilliant, incendiary performance that made their legitimately awesome recorded hits seem pedestrian by comparison. My head is still ringing with the chords from their set-ending performance of “Impossible” which just about blew the walls out of the room (The walls were pretty close, cause the place was so dang small). At the end, Russell actually laid down his Fender Jaguar and let it keep ringing out while he sculpted the amazing reverberations of sound with his pedal. He’s not the first to do this, of course, but it’s one of the coolest things to see live and he pulled it off as well as anyone I’ve ever seen. The only thing that would have made the evening better is if they had played “Cold Fame,” but that’s a minor quibble, as the set was darn near perfect as is.
The next time we see them, this band will probably be on a big stage with thousands of people in attendance, and they will deserve it, but it’s nice to be there when, whether it was through someon’e silly mistake or what, we get to actually hang out with them and see them perform as if they were standing in our living room (it was actually smaller than our living room.  Our couch wouldn’t have fit in there.  It was pretty freakin’ small).
Posted on August 30, 2009, in Live Shows, Music and tagged Band of Skulls. Bookmark the permalink. 25 Comments.
Steve Evans
RJH
Scott B.
John C.
Susan M
Aaron Brown
ninemoons
arandomjohn
kulturblogadmin
Kyle M
Brad
KulturBlogGuest
MCQ
Wm
Rebecca
Ivan
Geoff J
btdgreg
Clark Goble
Aaron R.
Tim J
Ben
I love this band so much and recommend their album to all my music loving fans. I really wanted to see them live but they didn’t venture down to this part of the states. My friend Ryan’s band played with them last week in KC. By all reports that was an amazing show too.
I didn’t think they were that popular. Are they?
Sounds like a great show. I see many bands at very small venues and marvel that they’re not playing bigger places—but never complain about it.
I saw Ted Leo this weekend at the smallest venue I’ve ever seen him play. I’ll probably wait till I have my film pics back from the lab (hopefully some of them came out—I didn’t bring my digital, like an idiot) to post a review.
I don’t think that “popular” would be the right word for them yet, Susan, but they were critical darlings right out of the gate and they are certainly well known enough to fill some good sized venues, which they have done. This particular venue was smaller and less well attended than my daughters third birthday party. Did I mention it was small?
Rose, what is the name of Ryan’s band?
Be/Non is the name of Ryan’s band. He’s the drummer. They’re not touring with Band of Skulls as far as I know. They are from Kansas City so that’s how they ended up playing with them. After that they went on a mini tour of their own; Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis tonight.
I’ll be seeing Modest Mouse tomorrow night at the hole-in-the-wall place called “In the Venue” Apparently it has sold out. I was surprised they had such an extended discography, considering they were playing such a small place. (I really only know them for Float On, from RB2)
I’ll have to check out Band of Skulls, see if it fits my taste.
FHL, I will probably be at the Modest Mouse show as well, but if you haven’t been there, you should know that ITV is not that “hole in the wall”ish. It holds a fair amount of people and though some views are obstructed there are often upwards of a thousand people in there when you factor in the balcony and other upstairs areas (which are 21+ only).
Rose, how did Ryan’s band hook up with Band of Skulls? Was BoS just passing through KC and called them or what? If you know the story, I would like to hear it. This appears to be a bit of a strange tour for BoS. Russell said that they were headlining most of the tour, but not the SLC show for some reason.
I’ve never seen Modest Mouse but I always heard they’re great live. I’ve heard the drummer is really good. I regret not seeing them when I still lived in Seattle, before they had that one hit.
I think In the Venue was the first place I saw Dog’s Eye View / Barenaked Ladies (before they were big).
Oh, wait. No. It was DV8. Shoot. Who did I see in the venue?…
We wanted to go to Modest Mouse. Next time…
Susan, the drummer of Modest Mouse is indeed very talented. The way I know this (as with most things) is Rock Band.
MCQ, What probably happened is the manager of the venue called up the band and offered up the opening slot. When I lived in KC and my husband was in another band with Ryan that happened a lot. It’s a good way to get local bands exposure. Ryan did mention that the rest of the line up was a weird mix but he didn’t say if Band of Skulls was the headlining band. Also I’m not sure how big the venue they played was as it wasn’t there when I was.
Interesting. That may be what happened here, although I’m still having a hard time figuring out how BoS would have ended up playing this particular venue. There was no promotion at all. I almost didn’t hear about it, and I subscribe to several lists of shows at various venues. I kinda get the feeling that BoS doesn’t exactly have top-shelf management or publicity help as of yet. Like, maybe none at all. Not too surprising I guess, given the current state of the music biz.
I haven’t been there – that’s how it was described to me by a friend. (I think he called it a dive.)
Here’s where I get my local concert info:
http://www.postfontaine.com/
There’s a newsletter link at the bottom. There are some interesting concerts coming up that I probably won’t see. Ladyhawke, Snow Patrol, Regina Spektor, Colbie Caillat, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
That night in KC they played with Softee and the Belated. I don’t know either of those bands. What label is Band of Skulls on? Not that long ago Enyertainment Weekly gave them a shout out via the music guru behind Chuck and Gossip Girl. I thought maybe they were on her label but she promotes her bands pretty well. My friend Ken’s band Republic Tigers is on her label.
1. Ooooo, FHL. Thanks for that. I’ve been looking for a newsletter / blog sign up for local shows.
2. The music on Chuck usually rules.
I don’t think BoS has a label per se. Their album is distributed by Shangi-la, but I don’t think they are signed to a traditional record contract. That may be part of what’s going on.
Man, FHL, when you said Ladyhawke I thought you meant Ladyhawk (no E) and my heart skipped a beat. (I love Ladyhawk – with no E).
Last time I saw them they talked about frat guys coming to their shows expecting Ladyhawke (with an E) and being rather violently disappointed to get Ladyhawk (no E).
Big difference. Ladyhawke (with E):
http://instanthits.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/ladyhawke2.jpg
Ladyhawk (no E):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whenigodeaf/2536926824/
Well, Band of Skulls is about to get major exsposure. Rumor has it they will be featured in New Moon. Say what you will about the Twilight franchise but it will certainly help the band gain exsposure. I don’t think you’ll hear Muse complaining about their increased popularity followingthe release of Twilight.
Susan, who had that name first? Someone should sue.
Rose, it’s more than a rumor. They have in fact committed to do a song for New Moon, as has Death Cab For Cutie. Muse is not complaining but Paramore has said they will do no more Twilight movies as they felt it caused an audience shift they were not happy with.
Good. I’m glad they’re doing it. I also read Radiohead might contribute another song too or perhaps a Thom solo song. For the record I’m glad more people know about Muse. And since I don’t like Death Cab, may they be smitted with hordes of crazy, vampire loving tween fans!
Wait, which one does My Delerium? That’s the one I like.
I have to say that I was disappointed by Modest Mouse. It was so swelteringly hot in there, and they took For-EVER to get set up after the opening band. Well, sure, they’ve got about a million different instruments including, but not limited to: two drum sets (two drummers – never seen that before), organ-in-a-box, banjo, trumpet, violin, upright bass…
And then there was a huge pause (10-15 minutes) before the required encore.
And then, they didn’t play the ONE SONG I knew. WTH? Why not? Are they too Indie for that?
They did have a lot of energy and the variety of instruments was pretty cool – every now and then, I’d see one of the drummers with a maraca in one hand, drumstick in the other, sometimes banging on the cymbals with the maraca. Overall, though, I couldn’t understand the singer well enough to really enjoy more than about a quarter of the songs. Definitely not worth $35 and the drive to SLC.
FHL, where were you? We went upstairs and had some fresh air but it was still so crowded we could barely move.
I agree with eveything you said. They took an enormously long time to get started. When the doors open at 7:00 the opening band should start playing by 7:30 and the headliner should start playing by 8:30 or 8:45. Modest Mouse didn’t even start until after 9:30!!!
For a band that has so many instruments, they are not particularly innovative. They don’t use their two drummers very effectively, for example.
We were pretty let down by the whole experience.
Looking forward to BTE and Snow Patrol, however.
When the doors open at 7:00 the opening band should start playing by 7:30 and the headliner should start playing by 8:30 or 8:45.
Where do you see bands, Disneyland? If the doors open at 7pm around here, the first band starts playing at 8pm, if we’re lucky. Generally, if the ticket says doors at 7, then they don’t actually open until 8, and the first band comes on at 9. Actually, I can’t remember the last time a show started by 9. Seems like 9:30 is more like it.
I’m talking small/medium venues/bars.
We were just to the right of the sound mixer equipment on the ground floor. (Same spot where we watched the Ting Tings – guess I’d forgotten that was also In the Venue)
It’s true – I can’t think of a song where having the 2 drummers made it sound cool. Certainly unusual, though.
Wish we’d gone upstairs.
Susan, you’re right, that’s the reality and it sucks.
Disneyland is in your area, not mine, and I have seen bands there and at the House of Blues in Anaheim, San Diego and New Orleans and yes, they do operate on time. That alone shows that it’s not impossible.
I realize this is rock n’ roll and we all know of many instances where shows fall short of the ideal, but there is an ideal to shoot for and I was just trying to articulate that. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that on a weeknight I can go and see two bands perform where doors open at 7:00 and I see the show and get out of there by 11:00. I realize that may be a radical idea in some quarters, but I think it’s what we should be able to expect.