The Bowery Presents

Music Hall of Williamsburg upcoming shows

Band of Skulls / The Whigs

22-20’s

Venue:
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Date:
Thu 4/01
Notes:
18+
Doors: 8:00 PM / Show: 9:00 PM
$15 advance / $15 day of show
Tickets
Band Of Skulls
official website
myspace
The three members of Band of Skulls, Russell Marsden (guitar & vocals), Emma Richardson (bass & vocals) & Matt Hayward (drums), first met at college and quickly discovered that having two lead singers and three songwriters in a band was always going to present unlimited possibilities. With their creative process and sonic path fully intact the band quickly established themselves in the music and art community with a series of culturally inspired club nights in Southampton,London and further a field in Moscow and Tokyo.

The band, previously known as Fleeing New York, were working on new demo’s in late November 2008 at Courtyard Studios in Oxfordshire when their paths crossed with an international collective based in London, Montreal and LA who are now, in a very modern way, partners with the band.

Soon followed more studio time, which formed the basis of their debut album, “Baby Darling Doll Face Honey”. With a working relationship sealed with a handshake the album was recorded, mixed and mastered from January through to March 09 before contracts had time to be signed.

From that point on, the progression of events from Southampton to global iTunes happened at lightning speed for Band of Skulls. Their music came to the attention of iTunes staff and made such an impact they were selected for the coveted iTunes Single of the Week campaign in April with the debut single ‘I Know What I Am’. Within weeks of completing the album the band will be introduced globally to a digital audience in the USA, UK, France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Netherlands via this free download. The album has also been speedily brought forward to be released digitally at the same time.

Music fans around the world will get the first taste of the band\'s driving guitar force, heartbreaking duets and sun-kissed, Wall of Sound harmonies of not only their single but their powerful debut album released in the USA on Shangri-La Music on April 6th, available exclusively at iTunes for two weeks before being introduced to the wider world at all DSP’s and even on an old fashioned CD.

It has been an extraordinary and heady last few months for the band and the swift turnaround of the digital album is surely a taster of the way the modern digital world is now driving the changing landscape of an industry undergoing radical changes. It also means that an unknown band are being thrust into the limelight with very little know about them. To provide some background:

All the artwork so far has been based on paintings by bass player / vocalist Emma who recently held an exhibition called ‘Meat Me At The Butchers”, in a butcher’s shop where she worked at weekends. She has a record collection of over 20 000 albums and singles, swam for England and even won some medals.

Drummer Matt has played tennis with John McEnroe while his Dad was in a band who supported the Rolling Stones and had the same manager as the Troggs.

Russell’s great great grandfather was a stowaway on the Titanic, fleeing Southampton and leaving behind three wives and 16 illegitimate children.

He survived a near fatal car crash that was started by weaving to the rhythm of Ace of Spades by Motorhead. He has also fallen through a glacier, and again, obviously, he survived…

Baby Darling Doll Face Honey was produced, recorded and mixed by Ian Davenport (Supergrass, Badly Drawn Boy) and recorded at Radiohead\'s Courtyard Studios in Oxfordshire and mixed at the House of Blues studio in Los Angeles.
The Whigs
official website
myspace
With their stunning third album, IN THE DARK, the Whigs have gone widescreen. Bursting with energy, emotion, and unpredictable experimentation, the Athens, GA-based trio tear open the artistic envelope, bringing both nuance and eclectic strength to songs like “Hundred / Million” and the raucous first single, “Kill Me Carolyne.” IN THE DARK is both atmospheric and ambitious, without losing the pedal-to-the-metal power that earned them universal praise as one of America’s finest young rock ‘n’ roll bands.

Much of the album’s amplified creative direction can be attributed to the involvement of bassist Tim Deaux, who joined founding members Parker Gispert (guitar/vocals) and Julian Dorio (drums) just prior to the 2008 release of the Whigs’ acclaimed second album, MISSION CONTROL.

“There aren’t words to describe how lucky we are to have found Tim,” Dorio laughs. “Parker and I would just be sitting here, staring at each other.”

An exuberant, no-holds-barred live act, the Whigs followed the release of MISSION CONTROL with nearly non-stop touring, spending much of 2008 traversing the planet as a headline act, special guests of Kings of Leon, The Kooks and Drive-By Truckers, and with stage-stealing festival performances at such international events as Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, and T In The Park.

“We’d had a good time touring and traveling,” says Dorio. “We had absorbed a lot of music and new experiences, so there was a lot in us to pour out. There was no shortage of ideas.”

While previous Whigs recordings kicked off with Gispert’s songwriting, this time the rhythm section took the reins. Dorio and Deaux began collaborating in the band’s practice space, crafting near-complete songs built upon drumbeats and bass lines.

“It just kinda clicked,” Dorio says. “We ended up going in every single day, almost as if we were clocking in to go to work.”

“It was really important that Tim was a part of this record from the ground up,” Gispert says. “From day one, he’s been knee-deep involved in this record, which is how it should be.”

The detailed rhythm tracks provided a solid foundation for Gispert, allowing him the opportunity to write in a more responsive fashion. As a result, his guitar lines and vocal parts became increasingly dynamic and precise.

“It was really exciting for me,” Gispert says. “To have an idea already in place that I could instinctually react to, as a guitar player and as a singer. It allowed me to not over think things before they had even gotten started and to spend more time working on things I don’t normally work on.”

The Whigs laid down demos throughout the first part of 2009 and on June 1st, entered Athens’ Chase Park Transduction studio with longtime friend Ben H. Allen producing. Allen – who had been behind the board for two of the past decade’s most pivotal works: Gnarls Barkley’s “ST. ELSEWHERE” and Animal Collective’s “MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION” – was an avowed fan of the Whigs from the very start. Allen was present at the Whigs’ very first gig and had even helped record the band’s early demos.

“We thought, who better to understand where we were coming from,” Dorio says. “He knows the band’s trajectory and what we wanted to do with this record. Who better than a guy that really knows us and loves our band?”

“There didn’t need to be a lot of explanation,” Gispert says. “Ben already knows us, he knows what we like, he knows us as people. Everybody had a common goal, so it was able to happen pretty quickly.”

Allen supported the band’s decision to open up their musical approach. Songs like “Hundred / Million” and the title track are centered on Dorio and Deaux’s initial tracks, with Gispert’s powerful guitar only arriving in the explosive choruses.

“In the past we’ve always been this full-throttle, fifth-gear rock n’ roll band,” Dorio says. “Ben didn’t want us just bashing away all the time. I think there’s a little bit more space. He really encouraged that.”

A month of sessions was followed by further touring, including a trip through North America’s arenas alongside Kings of Leon. Playing such large-scale venues had a remarkable effect on the Whigs’ sound, driving them back to the studio in order to capture that new found sonic sensibility.

“Being on some bigger stages, you start hearing different things coming out of your amps,” Gispert explains. “The way it’s hitting the open air as opposed to a wall that’s 40 feet in front of it. Things start sounding a little different and to turn your back on that, to the different sounds that are happening, would not be cool.”

“Playing those rooms is a unique challenge,” Dorio says. “I thought if we’re ever so lucky to have that kind of success and popularity, could a band this small fill the room with sound? It was kinda reassuring to realize, yeah, we can hang here.”

In October, the Whigs hit Nashville for a week’s worth of sessions with producers Jay Joyce (Cage The Elephant) and Angelo Petraglia (Kings of Leon). Each producer brought something unique to the table, with Joyce helping to fire up the high-octane riff rock of “Someone’s Daughter” and Petraglia adding muscular clarity to such tracks as the album’s first single, “Kill Me Carolyne.” To the Whigs’ credit, IN THE DARK stands as a remarkably cohesive collection, with the various producers helping the band to explore their own creative palette.

While the band’s overall sound was growing more expansive, Gispert was determined to increase his focus as both singer and as a lyricist. Songs like “Dying” and “I Don’t Even Care About The One I Love” are confident and concise, adding introspection and emotional oomph to the Whigs’ overall anthemic power.

“I tried to be more honest,” he says. “I was more comfortable with saying what I meant and letting it sit there. I wasn’t so hung up on like, ‘Wow, I really said that in a cool way.’ My goal was more like, ‘Can you understand what I’m saying here? Am I making myself clear?’”

With its impressive range and undeniable vigor, IN THE DARK sees the Whigs doing what all great bands do – furthering their artistic scope with each successive effort.

“We have a lot of different things that we’d like to do,” Dorio says. “Of course we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band, but we really like writing really fun pop tunes that you can sing along to, we also like writing songs that are a little bit weirder. There’s a little bit of a variety that we think adds to the listenability and the longevity of the album.”

“I hope that we’re always changing,” Gispert promises, “in the sense that we’re always keeping our ears open to what’s happening around us. Responding to the sounds we hear walking around Athens or what’s on the radio or what’s in the back of the bins in the record store.”

“But at the core of this,” he avows, “the band is always going to be a rock band. When we hit the stage, we are who we are.”
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