Touching The Void

Since bursting out with their breakneck debut, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, Band of Skulls have held sway internationally, their brand of crushing riffs on top of a chugging rhythm section and the vocal interplay between Russell Marsden and Emma Richardson striking an indelible chord with a loyal legion of fans. 2012's follow-up, Sweet Sour saw some slight deviations from this rough and ready path, yet with the release of third album, Himalayan, the trio (Matt Hayward on drums rounds out the unholy trinity) have clearly drawn the line in the sand insofar as what they want to achieve as a band, with a strong focus on rhythm as refinement and backbone as much as a propulsive beast.

“I think after we made our first record and were then on tour for a very long time, we made Sweet Sour all in one movement; it all melded into a bit of a blur for us,” Marsden explains. “We had a slight pause to think on how we wanted to [record the new album]; we evaluated everything and took it all upon ourselves to make things the best we felt we could. We decided to be really strict with ourselves in terms of writing and performing and recording, so that whilst there were internal restrictions the benefits of this came out in the music, something that was incredibly focused and powerful. If things didn't work well the first time we would cut them out, just like that.

“We love the two records we made before, but it's fair to say we wanted to make something better than the two of them combined. We set our own goal posts and we are our own worst critics anyway, so we didn't allow ourselves to relax. We remained very critical – after each day we'd sit down and talk. 'What did we actually achieve today?' We threw ourselves into it; we had to.”

It sounds like Himalayan was a gruelling exercise, but Marsden admits the writing process is a serious part of the band for him – up to a point.

“I think we like the punishment,” he laughs. “We've toured the world now, we have seen what expectations are for different audiences, and we wanted to really push ourselves so that we could meet those expectations. It's like going from secondary school to senior school; we feel like the little kids in a bigger school, and we better toughen up if we want to make it out alive, otherwise we will get pummelled. So as much as it's great to tour the world and meet new people, [the band] is essentially a constant battle against ourselves, and it's something we enjoy.”

Slight masochistic undertones aside, Himalayan is an album that presents a band assured of their own abilities and convictions. From the 'to the floor' growl of Asleep At The Wheel to the brooding Cold Sweat, the album conveys a level of control and commanding confidence that hasn't been present in past offerings, another sign that the strict regimen of the writing process brought dividends.

“With [Sweet Sour] we were wary of being typecast, so we attempted to broaden our horizons before anyone could tell us what they were. There was rebelliousness to that, to this idea that we wouldn't be told what to do. Now that we have that out of our system it was important that things be more focused now; there is no need to let fly on a whim when you can control what that whim is and time it and make it important rather than impulsive. We have realised what our sound is, what the crux of the band is, and that is pretty powerful, to know who you are and what you are capable of. Which is weird to think about, this idea of power – when you start out you are throwing everything at the wall and are just happy to get a gig. But really there is a sense of responsibility. It's almost like having a child, where you have to learn how to look after and nurture it so that it can grow and be its own thing, get it dressed and send it off to school; the album has made us into proud parents.”

It seems prescient that Himalayan became the album's title then, what with the gruelling self-imposed effort the band imposed upon itself just to reach this peak of achievement. Whilst it wasn't as considered a choice as that, Marsden admits wryly it sums up the band's efforts thus far quite nicely.

“Because we had set our goals so high we felt that the album should be called something quite epic. We liked the sound of the word. But then again, even though we like to set the bar high, we've outdone ourselves with this one I think.”