Following the digital release of their debut album THOUGHTS OF THE OTHERS in April, Leeds four-piece SKULL are set to officially release the double transparent orange vinyl version on 13 July 2018 via Shove It Up Your Cult Records in a limited pressing of just 300 copies. To precede the vinyl release, the band have also unveiled the video for their new single, SLEAZY, taken from the album.
Having earned a reputation for their phenomenal and powerful live performances, SKULL will be playing a number of headline shows in the summer and beyond, alongside several support slots at the personal request of Elvana in the autumn. Full dates as follows:
JULY
Wed 04 SHEFFIELD West Street Live | HEADLINE
Sat 07 HARROGATE Blues Bar | HEADLINE
Wed 11 HUDDERSFIELD Parish | HEADLINE
AUGUST
Thu 16 YORK Fulford Arms | HEADLINE
Fri 31 MANCHESTER Gullivers | HEADLINE
SEPTEMBER
Sat 15 LEEDS O2 Academy | with ELVANA
Fri 21 LEEDS 360 Club @ The Lending Room | HEADLINE
Sat 22 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy | with ELVANA
Thu 27 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy | with ELVANA
OCTOBER
Sat 13 MANCHESTER O2 Ritz | with ELVANA
NOVEMBER
Sun 04 LEEDS Wharf Chambers
THOUGHTS OF THE OTHERS may briefly acknowledge convention by including the band’s three singles to date – RPM, LIGHTSWITCH and WHISPERS – but this is far from a typical album. It traces a journey – a seemingly tormented journey – through a seemingly tormented mind. Some songs are interspersed with narration; others flow effortlessly into each other.
There is no clear indication of whether these narrative thoughts are those of a character invented by Jonny, the lyricist and vocalist, or whether they are a true reflection of his own mind, but the emotions are palpably real. Lyrically and narratively we experience, by varying degrees, desolation, despair, paranoia, fear and isolation; leaving the thunderous riffs, the staggering drums and the skyscraping vocals to provide the joy, the elation, the salvation.
In explanation – a typically oblique, typically literate explanation – of what it may well feel like listening to the album, Jonny offers:
“Imagine you wake up in a room. Alone. Above, the sky has turned purple; the rain cascades and everyone’s eyes glow as if they have become possessed by the truths told. For the first time in forever you’re thinking clearly. A consequence of a welcome isolation. Turning on the stereo to drown out the drone, the room is filled with a gloom-rock encompassed by garage, psychedelia and progressive pasts. Heavy riffs enveloped in fuzz; high octane solos; and the echoing bellows of a melancholic fabulist flood the senses. You’ve entered the realm of Skull’s record. A conceptual soundtrack to revolution with plans to vanquish forever the thoughts of the others.”
As a footnote – an understated yet almost euphoric footnote – Jonny adds, “Remember that courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”.
