Heavy alternative stoner rock act NO SKULL have quite an array of content released, including some unfinished works that could see the light of day, if not some all new music altogether! The band talks about their music, with some local shows happening, and just releasing content, see what else is said all below.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
No Skull officially started in 2016 after the demise of the original members previous bands, playing slow rock songs in a post grunge type style. I had recorded an album in 2012 that became the majority of our 1st set as well as some songs I had demoed on a four track back in the late 90’s. That original line up had 6 releases before the complications and lockdowns due to Covid forced us to all but dissolve the band. Between 2020 and 2022 we had a few lineup changes that influenced our sound to change. The current line up is Jason Wicks on guitar, Dave Shilakes on drums and myself Ryan Andrews on bass and vocals.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
As I'm sure many people do, I often keep a list of things I think sound cool for future use as song names or whatever, and No Skull was on a list along with names like Great Grandad and Unsatisfactory. When we changed the line up in 2022 we actually kicked around some new names but decided No Skull sounded cooler than anything we could come up with.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We’re based out of the Lansing area in Michigan, which has in the past had a fairly diverse and interesting music scene. I think right now it's going through a transition. There aren't a lot of places to play, lots of venues are seeing low turnouts to shows and most of the house and underground venues have shut down. There are however quite a few creative and interesting bands in the scene. Cavalcade has been around for some time now and are a creative and interesting heavy style band. A Rueful Noise is a great alt rock band and Wild Honey Collective is a group who play in a more country based style but do some pretty unique stuff within that realm.
4. How would you describe your style?
Our sound now is leaning more towards stoner rock and heavy alt rock, with a few jammy blues elements as well. We like a lot of Pink Floyd and also early Melvins and I’m sure it shows.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
So far we have released 2 live recordings, a demos compilation, an 2 EP's, and 4 full lengths including our most recent album called Fields of None which floats in between the worlds of heavy rock with a bluesy alt rock feel and doomy stoner jams. We try to keep the song interesting and full of melody but also riff heavy. There's a feel of psyche rock in some spots and a bit of our country side shines through once in a while as well.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
We have some unfinished recordings from the Fields of None session we are working on and we have been writing some new material as well with inspirations to make some videos or some form of visual art to go along with some of that material.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
Shows are hard to come by these days. We have a few things lined up locally but nothing of any note lined up at this time. working on a plan for some small weekend touring for possibly this fall.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
I think our biggest future plan right now is setting ourselves up to be self-sufficient as far as printing our own shirts and record covers, recording our own records, and making short runs of any physical releases we do. We love the art of album making and want to be hands-on with as many of the steps as we can to make each piece of merchandise quality and unique. Really try to make it an art and not just something to sell. Our other goal we’ve been talking about is making some music videos and longer form “films” using our music and some other experimental stuff we have been recording.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen to us on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and iTunes…honestly almost any place you can stream or buy downloads we have stuff…and Bandcamp you can buy our newest record.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
I think the thing I’d like listeners to remember is the melody. It might be heavy or weird but I want to give people grooves with a memorable melody.
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