The following was originally published in our Artist of the Month section.
Review by Siesta 1369
If every band were as dedicated
to putting out great records and great live performances as The Skulls
are, the mainstream wouldn’t settle for all the second rate bands that
record companies sign and promote based on their so-called credentials
and what they see as nothing more than something marketable. Is mainstream
a word that shouldn’t be spoken when referring to a band with as much true
Punk Rock creditability as The Skulls? Well, I used to wonder the
about that one myself. I asked Billy Bones if it were possible for
his band to achieve mainstream success on their own terms, would they want
it? Or, would they prefer to remain the Punk Rock underdogs?
His answer indicates to me in every way that although mainstream success
on his own terms isn’t something he’d be totally against, it’s not on his
list of reasons for putting together the current line-up of his legendary
‘77-‘78 Masque era band The Skulls.
The original ‘77-‘78 line-up
of The Skulls was a short lived one that included founding member Michael
Stenn Gun Wallace, Marc Morbid Moreland and Chas T.Gray. The band
was short lived and only ever recorded two songs. The band re-formed
and played a series of reunion shows with original members Bones on vocals
and Moreland on guitar, along with Keith Miller on bass and drum-whore-for-hire
Sean Geronimo Antillion on drums. Around the time of those reunion
shows Billy told Hardslug who was playing keyboards with The Adicts and
drums in Famous Tea at the time that Keith was unable to play some of the
scheduled shows. Hardslug said “give me a week.” He went out
and bought a bass and learned The Skulls songs in a couple of weeks and
has been with the band ever since.
In 1993 after original
guitarist Marc Moreland took off to go tour with Wall of Voodoo they decided
to call it quits. Billy was almost finished with music for good when
he learned of a band called Left Out Triple X who had planned on covering
The Skulls song “Kill Me Kill Me Kill.” Left Out Triple X featured
a young Punk Rock guitar prodigy by the name of Kevin The Kid Gorman, whom
Billy says was the catalyst for him starting up the band again. The
Kid’s persistence in wanting to collaborate musically was all Billy needed
to want to play again. It was fun and the situation just felt right
for Billy. Since the current line-ups inception, which has been together
almost two years now and includes Billy Bones on vocals, James Hardslug
Harding on bass, Sean Geronimo Antillion on drums, and Kevin The Kid Gorman
on guitar, the band has been busy playing consistently killer live shows
from San Francisco to San Diego and everywhere in-between. The Skulls
will play a small number of European dates from January 2003 thru mid February,
2003.
November 11th, 2002 saw the
release of their full-length release on Dr. Strange Records. It was
a long time in waiting for the fans, but the time is here and this record
was one that was worth the wait. I know it’s a stretch to compare,
so all I can say is go buy it and see for yourself. Billy looks at
the band’s past history with fond memories and misses his good friends
and former bandmates Michael Stenn Gun Wallace, and Marc Morbid Moreland
who have since passed-on. He also looks forward to the future, and
the future of The Skulls is now.
