Band Of Skulls manager and label on unique financial backing

UK three-piece Band Of Skulls could be heading for big breakthrough success with the release of their third album Himalayan – via a uniquely independent setup. Produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Cribs), Himalayan has been described as “a coming of age record,” by frontman Russell Marsden. Out on March 31, it comes after debut LP Baby Darling Doll Face Honey in 2009 and second album Sweet Sour in 2012.

Lead single Asleep At The Wheel has already been picked for a worldwide ad sync by video-on-demand service Netflix.

Himalayan is licensed to Ignition in the UK directly by the band, who retain ultimate ownership of all of their master copyrights. The album will be issued via Kobalt Label Services in North America and PIAS/Co-Op for the rest of the world.

Like the band’s previous two efforts, Himalayan has been funded through a unique setup involving investment collective ATC Management, Phi Group and Shangri-La, which sees profits split 50/50 between the group and their backers. This model allows them “complete creative control,” according to band manager Mick Paterson, as well as a recording budget that would trump that offered by “most major labels”.

One exciting aspect of the Himalayan campaign is the involvement of Ignition Records – the company that has previously released platinum-selling albums from artists such as Stereophonics and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Co-owner at Ignition, Alex McKinlay, is predicting big things. “We’ve been fans of Band Of Skulls for several years now having watched them develop from their early success in the US,” he tells Music Week. “They’re a fantastic live band and are almost unique in recent years for a UK artist, having built up a very strong fanbase both here and in the United States entirely independently. Band Of Skulls are now perfectly positioned to break through to a wider audience. With Himalayan they’ve made an album that has the potential to do that.”

Band Of Skulls officially formed in 2008, previously touring and recording under the name of Fleeing New York. Hailing from Southampton, Marsden, Emma Richardson (bass, vocals) and Matt Hayward (drums) started touring with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Dead Weather and by the end of 2012 had played their largest shows to date – including a headline slot at London’s 5,000 capacity Brixton Academy.

They’ve since supported Muse and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and have just announced tour dates for 2014 including two shows at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on March 27 and 28.

“The budget for Himalayan was fairly substantial,” says Paterson. “The band spent six weeks in a studio in London, we had a writing studio before that, we had a producer, it was mixed in LA – all those things are expensive, it wasn’t a cheap record. In terms of level of investment I would say it was probably more than we would have got in most situations and the band got an advance as well.”

Paterson hopes Himalayan will sell more than the 40,000 that Sweet Sour achieved in the UK – but also that working with Kobalt in the US will help prove that the increasingly popular artist and label services model can break new acts.

“If Kobalt can take something and break it through the label services side then it will validate their system,” he explained. “They’ve done great with Nick Cave and the Pet Shop Boys but they’re both established acts. If the label services thing has really got legs, if it’s really going to work long-term, then they’ve got to work with bands like this and take it from 50,000 to 200,000 sales. Then they can say: ‘We’re doing a proper job.’”

Band Of Skulls licensed their last album in the US through Vagrant, but have chosen a different release route this time, tapping into Kobalt’s a la carte services option.

“When we were putting Sweet Sour out through Vagrant we weren’t really pleased; we felt it was under-resourced,” says Paterson. “This time the partners [dedicated] some of the money out of their side of the partnership to spend on marketing and tour support. They’ve always tour supported everything when it’s been needed, which you don’t get out of many labels these days. It’s enabled the band to build up a really good touring profile.

“The end result is that the band makes money touring now so the partners make money. They invested because they could see there was a pay-off.”

Source: Music Week