So, fresh from their appearance on the Twilight soundtrack last year, Band of Skulls have announced another UK tour, this time for May this year.

Catch them at:

Friday 7th May 2010 – Leeds Cockpit
Saturday 8th May 2010 – Glasgow Classic Grand
Sunday 9th May 2010 – Manchester Factory
Monday 10th May 2010 – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Tuesday 11th May 2010 – Wolverhampton Slade Rooms
Thursday 13th May 2010 – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Friday 14th May 2010 – London Electric Ballroom

Band of Skulls have recently hit the big time having appeared on the latest Twilight soundtrack, so needless to say Wednesday night’s show at the 100 Club on London’s Oxford Street was jam-packed full of newly converted fans.

First up was Deptford’s very own TAPETHERADIO (pictured right) that Jess introduced us to last week. Amazingly tight, their indie pop-rock is a masterpiece, slightly Cure-esque and very anthemic. Steve Lamacq commented about their new single, Save A Life, that he “like[s] the urgency. It’s like they must get it out there or they’ll explode”, and live this is definitely the case – rock star poses, anthemic fists-in-the-air moments. It just would have been nicer if more people had turned up early enough to see them.

Followed by the nausiating Black box Revelation, we felt TAPETHERADIO should have been at least second on the bill – Black Box Revelation were full of whiney vocals, poor attemps to rip off the White Stripes and a Phil Lynott look-alike. Shame.

Finally it was time for the headliners, Band of Skulls. With a strange crowd made up of half middle aged rockers and half tweenie Twilight fans, they managed to get the crowd as one rocking out to their blues-infused rock. Generally a bit heavier than what I’m used to, I won’t lie in saying they’re not completely my first choice of a band, however their bassist Emma Richardson is one of the best I’ve seen in a while.

Fresh from being featured on the Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack, Band of Skulls have announced a UK tour for early February 2010.

Tickets are on sale now.

Thursday 4th February 2010 – Leeds A Nation Of Shopkeepers
Friday 5th February 2010 – Liverpool EVOL
Saturday 6th February 2010 – Glasgow King Tuts
Monday 8th February 2010 – Newcastle Cluny
Tuesday 9th February 2010 – Manchester Ruby Lounge
Wednesday 10th February 2010 – London 100 Club
Thursday 11th February 2010 – Bristol Thekla
Saturday 13th February 2010 – Southampton Talking Heads
Sunday 14th February 2010 – Birmingham Hare & Hounds

Things have moved pretty quickly for Band of Skulls recently. Hailing from Southampton, they earnt an amazing reputation with a series of club nights in Southampton and London.

I don’t really know how to describe them if I’m honest – sounding at times like The Subways and others like some sort of Led Zep / Deep Purple influenced stuff your dad might have listened to in the 60s or 70s, it’s both everything you’ve heard before and completely different.

Made even stronger by the leading duo of Russell and Emma who share lead vocal duties, it seems whilst there may only be three of them, they truly are greater than they should be on paper. At times Russell moves towards sounding like Mick Jagger, which is no bad thing.

Closing the album with “Cold Fame”, Russell takes a melodic, melancholic turn for last song of the night territory – can’t say this is completely a bad thing, but it certainly isn’t my favourite track of the collection.

Winston from Winstons Zen recently did a much better introduction to Band of Skulls – check it out here.

Band of Skulls’ debut album, Baby Darling Doll Faced Honey is out now (iTunes / Amazon). If you want to catch a listen to their album before its released, head on over to their website where they’re streaming the whole album for free.