No Skull interview 24/07/24

MM: Can you tell us about your Band and who’s your biggest influences
- No skull formed in 2016 and the original line up played a more grunge and
punk inspired style, but in 2021 we had a line up change and now we lean a
little more towards stoner rock/doom. Except when we play our country set.
Some of our biggest influences are Pink Floyd and The Melvins, Hank
Williams and Merle Haggard

MM: Where do you draw your inspirations and ideas from – we draw inspiration
from lots of heavy music like Melvins, Sleep and Los Natas and classic prog rock
like King Crimson, Yes and Pink Floyd. Lyrically I am inspired by sci fi and horror
books. I read a lot so there’s a huge well there for that. I watch quite a bit of sci fi
and horror as well. I’m pretty big into dystopian and post-apocalyptic fantasy and
that definitely bleeds into songwriting as well.
 

MM: What would you say is your Bands favourite song ?
- probably Lysol (Hung Bunny/Roman Bird Dog) by the Melvins.
 

MM: Plans tour and festival wise for 2023
- nothing for 2023. Lol! For 2024 we are just kicking around local right now
but we have some things in the works for fall but not much confirmed except
a few local shows right now.
 

MM: What can we expect from (Band Name) live
- No Skull live is often very stoney and jammy and loud. Unless you catch us
playing country. Then, its less loud and more twangy. Over all I feel like we
give a pretty solid live performance. We aren’t super hype or crazy, but we
aren’t just shoegazing either.
 

MM: What do you like best and worst about touring
- Playing shows in new towns is always fun but sleeping situations get a bit
annoying since we aren’t rich and can’t get a hotel every night. I like to see
new places, but sometimes it’s disappointing when you don’t have time to
check out the city you’re in. Also, now that I’m and older gentleman, the road
food situation isn’t my favorite.
 

MM: Which three Bands would be your ultimate touring buddies
- Conan, Sleep and Dead Meadow. Love those bands.
 

MM: What's the most memorable concert you've been to (other than your own)
and why
- I saw Johnny Cash in the late 90’s and that was super cool. A few years back I got a
chance to see Sleep who I never thought I’d get a chance to see live. They
were really good.
 

MM: What do you feel has been your biggest accomplishment so far with

- In No Skull, we released our full length on vinyl and that has been a goal of
mine and our guitarist since we were young. We’ve been in and out of bands
together for about 25 years and although I’ve had the opportunity to release
stuff on vinyl in past bands, we finally accomplished that goal together after
all these years
 

MM: Which are your Two favourite Albums of all time
- Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon and Melvins - Lysol
 

MM: Can you remember the first time you ever played live and how it felt to have
people watching you?
- Yeah, it was February of 1997. I didn’t even know my lyrics yet so I had a
music stand with the lyrics on it (which is funny because I have a hard time
remembering lyrics now a days and use a music stand from time to time
currently). It felt amazing as if I had been waiting for it all my life, but I was
also nervous because I was like 14 and in a dive bar and I didn’t want to
mess up! Also we didn’t have tuners back then so that was anxiety inducing.
 

MM: Growing up which Bands posters did you have on your bedroom wall.
- I had the classic Nirvana poster where Kurt has those big old sun glasses
on, an enormous Foo Fighters poster from their first album, a Cypress Hill
poster with an angry skull with an afro and a joint in its mouth and a giant
Pink Floyd poster from The Wall my Dad got from the original tour of that
album.
 

MM - Who do you think influenced the world of Metal / Rock more than any other
person
- Little Richard. Without Little Richard you probably don’t get Jimi Hendrix.
You probably don’t get Motorhead. If you don’t have Little Richard and
Chuck Berry rock wouldn’t have developed in the same way. But Little
Richard was one of the first rock and roll guys to be yelling vocals, to be
really hammering the piano. That energy is what rock and roll was about.
Without Richard Penniman I don’t think things would be the same.
 

MM - What's the most important thing to the band right now?
- Shows. Michigan seems to be in a lull as far as venues and decent shows to
play. We are really struggling getting people to even respond to emails or
messages. A lot of bars and house venues closed down shortly after and
during the pandemic and there just isn’t a ton of opportunity. With this line up
we haven’t struck out on tour yet so I’m not sure how it is else where but I’ve
heard its kind of rough for underground unknown bands at the moment.
MM:If you could do a cover of any song which one would it be and why?
- Well, we do a bunch of covers. Sleepy Silver Door by Dead Meadow
because we love that band. On a country day we play a ton of covers by
Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Tom T. Hall, Johnny Horton, Merle Haggard,

Gordon Lightfoot and some others. My favorite ones to play are Lonesome
Whistle by Hank Williams and Honkytonk Man by Johnny Horton.
 

MM: Tell us why we should buy and listen to your Band
- We don’t try to imitate all the other doom and stoner bands. We don’t sound
like Sleep or Electric Wizard. We like those bands but we do our own thing.
Its loud riff based rock but there is melody and harmony and decent singing.
We like more than just Black Sabbath and we draw from a lot of different
sources for inspiration so we don’t sound like just another Sabbath clone.
Don’t get me wrong we like bands that sound like that, and we love Sabbath
and have some Sabbathy riffs but we don’t want to sound like that all the
time.
 

MM: Four words to describe No Skull
- Loud. Heavy. Slow. Grooves.

Final Words for your fans and our readers
- Listen to No Skull. Stream our albums. Watch our videos. Buy our records.
Most importantly tell your friends, other bands you know, promoters and
booking people and tell them to book No Skull in your town. We want to
meet you and we want to rattle your brains a little bit.