Band Of Skulls, the three-piece rockers from Southampton, are among the hardest-touring bands in the world. They’re bringing their new albumBy Defaultto Australian shores this month for five more dates at one of their favourite international destinations.

An east coast tour from Melbourne to Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane means plenty of hours in the tour van, and we asked bassist/vocalist Emma Richardson to share the top five songs that will be soundtracking Band Of Skulls’ road-tripping adventures.

1. Nice As Fuck – ‘Angel’

I love the sound of this record. It’s got all the groove, stripped-down, minimal drums and bass, and her full and direct vocal sounds awesome. It has elements of the brilliant ESG, who also had groove and soul by the bucketload.

2. Deap Vally – ‘Royal Jelly’

This is a badass rock’n’roll record with shitloads of attitude and heaps of swagger. So good to hear new material from these guys. They came out on tour with us in the States before and it was great to see them impress the hell out of everyone every night.

3. Angel Olsen – ‘Never Be Mine’

I’m a big fan of Angel Olsen and loved her last record Burn Your Fire For No Witness, and her new record My Woman is full of beautiful moments. This is a great, great song full of yearning and that voice is stunning. One of a kind.

4. Blood Orange – ‘Best To You’

This song slinks along – nostalgic and atmospheric with tropical grooves, and I love the male/female vocal smoothly twisting through it. Soulful and modern.

5. Iggy Pop – ‘Sunday’

Iggy’s back and telling it how it is. A cool collaboration with Homme all rolling and tumbling and low-slung. There’s hint of Television in that sound and I love the gorgeous swooping strings that come in at the end all majestic.

Band Of Skulls’ Australian tour rolls into Sydney at Oxford Art Factory on Sunday November 27. Tickets are on sale now.

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