DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring No Skull
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find No Skull sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
You're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Ryan: I would definitely grab Pink Floyd Darkside of the Moon. Darkside is a perfectly crafted album front to back and although it’s a very purposefully produced album, it still has a truth in it that I don’t feel from modern ‘prog’ production. I could listen to that album everyday for the rest of time. I don’t care if it drives everyone on this island crazy! I’m sure that wont help me when its time to start sacrificing people…
Dave: I thankfully bring the cult-classic schizophrenic indie masterpiece Sebadoh III, an album that blew my mind 25 years ago with its psychotic musical range that switches between lo and hi-fi sound quality like a damaged mixtape found at the bottom of a dumpster. I open the jewel case. Instead I find my long-lost copy of not-so-classic album “Silver Side Up” by Nickelback sitting in its tray (yes my music taste used to be trash). I begin to lose all hope as I realize the only “music” I can listen to sounds like the bottom of a dumpster. Just then I notice a palm tree in the distance…..
Ryan: uh, not true Dave, we are stuck on this damn island TOGETHER so you have the best album ever to listen to……and also darkside of the moon…
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
Ryan: Oh lately Ive been into Old Nation brewery B-43, a hazy IPA with grapefruit. So damn good! Im standing there drinking my beer and listening to the ghostly barkeep straight up lie to Dave. I think its funny hes messing with him.
Dave: I order a Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale from the ghostly barkeep. As if my luck couldn’t get any worse they inform me they only serve Busch Light which tastes like the bottom of a dumpster. Remembering that I packed water I go on a search for my suitcase when I realize.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
Ryan: My The Sciences era Sleep t shirt that is sand coloured, so when I wander off on the island no one will notice and I’ll probably get the most vicious sunburn you ever saw.
Dave: A G.G. Allin T-shirt that suspiciously smells like the bottom of a dumpster.
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
Ryan: My wife. She is nice and funny and smells good, way better than smelly band mates.
Dave: My cat Koby who would probably have figured out a way off this island by now.
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
Ryan: Its crazy that after a terrible shipwreck where we only could save one album that a Walkman survived. Most Walkman s didn’t survive regular use on dry land, but thankfully the magic Walkman that some spirit shoved in my pocket (rude, by the way) has a bootleg cassette of The Melvins Live in Chicago 1991 and I’m as happy as a clam.
Dave: I find a tape of my old band The Uprising’s set at long-gone Kraftbrau Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI. To my semi-sober ears it sounds terrible as we were obviously too drunk that night and had an abundance of equipment failure. As I continue listening I start panicking.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Ryan: Oh I’m definitely hit up Dave Grohl. That dude gets shit done. He’d have us saved within the week and he’d have a big barbeque waiting for us back home.
Dave: I become so delirious I decide to send a daunting message in a bottle to J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. in hopes of being rescued. 6 weeks later an index card washes ashore. No bottle, no envelope, just a soggy-ass index card. On it is written: “That’s a bummer. Good luck or whatever - J”. More of a bummer is how hungry I’ve become.
You've been stuck here a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
Ryan: Im not eating these guys. Dave would taste like a lifetime supply of cigarettes and I’d get so high after eating Jason I’d forget where I was and wander off again and no one would find me because of my stupid choice in band merch.. I swear that god damn Sleep shirt is gonna be the death of me…why did I choose it!? Anyway, I’ll sacrifice myself. I eat a lot of Mexican food so I bet I taste good.
Dave: I sacrifice Ryan so I can take over control of No Skull and be responsible for all its glory.
Ryan: Yes all the glory of booking shows and answering emails and checking calendars. All the glory of scheduling. Don’t forget all the money we owe. Actuall... Dave, how would you like to own a shiny new band?
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
Dave: Before all of this I was able to save Michael Stipe from the wreckage, to which i think he responded “thank you”?!? I don’t know, he was mumbling a bunch. After eventually sacrificing Ryan and being rescued from the island Michael became the frontman of No Skull. Our shipwreck-themed concept album went on to sell more records than Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift ever did and we made more money than Bill Gates and George Washington combined. Everyone lived happily ever after (Except Ryan)
