The Skeleton Club are an Adelaide folk, blues band who formed in 2012.
The group have had a busy few years, performing alongside artists such as Paul Kelly, The Black Sorrows, Tash Sultana, D.D Dumbo and The Beards.
The six-piece deliver a melodic wall of sound, paired with poetic storytelling lyrics. “Apart from water, which for some reason seems to be an ongoing theme for our band, I think for me personally I like to tell stories and they don’t necessarily need to be driven in fact,” co-frontman Tom Vasic says.
“I wouldn’t mind doing a cover version of 'Sk8er Boi'.”
“I like to tell interesting stories, usually it just tends to be stuff born out of struggle. Whether it's anxiety or depression based, or love based as most things tend to be with songwriting.”
The Skeleton Club will be making their third appearance at Adelaide Fringe, presenting a show entitled 'Songs You Love To Hate'. “We've done two Fringe Festivals previously, the first time we did a '90s R&B cover night and the second was a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover night.
“They've both been regular cover nights, so this year we decided that we're going to do something unique where we have to sort of create something ourselves that wasn’t just a regular cover,” Tom says.
“All of us love the triple j Like A Version vibe, so what we decided to do was put together a collection of songs that people wouldn’t usually think of as covers.
“So the best way for us to do that was to pick songs that, among the general consensus of most people, aren’t great songs. They might have been popular, but they were popular for being catchy, not for having a bunch of substance. We want to inject substance into them.”
Some of the songs on The Skeleton Club's Fringe setlist include 'Like A G6', 'Final Countdown' and 'My Humps'. “The list is still open,” Tom admits.
“We're opening it up for people to submit to. I wouldn’t mind doing a version of 'Sk8er Boi' as well.
“The whole point is to take [the original song] as far away from what they are as possible. The more upbeat rock songs we want to strip them right back. Or you know, turn Nickelback into a bluegrass song. And then turn 'Like A G6' into a love ballad.
“The music is the main thing that we'll change,” Tom continues. “I don't think we'll touch the lyrics at all. I'd like the lyrics to be applied to something more absurd, so that they really stick out.”
Guitarist Toby Brandenburg chimes in to share that, although they'll mainly be playing covers at 'Songs You Love To Hate', punters can expect one of the band's own originals to be given a new spin.
“We have one of our own, original songs that we don't like anymore. But people still ask us to play it, so we might play it as sort of an inside joke with the band.”
