The band play the Shakespeare with a set packed with new and reworked material and have just found out that they are confirmed for the Leeds and Reading festivals.

The sound is marked by whisky-laden vocals and guitar work that's prominent but spacious. Falsetto backing adds a swingy, Black Crowes touch with keys that soar from gentle swing to stomping rhythms.

The Bones of JB Jeffries is a melodic, brooding song of vocal agility and slow, spacious keys. Badd Captain, however, is a quick, sexy stomper fuelled with vocal libido and crashing drugs. The song's sentiment to wake up and smell the coffee is made clear in its chorus: "Hallelujah/ they're gonna fuck ya" with the same tone in the lyric "Springtime will kick you where it hurts."

"The Skeletons is bluesy – the band is direct about where we want to come from – a bluesy, indie rock aesthetic," says Ryan Jenkinson, who cites Bruce Springsteen and Robert Johnson among their influences. "We're all versed in the blues thing and Liam (songwriter) loves his Tom Waits and Nick Cave and I'm into Buddy Rich and a long list of drummers."

Band members have known each other since school but The Skeletons only came together just over a year ago when keyboardist Matt Jones joined the band. Now they are focusing on making an album early next year.