Jon Doyle – Bass, Jamie Kyriakides- Drums/Vocals, Josh Waters Rudge – Guitar/Vocals, Marcia Richards- Keys/Sax/Flute/Melodica/VocalsLondon. It’s the big city in the United Kingdom and the capital of the country, mostly riddled by corruption and unfairness, with the air of revolution slowly stirring the suburbs to the streets. However, we’re British, and with a nice cuppa by our side, we know how to keep chirpy even in the darkest of times. So, who’s this glimmer of sunshine that helps to keep us happy and hold our heads high? HA! Straight out of the city are some of reggae’s finest specimens, The Skints. One of the most hardest touring bands going, they’ve still found time to release their highly anticipated album FM, and not only that, they’ve been kind enough to talk to us about it. Read below to find out more!
Your new album FM is out. What’s the meaning behind the album title?
FM, as most people know, stands for Frequency Modulation, but in The Skints album sense it stands for “Frequency Murderation”. The album is set at an imaginary pirate radio station so the title made sense to us.
What should a casual listener expect from your album and how does it relate to your past two?
As I said, the album is set at an imaginary pirate radio station, and is like a day in London on the hottest day of the year on record, so we got like some skits to tie the whole story in within our warped little universe we divised. Musically it is a big step up from our last two albums in an evolutionary style
This is the second album produced by Mike “Prince Fatty” Pelanconi, what is it that you like about working with him?
Fatty is just the don. We’ve learned so much from working with him that now it’s so natural and easy that we really feel at home in his studio.
Does his style add some sort of personal flair to your music?
Definitely, Fatty is our dub kung fu master.
The album features guests such as Tippa Irie, Horseman, and grime artist MC Rival. What made you want to work with these artists?
Well Tippa is someone who we grew up listening to reggae on, so it’s a huge honour for us to be working with him. Horseman is one of the most talented individuals on the drums/percussion and microphone we’ve met and Rival’s style, substance and flow are so heavy that we are huge fans of his work. As well as all being really cool guys, and even though we’ve become friends with each of Tippa, Horseman and Rival on different points of the journey, they all have come through doing sets on pirate radio so instantly got the vibe of the album we were creating.
The Skints – This Town (Official Video) ft. Tippa Irie and Horseman
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When approaching “FM”, did you have an idea of what the end product would sound like or was the end product something completely different than what you were expecting?
We actually did not have any idea of what the end was going to be when we were making FM. A lot of the writing happened in the studio as did the mapping out the record, but it was an amazing experience to work like that.
I read in an interview with Fred Perry Subculture that you’re big fans of the British band Gnarwolves. Are there any other upcoming British bands out there that you’ve encountered and recommend people to listen to?
So many I can’t even think…check out Slaves, General Roots, Axes, Woahnows and Wonk Unit!
What can we expect from you in the future?
Lots more touring around the world, good music and keeping it real, we hope!
