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Musical Reassurance With BENJI WEBBE From SKINDRED · HEAVY Music Interviews

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Speaker 1: My name is Benji Webb. I come from new book gwent,
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Speaker 1: South Wales, and I sing for a band called Skin Dread.
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Speaker 2: Skindred releasing new album.
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Speaker 3: You got this on April seven eighth, mate, So how
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Speaker 3: are you dealing with this period where it's finished and
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Speaker 3: ready to come out?
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Speaker 1: Like?
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Speaker 3: You don't strike me as a story guy. He just
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Speaker 3: it'spectationally idle.
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Speaker 1: No, I mean, this is not something that I do.
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Speaker 1: This is my life, you know. I don't. I don't
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Speaker 1: have an off button for Skin Dread. It's just it's
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Speaker 1: a constant thing that I've been doing for the last
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Speaker 1: twenty six years, you know. So it ain't and off
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Speaker 1: and on things twenty four seven sixty five. Skin Dred
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Speaker 1: keeps me alive, you know, in one way, in one
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Speaker 1: aspect or another.
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Speaker 3: No, I think can it tells a bit more about
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Speaker 3: the album from the musical point of view and what
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Speaker 3: you were going for with it?
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Speaker 1: Well, you know, Stephen King, he's a great horror writer,
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Speaker 1: you know, and he you know, he writes great horror
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Speaker 1: stories and that's his that's his gift, you know. I think,
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Speaker 1: I really do, And I think our gift is raising
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Speaker 1: social issues and just issues of life as a songwriter.
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Speaker 1: I think that the most important part about my job
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Speaker 1: in the band is reaching people's hearts and souls with
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Speaker 1: the lyrics, you know, and the melodies. So we've It's
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Speaker 1: basically one of the reason why I mentioned Stephen King
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Speaker 1: is because we do the same thing that we've been
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Speaker 1: blessed to do, you know, and that is mixed, have
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Speaker 1: a highbred of all these different kinds of music that
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Speaker 1: we mix together with reggae and rock, you know, That's
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Speaker 1: what we do. I think every album is different from
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Speaker 1: the other. I really, I really can't say it enough
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Speaker 1: that I think the music that we make is more
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Speaker 1: important than just being in a band, you know. I
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Speaker 1: really think, you know, from from what I get, the
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Speaker 1: messages I get day to day on a daily basis
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Speaker 1: about what people are going through and how they connect
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Speaker 1: with the music and how the music helps them, that's
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Speaker 1: more important. That's more important than anything to me.
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Speaker 3: I've been lucky enough to listen to the to the
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Speaker 3: entire album, and what I'm gonna do is I've got
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Speaker 3: a review that I've done of it. So I want
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Speaker 3: to read you my review track by track, and then
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Speaker 3: we'll get you to reply or what I've said and
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Speaker 3: just let us know if I'm on the right track,
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Speaker 3: and then show a bit more about the song again.
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Speaker 2: All right, heah, So it starts off. Skindid or a
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Speaker 2: band who have never.
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Speaker 3: Shied away from voicing their concerns and grievances through music,
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Speaker 3: while never boarding on being political per se or overtly opinionated.
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Speaker 3: Frontman Benji went Web also never backs down from confrontation,
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Speaker 3: allowing his music to do the pummeling with an infectious
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Speaker 3: swagger that is almost impossible to resist. Despite releasing the
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Speaker 3: debut album bubble On in two thousand and two, it
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Speaker 3: wasn't unture skindre It's eighth then most recent albums smiled
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Speaker 3: that the world universally gravitated towards their hybrid sonic output
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Speaker 3: of punk, reggae, SCA, metal and pop sensibilities, earning Skindrid
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Speaker 3: longoverview recognition with awards such as Best of All Turned
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Speaker 3: to Music Act and at the MOBOs and also Best
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Speaker 3: UK Act at the Heavy Music Awards. While it would
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Speaker 3: be chemping and even plausible for Skindrid to rehash the
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Speaker 3: winning formula of Smile for the new album You Got This,
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Speaker 3: which comes out in April, seventeighth one gets a strong
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Speaker 3: feeling that Benji would say bollocks to that, Let's turn
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Speaker 3: shit on it said even more the opening and title track,
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Speaker 3: You Got This Physicist to Live for the short spluttering
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Speaker 3: of sonic vibration before an electronic voice reiterates the message
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Speaker 3: of the song as a wiki guitar riff courtesy of
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Speaker 3: Mikey demas In. Tyson's voice was SPENTI before as he
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Speaker 3: sprinkled his effer vesseens over the track. The electronics spit
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Speaker 3: and snyle haphazardly in the background to added almost sci
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Speaker 3: fi touch proceedings, but it's a continuously pounding guitar rift
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Speaker 3: that is centraled of this song. A breakdown of sorts
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Speaker 3: midway through pulls things back a touch, as I hope
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Speaker 3: I pronounced this right. Ari Yah Googan goes tribal on
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Speaker 3: the drums to create an all encomplassing song within a
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Speaker 3: song which is only disrupted as Benji Lacey's elegant touch
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Speaker 3: once more. This track is typical skinned with sporadic chiming
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Speaker 3: and jempo changes, upset by harmonious chorus and eclectic musical
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Speaker 3: into play setting the remainder of You Got this up
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Speaker 3: to yet another follicking descent into the madness of Breed's
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Speaker 3: life into Skindron's music.
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Speaker 1: If I would have paid my land to do it,
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Speaker 1: shouldn't have done it better than that. Brilliant. If you're
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Speaker 1: bigging us up, I can't argue with that, bro, that's
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Speaker 1: fucking fantastic. You see the difference between us, I tell
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Speaker 1: you all right, the difference between Scheddred and a lot
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Speaker 1: of the bands have been going for a long time,
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Speaker 1: and I've thought about this today, right, it's the fact
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Speaker 1: that we haven't got what we wanted out of it.
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Speaker 1: We still feel like you you, you all, you ain't
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Speaker 1: got us yet. You have not got this this yet.
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Speaker 1: And that's why I really think that the best album
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Speaker 1: we've written is you got This because you just you
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Speaker 1: never got You ain't got us yet. Hopefully they'll get
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Speaker 1: us now. They will get us now, because I really
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Speaker 1: believe that between the team, we've really pulled poured more
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Speaker 1: into this record than ever ever before in a lot
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Speaker 1: of different ways as well, emotionally, you know, physically, challenging wise.
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Speaker 1: I just think this is this is, this is so
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Speaker 1: on point and I still, like I said, again, we
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Speaker 1: haven't had what we want out of it, yet we
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Speaker 1: haven't had that record that people play and sing and
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Speaker 1: have you heard that song? Don't know the name of
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Speaker 1: the but I've heard this song is brilliant and they
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Speaker 1: love it. And I just believe that we deserve that
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Speaker 1: we should be getting that, you know, and that's coming.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, beautiful all right?
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Speaker 1: Ah know?
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Speaker 2: Can I get us?
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Speaker 3: Starts through the breezy keyboard intro that eases into a
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Speaker 3: laid back and come and track that allows Benji to
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Speaker 3: ride and destride.
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Speaker 2: It has the feel of a lazy Sunday.
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Speaker 3: Afternoon under a coconut tree while a bartender pause peanut
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Speaker 3: fladas in the background, while the ocean ebbs and flows.
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Speaker 2: It is perhaps some of the most.
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Speaker 3: Consistent musical pieces I have heard from Skindred, which is
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Speaker 3: even more proved that this band refuses to be stereotyped.
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Speaker 3: The musical disparity is not born from a desire to
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Speaker 3: confused a living funk out of us. It is more
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Speaker 3: an expression of each band members musical psyche, which is
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Speaker 3: even more apparent after listening to what we would be
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Speaker 3: a fully pledged cracket radio acceptance by most bands, but
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Speaker 3: in the hands of Skindrid is yet one more layer
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Speaker 3: of their sonic evolution.
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Speaker 1: Yeah my kind of grim Moore. Yeah, yeah, you know
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Speaker 1: what I mean. You know you're biging up the band
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Speaker 1: of bands. You know, we've, like I said, we bought
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Speaker 1: our hands and sold into dusk. Yeah, it's fantastic. Cory
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Speaker 1: On Yeah my career. I'm not going to clash you
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Speaker 1: with any of that.
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Speaker 3: Borne for This opens with the thronging guitar riff that
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Speaker 3: folds back onto itself before churning into an aggressive reggae
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Speaker 3: in for his number, completely soothing passages that only serve
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Speaker 3: to accentuate the message.
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Speaker 2: Benji spits his vocals with a more.
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Speaker 3: Rapid fire and chat that is tempered by the more
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Speaker 3: balanced underbelly that is completely shattered when Benjie delivers a
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Speaker 3: rap reggae in for his breakdown that us is in
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Speaker 3: a heavy direction, once more punctuated by the toughest fun
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Speaker 3: guitar work of Demus.
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Speaker 1: Rocket. Mm hmm.
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Speaker 2: Hell, you'll tell a bit more about the song and
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Speaker 2: what it's about.
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Speaker 1: Well, I mean born for this, I mean Mikey sent
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Speaker 1: me a piece of music and he said, I want
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Speaker 1: you to swagger on this like the fucking like a
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Speaker 1: bad villain from James Bond, be that guy, and the
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Speaker 1: words born for This just hit me, and then I
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Speaker 1: realized the strugglers of music, how high it can be,
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Speaker 1: you know, when you've choosed this road, when in fact
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Speaker 1: it's when this road chooses you pain't much you can
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Speaker 1: do except deliver what the road can give you. And
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Speaker 1: I think both for this is definitely the struggle of
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Speaker 1: my heart and like I speak for a lot of
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Speaker 1: other musicians that you're not giving this. You're not giving
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Speaker 1: a silver spoon with this fucking game. Man. You gotta
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Speaker 1: work for it. And even though you're born for this,
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Speaker 1: you got to grab the bull by the horns. You know,
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Speaker 1: you're not just grabbing it, you're writing it, You're bringing it.
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Speaker 1: And that's what the song is about, and that's why
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Speaker 1: it's got that cowboy so that James Bond is. It's
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Speaker 1: a big tough track, you know what I'm I do
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Speaker 1: look forward to playing this one day in the set
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Speaker 1: because I really believe that this song could have been
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Speaker 1: any of the singles from the album. It's a fantastic,
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Speaker 1: fantastic song and it's got it's definitely moistures and brings
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Speaker 1: forth the spirit of skin dread, which is freedom, alliance
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Speaker 1: and love. Definitely passionate song beautiful.
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Speaker 3: This is a sad shuffles to life before a chunky
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Speaker 3: guitar if introduced with throlling of emotions offset by some
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Speaker 3: delicate harmonies, Benji soon takes over as a chorus from
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Speaker 3: harmonious chance of this is the sound that makes Me
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Speaker 3: go crazy act as a challenge of sources to Benji,
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Speaker 3: and he counts each moment with a firmer servement of being,
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Speaker 3: chant that serves to back up the earlier claims, things
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Speaker 3: like it turning the rougher warders as a breakdown of
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Speaker 3: hostility threatens without coming to fruition, serving more or as
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Speaker 3: a further foot to the throat delivered by whatever sound
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Speaker 3: it is that makes Kindrid go crazy.
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Speaker 1: M Well, you know, I come from a time in
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Speaker 1: the eighties when I picked up the microphone, I sat
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Speaker 1: on what they call reggae sound systems was basically which
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Speaker 1: were homemade I fhies with huge speakers, and you know,
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Speaker 1: it was a real cultural thing that and I've always
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Speaker 1: taken into the into the band skindre of that element
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Speaker 1: of the dance hall. And when I when I when
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Speaker 1: I work on some songs with the guys, I definitely
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Speaker 1: put that mc head on and just especiically, like I know,
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Speaker 1: I was sung nobody where you're bigging at the chest
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Speaker 1: and you're saying how great your sound is, you know,
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Speaker 1: And I think there's nothing wrong with that. Being a
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Speaker 1: little braggadocious is It's good. It's good chemistry, you know
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Speaker 1: what I mean. And this, this, this is this is
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Speaker 1: definitely a sound of skin dread, which comes from the
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Speaker 1: dance all element, you know. And when Mike he said
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Speaker 1: to get the ladies all singing, this is the sound
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Speaker 1: that makes me go crazy. That was a real challenge
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Speaker 1: for me. And as it drops down, as as as
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Speaker 1: the song goes on, it's just one of them big
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Speaker 1: up skin dread songs, you know what I mean. Skin
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Speaker 1: dread is the sound that make it go crazy. He
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Speaker 1: really is. And I don't mean in a in a
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Speaker 1: Jeffrey Dammer kind of way. I mean like I mean,
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Speaker 1: like in a dancing kind of losing your ship in
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Speaker 1: the dance all kind of way, and in the pit
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Speaker 1: kind of way, in the mosh pit kind of way,
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Speaker 1: in the happy, uplifting, spiritual energy kind of way. This
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Speaker 1: is the sound that makes you go crazy, and we've
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Speaker 1: only just begun the sound that makes you go crazy.
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Speaker 1: That's how I'm feeling.
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I'll break his necks and starts with an
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Speaker 3: acoustics flutter before congress creeping into the fold and what
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Speaker 3: starts off as the fun who is called reggae lead
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Speaker 3: tail of bo But even when singing about the short
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Speaker 3: forces of life such as being broke, skin drid fine
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Speaker 3: the way to add an upbeat deposition to the blakness
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Speaker 3: with a quick chocolare dramas or a spected melody that's
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Speaker 3: shines the light on even the darkest of topics very
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Speaker 3: much fun.
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Speaker 1: Well, when I was inspired to write this, you know,
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Speaker 1: I was basically a live I live in a council
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Speaker 1: of state. I live in a pretty, you know, normal
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Speaker 1: estate full of people who are working class, and everybody's broke. Me.
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Speaker 1: Everybody's fucking broke. Everybody can do what they'd love to do,
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Speaker 1: but other people can upstairs. They can all do it
10:32
Speaker 1: up there. But it seems like us, us human beings,
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Speaker 1: real ones who turned the keys and worked in ninety five,
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Speaker 1: we're doing all this work and no one people got
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Speaker 1: to get two jobs made. People got to get two jobs,
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Speaker 1: you know. Fortunately, the job I do I love, and
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Speaker 1: the job my drammer does he loves. But for them
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Speaker 1: poor bastards who's got to fucking quote there nine to
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Speaker 1: five and really struggle. That's a hardship man, you know.
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Speaker 1: And it's not fair because there's plenty of money. Why
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Speaker 1: the fuck at a packet of cigarette six pound? Why
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Speaker 1: is a pack of facts sixteen quick man? You know?
11:05
Speaker 1: And it's just it just breaks my heart to know
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Speaker 1: that there's people who there's the haves and the have nots,
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Speaker 1: and I'm coming from the have nots, and I'm singing
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Speaker 1: about my friends and myself that we work so hard,
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Speaker 1: we're still going to fucking money, you know. And I
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Speaker 1: just I wanted to say it, but I didn't want
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Speaker 1: to be like, oh, freaking depressed, I'm loone looker. I
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Speaker 1: didn't want to do it like that. I wanted to
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Speaker 1: do it with an uplifting spirit, you know what I mean,
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Speaker 1: not not punch down, you punch up, you know. And
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Speaker 1: I just hope that this song can get to the
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Speaker 1: ears of this of these money people and they'll open
11:35
Speaker 1: up the strings and let let us, let us in
11:36
Speaker 1: a little bit not much. A couple of stripes of
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Speaker 1: the table will be nice, you know, But I just
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Speaker 1: feel I wanted about a revolutionary song for revolutionary people,
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Speaker 1: and just maybe in the ears of them, those who
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Speaker 1: are in charge, maybe somehow, some way they'll they'll they'll
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Speaker 1: not be so greedy and hold it all back to themselves.
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Speaker 1: So that's what brokes about.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool, all right?
11:57
Speaker 3: Glass follows and say out like another tongo like passage.
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Speaker 2: Of music, that he's a swagger and warmth. Benji olternates between.
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Speaker 3: His reggae star delivery, throwing in a handful of sun
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Speaker 3: pieces that highlight the musical diversity in his disposal. The
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Speaker 3: first real guitar solo on the album makes for a
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Speaker 3: welcome surprise, but Glass is very much a vehicle for
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Speaker 3: benji'svocal talents and feel for the most part, like it
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Speaker 3: could be a song with his person and close to
12:19
Speaker 3: his heart, which is only exacerbated by a beautifully tranquil
12:22
Speaker 3: kennowaytro that bass gently into the distance.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Mikey played piano and that and he played
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Speaker 1: it beautifully. You know, he really did. Team has stepped
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Speaker 1: up Broca's basically, I'm I'm faintly. I'm fucking I can't
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Speaker 1: remember all them anymore. I'm fifty nine now, a term
12:39
Speaker 1: fifty nine in match and a lot of my heroes
12:42
Speaker 1: or people who were punk rockers and rasters and people
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Speaker 1: who encouraged me as a kid when I first grabbed
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Speaker 1: the mic, and sadly, as we get older, we lose
12:51
Speaker 1: them encouraging people in our lives, and it's like a
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Speaker 1: big tribute to them, you know, big salute to all
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Speaker 1: my past friends. And you know, as long as we're alive,
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Speaker 1: we're gonna be losing, which is a sad thing. And
13:02
Speaker 1: you know, it's just a way of my way of saying,
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Speaker 1: like you know, Skindren's way of saying, we raise a
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Speaker 1: glass to our fallen heroes. And our heroes don't all
13:08
Speaker 1: where fucking don't carry guns. Some of them just wear
13:11
Speaker 1: nurses' uniforms. Or you know, I've just been there, encouraged
13:15
Speaker 1: the dinner lady in school who is lovely to you
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Speaker 1: when everyone else is being an asshole, the one who's
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Speaker 1: seen your pain and she's passed, And it just makes
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Speaker 1: me want to raise a glass to those who are
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Speaker 1: gone and those who are those who have encouraged me
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Speaker 1: and I don't even know they're gone because life just
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Speaker 1: moves on. But I just want them to make a
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Speaker 1: song for you and me that we can all raise
13:35
Speaker 1: a class at the same time to those who have
13:37
Speaker 1: been there for us when others wasn't. That's it, really,
13:41
Speaker 1: and the reason why, the reason why. Musically, I love
13:44
Speaker 1: the way that it just shifts from that reggae, that
13:46
Speaker 1: that sort of step in reggae kind of vibe, and
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Speaker 1: then it goes to this like this, this kind of
13:51
Speaker 1: more rock. And that's that's the way death is. You know,
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Speaker 1: it just comes and snatches people. You're on one journey
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Speaker 1: one minute and the next thing, you know, a phone call,
13:59
Speaker 1: a text, whatever it is, it'll just rocky wood and
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Speaker 1: it just it definitely changes your whole that hit of
14:06
Speaker 1: passing of a loved one, it's definitely it smashes you
14:09
Speaker 1: in a different direction, just like the music for Class Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Really Bigger Up kicks off with a splattering of electronics
14:18
Speaker 3: before Benji fires into action.
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Speaker 2: This track is a step back into the more up
14:21
Speaker 2: chain post side.
14:22
Speaker 3: Of Skindrid's musical Arsenal Bout sitting along at an irresistible
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Speaker 3: pace that is driven even further by wellplaced breakdowns that
14:28
Speaker 3: elevate the intensity and accentuate the vocals.
14:31
Speaker 2: Another breakdown of sort of sashes in.
14:33
Speaker 3: Even greater aggression as Big About morphs into a rapid
14:35
Speaker 3: fire heavy, a spark passage of music that is brought
14:37
Speaker 3: back into line gradually as a song faces to a close.
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Speaker 2: My favorite track so far, Yeah, Big Them Up.
14:44
Speaker 1: I mean, lyrically, you know once again, it's social issues,
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Speaker 1: and lyrically it's all about being there for your friends.
14:52
Speaker 1: And sometimes you are there for your friends and they
14:55
Speaker 1: don't even know it, you know, and but you know
14:57
Speaker 1: you're fighting for your friends, and you're fighting for your
14:58
Speaker 1: loved ones. You know, was mates from school and mates
15:01
Speaker 1: from life, you know, and you know and that the
15:03
Speaker 1: lyrics in that song for me are definitely telling the
15:06
Speaker 1: story of being there for people you know, and you know,
15:09
Speaker 1: remembering once once again, remembering you know, who was there
15:12
Speaker 1: when everybody else wasn't you know? It was inspired by
15:16
Speaker 1: true events. Every lyric on this album is inspired by
15:18
Speaker 1: true events, just like they say in the movies, you
15:20
Speaker 1: know what I mean, inspired by true events. And and
15:23
Speaker 1: Big Them Up. I love it because it takes me
15:25
Speaker 1: back to that dance old flavor that I know my
15:27
Speaker 1: drummer plays so well, you know, and that and that
15:29
Speaker 1: whole skin dreads and of the reggae punk rock thing,
15:32
Speaker 1: and then when it flies fires into the heavy part.
15:34
Speaker 1: It's funny enough because I was on holiday in Barbados
15:37
Speaker 1: and I heard that kind of groove. When you listen
15:39
Speaker 1: to the end of Big Them Up, there's this and
15:43
Speaker 1: it was like there was these bands playing that kind
15:45
Speaker 1: of thing, and when I went back, everybody in the
15:47
Speaker 1: band was excited to try and capture that thing and
15:50
Speaker 1: take it in the metal world. You know. Yeah, so
15:52
Speaker 1: big there's definitely a song which there's none of these
15:56
Speaker 1: songs on this album are not dear to my heart,
15:58
Speaker 1: but Big Them Up definitely wise on that bro I
16:00
Speaker 1: dig it.
16:01
Speaker 2: Too, thank you, Thank you?
16:03
Speaker 4: Ah do it like this as an always beastie boys
16:06
Speaker 4: field to start, complete with scratchings and rap metal tidings,
16:09
Speaker 4: but the Vay comparison is in there, as Benji strips
16:11
Speaker 4: the track back into a subtle, drum and based number
16:14
Speaker 4: that drifts in and out of styles and genres until
16:16
Speaker 4: it becomes impossible to even try to categorize, which is
16:18
Speaker 4: one of the many beautiful things about Skindred In their music.
16:21
Speaker 3: Whenever you start to feel comfortable or in tune with
16:23
Speaker 3: the music, the band throws another spanner after spanner into
16:26
Speaker 3: the works, and so you were forced to listening to
16:28
Speaker 3: music for pure enjoyment rather than anything more specific.
16:33
Speaker 1: Well, you just said it, bro I mean do it
16:35
Speaker 1: like this was one of the vibes that my drama
16:38
Speaker 1: kindly sent to me in an early in an early stage,
16:42
Speaker 1: and we worked on it together. Yeah, you know, we
16:45
Speaker 1: directed me lyrically and melody wise, and I'm just going
16:48
Speaker 1: to gravitated to it, and yeah, I think we came
16:50
Speaker 1: up with something really good. Being in a studio with
16:52
Speaker 1: Jay Rustling is a great thing, you know. I got
16:54
Speaker 1: to even though we're on in a studio together, Jay
16:58
Speaker 1: was a powerhouse. You know, is one of them producers
17:00
Speaker 1: who puts down his phone and pays attention to the room.
17:04
Speaker 1: A lot of people walk around with their phones in
17:05
Speaker 1: their hands. I'm guilty, but Jay, when Jay Rusten came
17:10
Speaker 1: to the studio, his phone was put down and he
17:12
Speaker 1: didn't look at it again. He gave all his time
17:15
Speaker 1: to USh and he really worked me in the studio.
17:17
Speaker 1: But I would say that Jay Wrestling is one of
17:19
Speaker 1: the most encouraging powerhouses that I've had the pleasure of
17:24
Speaker 1: cutting vocals for. He really knew how to guide me,
17:27
Speaker 1: and I think I can speak for my drummer as well.
17:29
Speaker 1: You know, he really knew how to bring the best
17:31
Speaker 1: out to you, encourage you and uplift you and make
17:33
Speaker 1: you feel good about yourself because you know, a lot
17:36
Speaker 1: of a lot it's very vulnerable place, being beyond the microphone,
17:39
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. When you make a song,
17:41
Speaker 1: when you make a record, right, it's you know, yes,
17:43
Speaker 1: you're in a room full of people, but when it's
17:45
Speaker 1: your turn, you're under the microscope. You know, you are
17:49
Speaker 1: under the microscope, whether you are drummer or a guitarist
17:52
Speaker 1: or what. And you listen to this bed. You look
17:54
Speaker 1: at this bed of music which is fucking beautiful, really
17:57
Speaker 1: so strong, and you know every part of it is great,
17:59
Speaker 1: and you, oh, my god, I'm going to fuck this
18:01
Speaker 1: up now by putting much stupid voice on it, you know.
18:04
Speaker 1: And that's how I feel. But Jay really made me
18:07
Speaker 1: feel part of the team, which is very important on
18:11
Speaker 1: this record. I mean, not many bands a geting around
18:13
Speaker 1: to get about to do nine albums and to can
18:16
Speaker 1: secutively get better and better, and I'd like the big
18:18
Speaker 1: up Jay because for all the work he'd done throughout
18:21
Speaker 1: every song, some songs I had to face like a
18:23
Speaker 1: smack gass because I thought he was changing stuff. But
18:27
Speaker 1: you know, my mother told me once shut your fucking
18:28
Speaker 1: mouth and listen, you know, and it worked. And that's
18:33
Speaker 1: I tried to do that because I do look the
18:34
Speaker 1: fucking gob off a bit. But I did listen to
18:37
Speaker 1: Jay because he was encouraging powerhouse and I think album
18:42
Speaker 1: album number nine, which is you Got This is the
18:46
Speaker 1: way it is partly because of Jay's conduct in the studio.
18:50
Speaker 2: Very cool, very cool.
18:52
Speaker 3: Okay, my people breathe life courtesy more electronics or a
18:56
Speaker 3: shuffling drum pnd.
18:57
Speaker 2: He was an almost spunky ube with an underlying some awkwardness.
19:01
Speaker 3: This song is character out by it's have balanced and
19:03
Speaker 3: dramas and guitar that as an aggressive, intensure and already
19:06
Speaker 3: hostile number. When I say hostile, I mean you can
19:08
Speaker 3: feel the urgency in Benji's voice with subtle changes and
19:11
Speaker 3: style and focus, driving the message home without having to
19:14
Speaker 3: resort to a destructive mess of instrumentalization that is a
19:17
Speaker 3: staple diet of the modern age of music.
19:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this. This was a piece of music
19:24
Speaker 1: that came to me through Mikey and I wrote a
19:28
Speaker 1: whole fucking read. I wrote so much to it, and
19:32
Speaker 1: there was one line I wrote and Mikey said, that's it.
19:34
Speaker 1: I said, what do you mean, that's it? He said,
19:37
Speaker 1: that's it. And I don't get the man, And there's
19:39
Speaker 1: loads of shit that I've done. He said, bro, you
19:41
Speaker 1: I'm always going to do fucking everything in the room.
19:44
Speaker 1: I'm always going to do all the heavy lifting. Let
19:46
Speaker 1: the rift breathe man, let the And I did agree
19:50
Speaker 1: with him to think that the riff was fucking mightily strong.
19:52
Speaker 1: So as skin dread do we all we all went
19:55
Speaker 1: in there and we all work together, pushing in the
19:57
Speaker 1: right push. Some sometimes you gotta push in diff directions
20:00
Speaker 1: in order for that elastic to stretch a stretch and
20:02
Speaker 1: stretch enough for it to come back, you know. And
20:04
Speaker 1: that's what we did a few times. I really felt
20:07
Speaker 1: that this song it was, it was, it was. It
20:10
Speaker 1: was great to get off the ground and as it
20:13
Speaker 1: I love the fact that we can use electrics with
20:15
Speaker 1: a maunt of stuff. With the heavy guitars, we can
20:17
Speaker 1: use electronics and stuff like that. Because they didn't just
20:20
Speaker 1: guitars that are heavy. Electronics can be so heavy too,
20:23
Speaker 1: you know. And this being a this is like my
20:25
Speaker 1: statement for this. You know, when I stand on that
20:28
Speaker 1: stenche and I say the opening line is crowd of
20:31
Speaker 1: people in front of me, are you ready for the
20:33
Speaker 1: style of excellenz? Now for me, that's like, you know,
20:36
Speaker 1: I mean, you can sing about this, you can sing
20:38
Speaker 1: about that, but I'm gonna tell you this, eighty nine
20:41
Speaker 1: percent of the time we are in front of a
20:43
Speaker 1: crowd making music. And that's what a lot I see
20:46
Speaker 1: the crowd and I see the energy that we gifted
20:49
Speaker 1: a crowd to them to give that back to us. Now,
20:51
Speaker 1: I know for a fact, I'm never gonna be told
20:53
Speaker 1: by a crowd what to play. I'm gonna make you
20:56
Speaker 1: fucking dance to what we do. This is what we do,
20:59
Speaker 1: and you're gonna you ain't gonna tell us what the play.
21:01
Speaker 1: I don't give a fucking I feel like this song
21:03
Speaker 1: from that album or that song this is where you
21:05
Speaker 1: get intonight, you know, and that song, my people, it's
21:08
Speaker 1: definitely reaches the Skindred fans who's been with us from
21:10
Speaker 1: the very early stages of this band, right up to
21:13
Speaker 1: the day. You know, we're one of them bands that
21:15
Speaker 1: just keep doing And like I said earlier, because we haven't,
21:18
Speaker 1: because we don't think that we've had what we deserved.
21:21
Speaker 1: That's why we're going to keep delivering the fucking goods.
21:24
Speaker 2: Fantastic.
21:26
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Okay, give Banks open through the hazy vocal passage,
21:31
Speaker 3: which serves as a perfect segue into a reggaeteent's track
21:34
Speaker 3: that will have even the most dance resistant of us
21:36
Speaker 3: moving in bonds early in time, and the track has
21:39
Speaker 3: been engaging shuffle through the jols perfectly with the breezy
21:43
Speaker 3: and fresh vocal delivery from Benji that would add warmth
21:46
Speaker 3: to even the darkest of moods.
21:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll tell you what I was. I was in
21:52
Speaker 1: the Barbados with my wife on on on holiday, and
21:56
Speaker 1: I was sent this piece of music and I just
21:59
Speaker 1: let I let the island and talk to me, you know,
22:00
Speaker 1: I let the island breathe through me. If you listen
22:03
Speaker 1: to the music, it's got that old school I can't
22:05
Speaker 1: remember if it's King Jammy's or it's one of them
22:07
Speaker 1: old scientist roots raddis bands kind of baselines on there,
22:12
Speaker 1: and it just it just opened me up and I
22:14
Speaker 1: just thought about it. And as I said earlier about
22:17
Speaker 1: this record, this record, every one of these songs are
22:20
Speaker 1: based on life journeys and life experiences, going from the
22:23
Speaker 1: top of it to the bottom of it. And it
22:25
Speaker 1: opens brilliantly with you got this, and it ends with
22:29
Speaker 1: all that beautifulness in the middle, and it ends with
22:33
Speaker 1: give thanks. Now, I really believe that give thanks is
22:35
Speaker 1: the story of me being thankful for what I got
22:38
Speaker 1: and being and realizing what I got, not counting what
22:41
Speaker 1: I haven't got. I'm being blinkered in this race. You
22:44
Speaker 1: have to be blinkered as a journalist. You've got to
22:46
Speaker 1: be blinked because you know this. Journalists out there you
22:49
Speaker 1: think to yourself, not anything as good as me. But
22:51
Speaker 1: you know what, take your eyes off what you haven't
22:53
Speaker 1: got and be thankful for what you have got. You
22:56
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And that's and that's what give dances.
22:59
Speaker 1: And I mentioned, you know, for my sister who passed
23:01
Speaker 1: a where I mentioned I mentioned people being thankful for
23:04
Speaker 1: their family, for their loved ones and just being being
23:06
Speaker 1: under And the word p m A is mentioned in
23:08
Speaker 1: there as well, which is about positive mental attitude. The
23:11
Speaker 1: world's in a fucked up place, bro. You know what
23:14
Speaker 1: all we can do is our best and try to
23:16
Speaker 1: be the best version of our best and think of
23:18
Speaker 1: others a little bit more. You got this, I'm.
23:21
Speaker 3: Out a brother bad Jasey.
23:25
Speaker 2: Well, what's the album done?
23:26
Speaker 1: In Dustin?
23:26
Speaker 3: Right now, we'll get on to the tourte because yeah,
23:32
Speaker 3: you're returning by to this year, Mate for a headline
23:34
Speaker 3: tour starting in Perth on September the eleven.
23:40
Speaker 2: Before hitting.
23:44
Speaker 1: September first. Don't fuck it up.
23:47
Speaker 2: I can't read my running.
23:52
Speaker 1: We're in Australia and we've we've we've been to Australia
23:55
Speaker 1: over the last ten years, but we've never played a
23:57
Speaker 1: club show. We've done some support club shows, so this
24:00
Speaker 1: is the perfect vehicle for us to show the Aussies
24:04
Speaker 1: what the dread he's got to offer.
24:09
Speaker 3: Every time I've seen you guys play live, Mate like
24:12
Speaker 3: you isn't crushed it And I've never read one bad
24:14
Speaker 3: review about you guys. So what is it about Skindred
24:19
Speaker 3: and his skin drid live show that makes it so
24:22
Speaker 3: engaging and so memorable?
24:24
Speaker 1: Do you know records are one thing, Yeah, they have
24:26
Speaker 1: one thing, But the show, the live show, For me,
24:30
Speaker 1: I picked up the microphone to sing for people in
24:33
Speaker 1: front of people, and that's always been for me. The
24:35
Speaker 1: best part about being in the band is performing. I
24:39
Speaker 1: can't make you buy records, I can't make you do anything,
24:41
Speaker 1: but I can definitely make you have a fucking good
24:43
Speaker 1: time when you're in front of me. You know that's
24:45
Speaker 1: the power. And I just think that being in a
24:48
Speaker 1: band like Skin Dread, that having that connection with the
24:50
Speaker 1: audience is where the magic is, you know. And we've
24:53
Speaker 1: played all over the world and like you said, we haven't.
24:55
Speaker 1: We haven't. We don't do shit shows. We don't do
24:59
Speaker 1: I mean, we've all we've all been on stage with
25:01
Speaker 1: the most fucking terrible news and the most and the
25:05
Speaker 1: biggest blues. But what the fuck am I gonna take
25:07
Speaker 1: it out on the audience for? You know, I want
25:10
Speaker 1: to give you the best show I can give you.
25:11
Speaker 1: And I know I can speak for the guys in
25:13
Speaker 1: the band too. We really want to make this a
25:15
Speaker 1: special night. And for some of us, God forbid is
25:20
Speaker 1: your last day on earth, so you give it all
25:22
Speaker 1: you fucking got. Don't worry about our dance tomorrow, because
25:25
Speaker 1: none of us got tomorrow. And as fucking pessimistic as
25:29
Speaker 1: that sounds, is fucking true. So when I go on
25:32
Speaker 1: stage with my boys and skin Dule, I know this,
25:34
Speaker 1: we've only got the minute we're in, and we're gonna
25:36
Speaker 1: give it the best shot. Whether it's in a club
25:38
Speaker 1: of seventeen fucking people are in a stadium with eighty thousand,
25:42
Speaker 1: we're gonna do what we do and bring it magically
25:46
Speaker 1: every time.