For the members of the South Wales-based Skindred, music is more than a way of life, it is their oxygen.  Skindred have been pummeling audiences with their blend of Metallica meets Bob Marley metalesque reggae over a punk rock backbone for the better part of seven years.  One would surmise that given this timeframe Skindred would be a household name, yet in America, the band still finds themselves clawing their way to the top.  In the U.K., however, it’s a slightly different story.  Since the band’s sophomore release, which they are still currently touring, Roots Rock Riot, the band has been dubbed as the best live band by Kerrang, yet fall short on accolades from major U.S. markets.  Lesser bands probably would have sought alternative career paths by now, however, for Skindred, perseverance is in their blood.  According to vocalist Benji Webbe, the hurdles in America are just part of a black cloud that seems to follow the band, yet in the end, Skindred refuses to wave the white flag.  Rounded out by guitarist Mikey Demus, bassist Dan Pugsley and drummer Arya Goggin, the band have one of the most unique sonic blendings heard on either side of the pond and perhaps that is why they are continually faced with obstacles.  One could conclude that the music business is simply not ready for such a mixture of styles.  Someone should start paying attention because after one listen to Roots Rock Riot, it is obvious that there is a lot of talent coming out of this quartet.  Perhaps the band will receive some much needed attention as the gear up to hit the road on January 16 with heavy metal rock sensations Disturbed.  A tour that will mark Skindred’s second trip across the U.S. since the release of Roots over a year ago.

 

We recently phoned in to Webbe, where he spoke about all things Skindred on a beautiful day in Florida, where he finds himself spending the majority of his time.   

 

PUM: Skindred recorded the new record in Florida correct?

 

Benji Webbe: Yeah we did.  I spend a lot of time down here when I am not traveling and recording.

 

PUM: What brought you out there?

 

Webbe: It’s just a beautiful place.  Where I live in Wales is a bit of a shithole so when I got the chance to come here I do.  Instead of sitting in cold England, I thought I’d come to Florida and chill.

 

PUM: You guys are gearing up to go on tour at the beginning of November.

 

Webbe: We’re going to do the European tour with Flogging Molly and some other punk rock bands, which we are pretty buzzed about.

 

PUM: It’s a diverse group of bands that’s for sure.

 

Webbe: You know what’s funny?  If Skindred is on the bill we’re always going to be the weird kids because of the music that we make.  The main thing is that we make a connection with the audience and I think 98 percent of the time Skindred plays, we actually do make a great connection with the audience.

 

PUM: I had an opportunity to listen to the new record, which has been out for over a year now and I think it’s amazing…

 

Webbe: There are some good things on there.  I think as a band the next record is going to be very interesting.  For me I love where it’s going, but there are things on there where I think, “We should have tried this or tried that.”

 

PUM: One of my favorite songs is “Spit out the Poison.”

 

Webbe: Well, we were trying to go for a really heavy dance kind of track.  We spent some time in the studio just working on that and we were going for a Soulwax type of groove.  You know, that kind of thing where its just repetitive and it goes round and round.  The vocals change and the guitars just make it heavy or light.  That was a good song.

 

PUM: How did you approach this record differently then the first one?

Webbe: In all honesty this was done the exact same way as the first record.  We got a little rehearsal space in South Wales, we go in there and just make as much noise as possible through the weeks, just recording everything on Pro-Tools and just take it apart and listen to what we’ve got there.  Then we just work on developing the tracks.  The good thing about it, because I’m in Florida and we’ve been starting to write the new album; I’ve got this syndrome where when the guys go in the room I can’t actually play anything myself, I just come up with the melodies and the riffs, but I have to physically mouth to the guys everything.  The good thing about the next album we’re just starting to write [is] I’m not around a lot.  What I find is when they start coming up with something, I jump on them and I get too excited.  It’ll be good that I’m not going to be around so maybe the songs they are working on can grow a little bit more, rather than me interrupting the natural flow.

 

PUM: And then you would come in and add the lyrics and vocals?

 

Webbe: What we normally do is say there is a certain part; I say, “Can we try this groove?”  The guys are pretty cool like that.  It’s not like me coming in with a piece of paper, give it to everybody and say, “This is what we are playing.”  We all get a chance to express our feelings and just say, “We’re going to go for it.  We’re going to work on it and see how it goes.”  I think it is a good process because we just keep writing and writing.  On the last album we demoed like 40 songs.

 

PUM: What are some of your influences when you are putting stuff together?

 

Webbe:  For me, I have always been into, if it’s rock, bands like Helmet, you know stuff that is not mainstream.  Growing up I liked bands like The Clash and The Specials and the 70’s punk rock and the 70’s reggae.  I really like bands that take different genres of music and put it together and that’s how I am.  Being in Skindred, I feel totally fulfilled because that’s what I’m doing. 

 

PUM: That’s what I was going to say.  You’re doing that yourself.

 

Webbe: People say to me that the album has diversity.  It’s got light lyrical subjects and heavy subjects and that’s just like me and you as people.  We don’t walk around with the same head on our shoulders.  Different things make us feel a certain way.  You listen to the album, it’s got something like “Destroy the Dancefloor,” which is about walking out and enjoying yourself and then you’ve got “Spit out the Poison,” which is about mental abuse.  As a band, I don’t want to make an album with just one track.

 

PUM: I like albums with diversity as well.

 

Webbe: One thing about some bands, I think what happens is record companies sort of stifle a band and say, “This is what you should be doing.  This is what worked for you before.”  I think you should let people grow.  If you’ve got a punk rock band and then they want to do a dance track then let them do it!  Is it a rulebook that we have to stick to that because we are in this band we have to stick to this because that’s what our fans tell us?  That means we’re being dictated to.  It shouldn’t be like that.  We make music for people to dig and if all of a sudden the kids who buy Artic Monkeys dig one of their songs and that’s what they want then so be it!  I don’t think any band from Metallica to Sabbath should be restricted to what the fans want them to play.  You should be playing music for you.  That’s what I find being in Skindred.  I feel fulfilled because I am playing music that I know I love.  If I want a dance groove in there, I can put a dance groove in there and it’s funny that people normally dig it anyway.  They don’t go, “What are you doing with a dance groove in there?” 

 

PUM: How do you see the difference for Skindred in the U.K. vs the U.S.  You were hailed “Best Live Band” by Kerrang! and from a lot of what I have read it sounds like your success has been better across the pond.

 

Webbe:  I think it’s because we’re actually in Europe when we’re doing it.  When we’re on tour in the states, we do get some good vibes going.  I think wherever we are it’s sort of working.  If we were in the states constantly like we were in Europe this year, I mean we played one tour supporting Roots Rock Riot in America, and I don’t think that’s fair.  I think the American public hasn’t had their fill of us.  If we were given the same opportunity and you’ve got to remember, its so expensive to tour, and we’ll get messages on Myspace, “Hey man come to Delaware.”  It’s like, “We’d love to, but we can’t just jump on a plane and come to Delaware.”  People have to realize that it’s not the fact that it’s the U.K. versus America, it’s just where we can afford to tour or where promoters are prepared to pay us a decent enough fee to tour.  We went to Japan and I could expect good Sushi, [but] we ended up having an amazing show there.  The two gigs we did in Osaka and Tokyo were incredible.  I think out of this year they were my favorite shows and that’s because I went there not knowing what to expect from the audience.  The crowd was just incredible.  Whatever you are being promoted [as], you’re going to go there and you’re going to get that vibe.  The last time we played in Chicago, we played in a club called The Metro and I think there were like two posters put up in the club. Now, a fist full of people came there and they loved it, but I know for a fact that if we were getting some of the bullshit that some bands get then that place would have full and it would have been much more of a rocking vibe.

 

Don’t get me wrong, everywhere we play, before we go out I ask the tour manager, “What’s it looking like out there?” And if he says there’s not many there, I don’t feel depressed by that.  It’s like, “Okay, I’m going to give these handful of people something to remember.

 

PUM: With the album being out for so long now, why has it taken so long for your songs to hit the radio?

 

Webbe: In all honesty, we’ve had pure problems again.  It’s like the Grim Reaper from hell follows Skindred around.  When we released the album a year ago within the first few weeks of releasing [it] we were told the main label didn’t want to release it.  Then we had to wait for the album to be released.  We had to wait for papers to be signed so we could have the official release.  If it was up to us we would be on the second phase of the third album by now.  We get stuck in these situations where it’s all legal bullshit and it seems to follow Skindred everywhere we go.  I would have loved to have already toured America twice with this album. 

 

PUM: In your press release it says, “Lesser mortals would have packed up and gone home.”  With all the issues that have plagued the band at times, what keeps you going?

 

Webbe:  You’ve got to love the music.  The passion for the music is really good.  I know everybody in the band seems to really dig what we do.  We don’t stop.  I’ve been in the band with these guys for six or seven years now.  We get knocked back, but we test ourselves and push forward.  I think it’s great because we get excited about the smallest show.  It could be a 400 or 500 capacity club, but to have the chance to have a label to want to put the record out and to want put it to radio, whether it’s five months or six months down the road, it doesn’t matter to us.  I think the main motivation to Skindred is the music.  We’re not just going to pack up and say, “Well, okay it didn’t happen.”

 

PUM: What do you do in your downtime?

 

Webbe: I helped the guys in Bullet For My Valentine write a couple of songs on their album, which was cool.  I also appeared on their album.  When we’re not doing this, we don’t all hang around together.  We are good friends, but it’s not like we’re all in the same house together.  We’ll show up two or three days before and we just crack on.

 

PUM: Getting back to the record, how was working with Matt Squire?

 

Webbe: I don’t know what kind of success Matt has had since he worked on the Panic! At the Disco album.  I’ve heard his name as the next big thing, but we had the chance to work with Bob Rock and it was case of waiting four or five months before we could get in the studio and we had already waited long enough.  [Matt] came to the studio and he really made me work on the lyrics.  When you get into pre-production, the singer doesn’t have much to do because it’s just being arranged.  Matt set me up a little Pro-Tools rig and he just made me go in there and just write, write and write.  Now, rewrite the lyrics because what I found in some of the stuff, I was saying the same thing in the second and third verse.  Matt sort of set me up with my own little studio to just go in and reel and really brainstorm the lyrics and the melodies and I think he did an amazing job when it came to that.  I know for a fact that some of the stuff that I was doing when the red light went on, when we actually recorded, I captured some really good vibes because of Matt’s help.  I think it wouldn’t have been captured as powerfully without him pulling me aside and saying, “Go into that room and just keep coming up with ideas.” 

 

A lot of the lyrics I like come from poetry that I write myself and then I just say, “Okay, this piece of music inspires me in this way.”

 

PUM: What are you hoping to get out of this next tour that you are going on?

 

Webbe: I just want to continue to build a fanbase.  It’s great because that Myspace thing, when I first started playing music there was nothing like that.  Now I get stuff from kids like, “I never heard any of your music before, I just thought you were a joke band and now I just heard your song on the radio and I really dig it.”  It’s good that more and more people are getting into.  Not just in America, but people in England who have never heard of us before.  You can never be too big.  The band is still growing and still moving forward.

 

Next year I think it will be just a case of writing the new record.  We’ll just see how this song goes.  If this song blows up then we won’t be writing, we’ll be touring.  I believe in the music and I believe that we have written some great songs.  There’s a lot of shit on the radio in America.  Sometimes its like, “How could they play this? Why are they playing this?”  It seems like a poor man’s version of a great band.  It would be good if someone just had some balls to say, “I’m not going to play that, I want to play this.” It’s all corporate. 

 

I think anything can make money.  Anything can have a story and be pulled together.  There’s a lot of rubbish bands out there that they are feeding us and we’re buying.  I think you can take any band like from Buffalo and say, “This is going to be the next big thing and we’re going to work it.”  Instead of giving us the humdrum stuff we know is radio friendly, give people something that is a bit more unique.

 

A lot of people come up to me and say they are absolutely sick to death of the same type of radio station sound and the bands sounding the same and looking the same.  Now all of sudden everyone has gone back to sounding like Metallica on the album.  Everyone is doing guitar solos and two years ago they were wearing baggy trousers and dancing like Johnathan Davis.  In this whole aggressive metal scene it seems like more pansy then a lot of the silly dance acts.

 

PUM: What is a Skindred live show like?

 

Webbe: I’m pretty much a hype man on stage. Some people actually get upset like, “I couldn’t believe he was actually forcing us to jump up and down.”  I’m quite aggressive and I want the opportunity to be heard.  If I get 75 percent of the room jumping up and down and rocking out it’s cool.  You know what’s funny? When I go to a show, I love watching live bands, but I’m the one who normally stands still.  I’ve got the audacity to try and force people to rock out.  I always tell people, “This is not you coming to watch us, this is like us coming together.”  I try to tell people that they have to drop their inhibitions and feel free as we play.  We do get the die hard metal fans, the die hard reggae fans and die hard dance fans and when you get all of those people in one group it’s explosive.

 

By: Adam K. Zak III - Senior Editor / Founder