It's been three years since I first ventured into the crazy world of music
journalism - long hours, late nights, little pay. I gotta' tell you
though, the pleasure's been all mine. Been hearing some of the greatest
music the Northeast has to offer - raw, energetic, fresh - and all
original. But, by far, the best part is getting to talk directly to the
musicians creating the music you really dig. Such is the case with
Bostons' high-tech industrial rock band - Skingame. Now, with Skingame ready to unleash their first full length CD upon an unsuspecting public, it's time to get the low-down on what this band is up to.
Skingame is Scott Shunk (lead vocals/electronics); Brad Solomon
(electronics/samples); Steve Kilroy (drums); Dustin DiTommaso (bass) and
Mark Jackson (guitar).
Instant: Ok, guys, how 'bout a little background on Skingame for the
readers?
Brad: Scott, you're the official historian - you tell 'em.
Scott: [copping an ole' geezers' voice] Well, it was pret' near twenty
years ago... no, really, the concept for Skingame started out as some songs
I'd written and worked out on my Macintosh in this studio I'd built. Now,
Brad's
been a long-time friend and my musical compadre' since the beginning. He
and I eventually placed other musicians around us, forming the original
incarnation of Skingame. What you heard on the first CD is the music from
that lineup. Brad and I sort of felt somewhat unsatisfied with the results
we were getting and that band soon disintegrated, uh, although we did enjoy
having Steve Kilroy, our current drummer, play on part of that first
project. It was simply Brad and I getting back to what we wanted to do
initially.
Dustin: Meanwhile, Steve immediately headed for Florida to destroy his
life playing thrash metal. But that's another story.
Scott: You may have seen Steve on an episode of "Cops".
Steve: Yeah, I was the guy running out of my trailer home with the missing
teeth and the beer in my hand, being chased by four pit-bulls!
Scott: Anyway, we formulated a new line-up with a new sound. You could
say it was Skingame - The New Flesh. After a number of months, Steve
finally decided to stop destroying his life and returned from Florida.
Brad: Yeah, but only after we burned the sacred black voo-doo candle.
Steve: The magic brought me back to reality.
Brad: Hence, our current line-up.
Instant: My compliments to picking Mark for Skingame. Great guitar work,
Mark. You bring a gritty metal-edged sound to the band - bold, confident,
gutsy but sensible. You seem to fit right in. As one of the new guys,
fill me in on a little of your background and how you like working with
this band?
Mark: Thanks. My background? I've played in a number of Boston bands -
nothing I care to mention by name - but stylistically ranging anywhere from
rock to funk to whatever. I've also done a lot of sideman playing on local
peoples' demos. I pretty much grew up listening to heavier stuff - AC/DC
and the whole '80s rock thing - and, naturally, I started getting into
playing the heavier stuff myself. I particularly like working with
Skingame because it gives me an opportunity to explore and add different
textures to the bands' over-all sound. It really makes me think about
being sparse and how to fit in musically instead of just being a guitarist
in a guitar band.
Instant: My experience with guitarists is that ego plays a large part in
their work. Do you feel like you've had to take a back seat joining
Skingame?
Mark: In Skingame, there's no one person who's up-front more than another.
Everybody will take turns being more forward. The fact is that through
our music we get to show that we work together and that there's no egos
battling each other in this band. Sure, I like to take a solo. I mean,
it's fun. But the music just doesn't call for it and I'm happy with that.
Dustin: I'd like to be on record as saying that's what makes Mark Jackson
one of the coolest guitarists alive. He just does his own thing and
doesn't have to do all that other silly guitar shit.
Instant: Dustin, you're also a new guy. How do you feel you fit into the
Skingame scheme of things?
Dustin: When I came to audition, I'd already heard the first CD and some
of the new stuff. It was very much into my style and I knew I could fit
right in. What's really neat is I never have to fight with the
electronics.
Steve: Dustin's a good 'feel' player. He plays well with me as a drummer.
He's got the ability to really pump out a groove.
Instant: Lets talk a little about the music. I've heard three of your
recent songs - "Trip The Kiss", "Godfreak Radio" and "Infinity". There seems to
be more emphasis on guitar as opposed to the earlier keyboard-dominated
music on the first CD.
Scott: For one thing, the tracks we sent you were definitely some of the
more guitar oriented tracks from the new CD. But I think in many respects
we've moved much more toward the electronic core which we've always wanted.
It's certainly not Nine Inch Nail or Depeche Mode electronics...
Brad:[cutting in] But listen closely!
Scott: There's actually a tremendous amount of electronics. I think
you'll hear it more when you get the finished CD. I think you'll
understand then that we're very, very focused around the electronics.
Steve: It's very subtle and makes the music fatter.
Instant: Brad, you seem more comfortable on the new material in fitting
your sounds around the other instruments in the band.
Brad: I don't really think of it as fitting around the other instruments.
We all work together on placing sounds. If I'm working on a sequence, a
lot of times I'll put in a sound where I figure a guitar line might go
later. Mark, in turn, would play that along with the rest of the parts he
comes up with. I try to stay out of Marks' way so he can hold down the
heavy crunch to really rock the song out as that needs to happen. I have
to make sure that he comes through. So, it's not necessarily building
around, I think it's simply working together with the placement of sounds.
Steve: With this particular line-up, everybody's on the same wave-length
when it comes to letting the song dictate exactly what is needed.
Instant: Where does your music come from? I'm not sure I know what I'm
trying to get at. Maybe I should ask it as what inspires your music -
food, drink, drugs, women, all of the above, none of the above? Guess I
basically just want to see what your response will be.
Scott: There's never one source from which one draws from. As the singer,
I draw a lot from personal emotional experiences. I can't really speak for
the rest of the guys.
Steve: I think everybody draws from their life experiences - where else
are you going to draw from?
Dustin: Sex. Scott: That's true. Sex and power. As a band, when we
play we try and capture a certain level of sensual energy and the
aggression that comes with that.
Instant: Speaking of aggression, is there such a thing as positive lyrics
when it comes to heavy industrial rock? Lighthearted songs fit beautifully
within the confines of pop. Does this mean that the message always has to
be heavy and negative just because of the type of music you play?
Scott: Certainly, I don't think I dwell on a tremendous amount of
negativity. I do deal with a number of lifes' experience and maybe look at
them from a darker perspective than someone else might.
Instant: Ok, then do you think it's harder to portray positive lyrics
within the context of dark music?
Scott: I honestly don't look at it as positive or negative. As I said, I
don't necessarily set out to write dark and evil songs or even songs that
sound sweet and endearing. I write what I write and see what happens.
There's plenty of sweet stuff in the songs I've written.
Instant: Who writes the songs?
Brad: While Scott and I usually come up with the majority of the song
ideas, the band as a unit works at putting the songs together. It all ends
up on the computer but a lot more is happening right in the rehearsal
space.
Steve: If someone has an idea, they say it and we try to work it in. If
it fits, it's good and if it doesn't, it's out.. We're all contributing on
a regular basis.
Instant: Who makes the final decision as to whether something fits or not?
Brad: The song does.
Steve: With this particular line-up, everybody's on the same wave-length
when it comes to letting the song dictate exactly what is needed.
Scott: Yeah, it's very rare in a band to have enough trust, respect and
humility around your peers to just basically let things go. In lots of
bands, there can be a tremendous amount of tension when it comes to working
on new material. With this current line-up, there's very little
ego-clashing to hamper the song-writing process.
Instant: Tell me a little about this latest project - How long did it
take, interesting recording tidbits, etc.
Mark: Recording took place over a six or seven month period. We'd record
one song, sit on it for awhile and start on another. We did the majority
of work at Sound Techniques [Boston MA]. Ted Paduck recorded and mixed.
He's a great sound engineer. The hardest part of the process was the
mix-down. We had twelve tracks of virtual synthesizers, six to eight
tracks of guitars. We had to be really creative in trying to fit
everything into some kind of sonic realm that was gonna sound decent. I
think we did a pretty good job.
Brad: We hooked up our computer to the 24-track so that the keyboard parts
were never actually put on tape. That saved a lot of room. We had
virtually endless numbers of tracks on the computer for all the synths and
the samples. Guitars, drums and vocals were on tape. Everything then gets
synched and comes out sparkly clean.
Scott: We referred to the whole process as "guerrilla recording". We had
access to some really great facilities because some people in town believed
in us and helped out. But we'd have to go into the studios at 6:00 or 7:00
in the evening and work until 7:00 or 8:00 the next morning.
Instant: What do you anticipate happening as far as gigs go in support
of this project? Any extended tour plans, etc?
Brad: We're already in a pattern - we play a triangle between Boston, New
York and Providence - its the circuit we have working now. In the future,
we're going to be going more to New York. We seem to get the best response
there. So many more people actually get out on week nights as well as
weekends to see bands. Not that they don't in Boston. We'd also like to
shoot for more opening slots with major label acts coming through town. In
the meantime, we'll just keep playing.
Scott: We've got an amazingly high caliber live show. There's a maturity
with this band, both in its sound and its' presentation.
Instant: Has Skingame had any nibbles from labels?
Scott: At any juncture where a young band is starting to potentially
break, we really can't talk about anything specific right now. Let's just
say that NEMO was very good for us. We're hard working and it's starting
to pay off.
Instant: Time to wrap it up. I've been a fan of your music since the
beginning. Is there any one question you'd like to ask of a true fan?
Scott: I don't know if this is so much a question as much as it is an
observation. When we met at Grannys [Portland ME], I have to say you
weren't what I expected. But I was truly impressed with how you were so
actively involved in seeking out new bands and music. How do you stay so
interested? How do keep from getting jaded as a reviewer and a critic?
Instant: Probably a lot older than you expected, I'll bet. Scott, thanks
for your kind words and it's a great queston. The answers simple. It's
because of bands like Skingame. Keep up the good work, guys.