Mark: I know we had a few questions in from readers about your acoustic set a few years back at Download are you going to be doing anything like that in the future?
Arya: I think so yes, definitely I mean it’s part of our sound, that sort of Roots Reggae is a big art of the band, I mean we’ve done it with the full band before but I think the soul and the heart of that is just the two of them. I think there’s something to be said about being able to play a song an acoustic guitar and being really effective, you can really touch people with that. Sometimes when there’s too much instrumentation it gets a bit convoluted. It’s definitely on the cards, and the guys are always doing bits for radio and TV and it’s a part of the band that really shine and it’s another emotion for the band too.
Mark: Creatively we’ve seen such a lot from Skindred recently, ‘Kill The Power’ just last year and already a new album, and all of it so good. Are you in the creative form of your lives at the moment?
Arya: I think so, it seems that way. It’s that old thing ‘If it feels good then do it’. I mean after ‘Kill The Power’ we separated from our label very quickly so we had zero pressure, we were still touring so we thought ‘Let’s just write’. We did the Summer Festivals but had no more touring booked in so we thought rather than sitting home getting fat why not get together and write, and that is pretty much how ‘Volume’ was born. I think if those sessions had gone badly then we’d be having a different conversation!
Mark: That leads nicely to our next question: after six albums do you feel it’s getting easier or harder as a band out there?
Arya: It really depends, I wouldn’t want to commit and says it gets easier because I don’t know how the next one is gonna be, but this one just came out so well. What gets hard is trying to be original and thinking too much about it. When every guy in the band is on the same page it just makes everything so much easier, and that doesn’t happen a lot so when it does it’s a magical moment like: ’thank God everyone is agreeing’. With Skindred the ideas and the options are limitless and just because we can doesn’t mean we should, and we throw that round the band room so many times. So for the next album I think if we have a clear cut idea of what we want to do and what we want to achieve then yeah it will be easier. But if we go in there not knowing what we want to do then it will get really hard. When we went in to do ‘Kill The Power’ we went in not really knowing what we wanted to achieve and that’s why we really toiled over it. It was a real ‘songs’ album if you know what I mean and we tried to draw from as many things as possible. With this album we’ve achieved what we set out to do.
Mark: For me the best thing about Skindred is that anyone is allowed to like you.
Arya: Do you know what, yes they are. We don’t discriminate! More people like us please!
Mark: I was thinking really of all the friends of mine who like the band, from Metalheads to Hard Rockers, people who like Reggae, and people who like various other forms of music. Skindred is just good music, no labels, how do you see yourselves?
Arya: Well we’re not in a scene. And if you try to describe the sound to someone who hasn’t heard your band sometimes they can get turned off straight away. I just tend to say we’re a rock band that likes all kinds of different music and we stick it all together. But I always say you’ll be surprised when you hear us!
Mark: As I think I was too when I first saw you I was expecting a Chilli Peppers meets Bad Brains kind of thing, not really my scene but I’m up for anything really with a guitar and a decent pulse. But when you see Skindred it’s so much more.
Arya: Yeah we just want to smash down those boundaries I hate it when people come with preconceived ideas and think they’re not going to like it. You don’t know until you try. Listen to the music, come and see us and if you still don’t like it then, no worries
Mark: So as a drummer who were you inspired by?
Arya: My favourite band growing up was Queen, when I heard ‘We Will Rock You’ that was it. It was like this percussive heartbeat and when I heard it I just wanted to do the drums because it was the soul of the music from my perspective, it was what I was nodding my head to, a real primal thing. But Classic Rock bands was really where my heart was, and still is to be fair, that’s how I got into it I was just drawn to the drums.
Mark: It must be great to be in a band like Skindred with so much freedom to move as a drummer.
Arya: It’s great; I can do whatever I want! (laughs) There’s nothing really to stick to so it’s like here’s your BPM – Go!
Mark: Just time for a few quick questions.
Arya: No problem we’re stuck in traffic at the moment so it’s all good.
Mark: Normally we ask interviewees to name an album that they would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the studio for, just to see how the magic happened and the musicians interacted…
Arya: Great question!
Mark: … but we thought that we’d change that slightly for Skindred and ask if you could mash up two classic albums what would they be?
Arya: That’s a good question too, I’ll answer both! Fly on the wall for ‘Appetite For Destruction’ I’d have loved to have seen that, and I’d loved to have seen ‘Night At The Opera’, probably ‘Night’ just shades it as at the time Queen was breaking boundaries with the production, all the little tricks they did with the harmonies and the vocals it was groundbreaking and I’d love to have seen that. I could mash those two together but it might sound like a bit of a car crash! I’m trying to think what I’d mash up… Maybe Pantera with Spandau Ballet?
Mark: (laughs) I’d like to smash Spandau Ballet with Pantera, but that’s just me!
Arya: (laughing) There you go!
Mark: Great answer! What’s the best advice you’ve been given so far as a musician?
Arya: I think it was ‘Believe in yourself, and have confidence in yourself, not to the point where you get annoying, but be single minded, be driven to achieve your goals’. I think you need to put yourself out there and don’t think success is going to come to you. And also learn your craft first and foremost. I mean when I was at school I’d stay in and play my drums, all my friends would go out. But the best advice I would give is don’t rush you can only be new once in this business, take your time.
Mark: You’ve played with some great bands over the years, who so far has been the most inspiring either from a stagecraft perspective, or just from the sound they get live?
Arya: That’s a good question because we have toured with so many bands. It’s funny because you do end up supporting bands who you didn’t necessarily like their music before you played with them, but by the end of the tour you love it because you get that familiarity. Once you know the guys it’s different. When we toured with Papa Roach years ago they were such good people and such a great lesson in how to be ‘pro’. Jacoby the front-man never hit a bum note, every single night he was spot on, now that band doesn’t get enough credit for being a great band if you ask me. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I remember touring with them it was such a lesson in being slick! They were great. We’ve toured with so many great bands, Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello, Korn, Disturbed, so many bands.
Mark: Great bands, I love Flogging Molly; you didn’t ask Dave King about Katmandu did you?
Arya: No I didn’t what’s the story there?
Mark: Dave King was in a Hard Rock band that did one album in the late eighties after he left Fastway, he doesn’t talk about it, but they put out a gem of an album.
Arya: Wow, I knew he was in Fastway but I didn’t know he was in another band, Katmandu.
Mark: If you get a chance to grab a copy do, it’s great they did a U2 cover, there’s all sorts of great stuff on there.
Arya: I’m going to have a look for that, I’ll check that out.
Mark: And the final question, the easy one we ask everyone ‘What is the meaning of life?’
Arya: … Be happy. It’s all about being happy if you ask me, as happy as you can be. Don’t think about things too much that will eat you up. You probably get that answer quite a lot, but that’s the general sense of it.
Mark: And if people want to up their happiness levels the best way at the moment is to get out there and grab a copy of ‘Volume’.
Arya: You know what that’s a brilliant way to sign off! What is the meaning of life – Volume by Skindred, that you for that!
Mark: Thank you so much for taking the time Arya, have a great tour.
Arya: If we get down there come and find me, thanks very much man, pleasure. Cheers.
Arya spoke to Mark Rockpit
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