San Francisco Bay Area metallers Skinlab, often mentioned in the same vein as Machine Head, but with a sound and presence all their own will hit the East Coast of Australia with a new album this August! We talked to Steev Esquivel ahead of the tour to find out what fans can expect plus the latest with the new album.
Steve: Hi Steev how’s it going in the Skinlab camp lately?
SE: Oh man things are amazing right now, we are firing on all cylinders. We just got done playing some shows so we are firing up on 120 percent right now.
Steve: Good to hear! So I see you guys are heading over to Australia very soon and you’ll be doing it with your brothers in Pissing Razors.
SE: Yeah it will be our third time on Australian soil and yeah, those are our bandito’s in war, they are our boys.
Steve: So what is it you’re looking forward to the most besides the cold beer (laughs).
SE: Yeah well I won’t be drinking Coopers this time that’s for sure, it almost killed me! I don’t know what you guys put in that stuff (laughs). But no man it’s what you would expect, we are ready to give it to you guys. Like I said we are firing on all cylinders right now and as healthy as ever, we have our new drummer who is fuckin’ stoked to come out and this will be his first tour out of the country and yeah man we couldn’t be more excited. We should have a new single before we get there, it should be hitting the radio.
Steve: Awesome so is the single a prelude to a new album?
SE: Oh yeah the record is close to being done, I have to go sing one more song and start mixing.
Steve: Great I see you guys dropped a single last year “Dead Tomorrow”?
SE: Yeah we will be playing that out there, that was the first we’ve released in a while actually. Unfortunately it was the last song with our old drummer, we decided to cap it off like that and pay a little respect to him and release that song and kind of move forward. We left that one off the record, it was just a treat to let people know what direction we were going, you know?
Steve: Sure that you guys were still alive? (laughs).
SE: Yeah that we are still alive and still uglier than ever!
Steve: Great so besides passion what do you think has been the key to longevity for Skinlab?
SE: Oh yeah Skinlab is in my blood and soul, as long as I’m alive Skinlab will still be going. We had to put things away for a while to watch our children grow to get our homes situated, to get our lives in order, took a few years off and when we got off Century Media it was a little harder to stay in the public eye. For the last record I think we kind of went unnoticed and I think it was downloaded more than it sold because people didn’t know it was out there and that hit us a little hard. It was a weird time, a lot of internet downloading 2009, 2010, 2011, it was hard for us to exist so we pulled back and waited until everything got strong again started writing music again that was going to be viable in today’s land of heaviness and we think we did it. We are really stoked, we have ten songs of brutality.
Steve: Awesome I can’t wait to hear it! So if you could be remembered for one song in your back catalogue – and that’s extensive I know – what would it be and why?
SE: I think the theme song for Skinlab would have to be one of three, “Know your enemies”, “Scapegoat” or “Paleface”. I think those songs best represent Skinlab at anytime or phase of our career and we have a new song called “End Of Silence” which we put out as a demo last year but we didn’t release it. It’s in that vein I think, it’s a Skinlab cult sound but if I was to go down in flames listening to a song it would have to be “Scapegoat” because that song is about standing up for yourself and not letting anyone speak for you.
Steve: That’s the way it should be?
SE: Yes Sir!
Steve: So what sucks and what rules about touring for you besides being away from your family and loved ones?
SE: Well now that we are behind more sober eyes, a little clearer vision, we are able to take everything in and really grasp it. We spent so many years passing by the same mountain and not even looking at it, you take it for granted, ‘We will be back in Australia in three months, shit they love us here!’ Yeah well it’s been almost fourteen years and longer and you learn to appreciate things as you get older and you are away yeah, just leaning to appreciate life and everything around you these days.
Steve: Yeah I couldn’t agree more, we are all getting a little older unfortunately.
SE: That’s right, people are dropping like flies. You’ve got to appreciate it a little more.
Steve: So if you could work with another musician or producer today on the old bucket list, who do you think that would be?
SE: Well ironically we are working with the dude who produced one of my all time favorite records, White Zombie “Astrocreep 2000” and we are fortunate enough to be in the studio right now working on the new record with Ulrich Wild. We have nothing but respect for him, it’s been an amazing process with all his knowledge and song writing structure abilities. He is just a real pleasure to work with, that’s been nothing short of amazing, a dream come true and it’s weird because I just got asked this question and everyone knows Max Cavalera is my fuckin’ hero. Just to be in the same room and jam some ideas, some licks back and forward, I’d probably just sit in the corner and suck my thumb (laughs). That would be a dream come true, we’ve actually put in a request for him to do some guest vocals on the new album so we are really hoping that it comes true and crossing our fingers.
Steve: Then you could definitely say you’ve ruled it!
SE: Yep we’ve knocked it out!
Steve: So musically you probably don’t want to give much away but did you go in with a particular theme or idea?
SE: We’ll the theme was to make it “bruteiful” heavy and pretty at the same time, yeah pretty ugly (laughs).
Steve: Nice!
SE: I think we’ve always done that, this record I wouldn’t say we’ve simplified things but shits just right down the pipe you know? There’s no hidden agendas, we are pretty excited. It’s probably one of our heaviest records, we can’t say [how] raw or produced it is because we haven’t got there yet. We are really excited to see what Ulrich does with the mixes, then we will know. I can say we wrote and recorded an honest record, it’s as honest as could be and we are proud of it. As a new member, our drummer, from an outsider he’s like, ‘Steev I think this is the record’. Well awesome but I never want to say that about my music (laughs).
Steve: You don’t want to toot your own trumpet (laughs).
SE: No we know who we are and what we do and it’s stronger than ever you know. The new album is called “Venomous” by the way so if that doesn’t give you a little hint of where we are coming from (laughs).
Steve: So in other words it’s going to be nasty?
SE: Yep, yep!
Steve: So in terms of new music what’s ticking the boxes for you or do you steer clear while in the creative process?
SE: No I listen to Spotify all day, if I’m not banging out a record I have my routine MMA Podcasts. I listen to Jamey Jasta religiously, shit Doc Coyle has a podcast. I like podcasts, Bad Wolves that album was one of my favourites, I’m a big Sevendust dude. I like it, super heavy or super melodic. Motionless In White is a newer band I dig and big into King 810, there is another band, Kublai Khan.
Steve: You’ve been peaking at my playlist!
SE: Oh Fuckin’ A! We are on the same page right now, it’s all about heaviness and letting it bleed! There’s a band from Australia, they sound like my brothers from 36 Crazyfists. I’m going to find out who they are, they come on rotation sometimes.
Steve: Sick! Speaking of 36 Crazyfists I remember back in the day you did a guest vocal spot on the album “Bitterness The Star” for the track “Bury Me Where I Fall”?
SE: Yeah man those guys are my brothers. Obviously I got them signed to Roadrunner and Scott Sergeant helped with their demos and stuff like that, they are very close to our hearts. Brock is actually doing vocals for a Skinlab song as we speak.
Steve: My god it’s a win allround!
SE: Yep it’s going to be cool a little payback.
Steve: For sure. So what is your take on pigeonholing bands, do you subscribe to it? I know it’s a little controversial, basically do you love it or hate it?
SE: I use to pigeon hole bands myself but once you start doing that you start pigeon holing yourself and that’s one thing I don’t do anymore. I listen to music for what it is instead of what I wish it was, it’s like why didn’t they do a breakdown? Or why didn’t they sing that clean? It’s like shut the fuck up! You aren’t them, go listen to something else, there is so much out there to make people happy. That’s kind of what the title of the record “Venomous” is about, everyone has an opinion. It’s like a very abrasive opinion, no matter who they have to step over there are things being said these days that are just straight hurtful and they don’t bring any positivity out of it and I’m over it. I mean I’m almost fifty years old, I’ve seen a lot of the world through a negative outlook and I’m tired of it. I’m oblivious to it, I’m desensitized to it and think the whole world is right now.
Steve: Yeah unfortunately I think that is the world we live in where people are so engrossed in social media and giving opinions warranted or not.
SE: Yeah not everyone has to hear your opinion, you don’t have to bleed your opinion out. I spend more time deleting comments than I do posting them, in the last year I’ve spent more time deleting posts and comments than I have hitting the post button. I have more fun and validation saying I took my kids to the baseball and ate ice cream.
Steve: Yeah like you said it’s about bringing the positivity back to the table.
SE: Yeah we are all dropping like flies, embrace the good while it’s here.
Steve: That’s just it! Well it’s been great speaking with you this morning, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it, good luck with the tour and maybe next time you can make it to the west coast.
SE: Oh man, well thank you so much for the support and take care brother.
TOUR DATES:
THUR 1 AUG – BRISBANE – THE ZOO
FRI 2 AUG – MELBOURNE – MAX WATTS
SAT 3 AUG – SYDNEY – MANNING
TICKETS & INFO: www.hardlinemedia.net
