Skindred: “Skinning the Competition Alive”

The United Kingdom has long since been home to innumerable talented rock music acts, many of which have achieved world renowned acclaim. With groups such as The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath (to name but a few), it is impossible to deny the vast amount and sheer quality of music that the U.K. has thus far offered the world. Well, now for the first time in a while, the so-called “British Invasion”, is continuing. Aside from the already massively popular British Pop-Rock movement, now harder more aggressive sounding bands are also starting to emerge. One such group is Skindred, a quartet of talented musicians hailing from South Wales. Although this band remains one of the few newer UK metal acts that is beginning to gain impressive momentum, they are in fact totally in a world of their own. Their sound is bombastic and they are easily one of the most original “hard music” sounds to emerge within the past several years.

Unlike the aforementioned UK greats, Skindred has not been around for too long. In fact, it was only during 2002 that two of the group’s four members, Mikey Dee (guitars) and Dirty Arya (drums), joined up with the band. Yet, in the few short years that Skindred has been intact with its current line-up, they have certainly begun to create one hell of a name for themselves. With Daniel Pugsley on bass guitar and the band fronted by energetic vocalist Benji Webbe, this tight sounding four piece group is the source of an extremely new and exciting sound. Although relaxed and at times mellow, Skindred is certainly an intense band. As a result, it is this combination of loose attitude and hard work ethic which most probably gave rise to Skindred’s already highly revered unique blend of musical genres.

Before delving into further detail about the band, it is integral to note that one of the main reasons as to why Skindred has been faring so well and so quickly, is due to their unique brand of music; an eclectic (but logical) Ragga Metal mix which even at times possesses elements of Punk, Dancehall, and Drum and Bass. Needless to say, this fusion of numerous musical styles produces a fresh and innovative sound, the likes of which the world has rarely been privy to. Skindred’s brave blend is literally genre-defying yet all the while works so damn well. In an era when the rock music world is literally saturated with an overabundance of similar sounding bands, Skindred remains one of the elite few that manage to stand alone.

As previously stated, Skindred also possesses a rather intense work ethic. Unsurprisingly, aside from their highly addictive wild Ragga Metal sound, Skindred’s relatively quick rise to recognition was also made possible by the ridiculous amount of time that the group has spent performing. Having shared the stage with well-known acts such as: Korn, Soil, Adema, Ill Nino, Sevendust, Nonpoint, Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, POD, and Soulfly, as well as playing larger venues such as Ozzfest UK 2002, it is easy to comprehend how their international fan base has grown so rapidly. Furthermore, when not on tour, Skindred does spend an ample amount of time in the studio frequently writing and recording new material. The four men that comprise this band have been pouring their energy into this group and finally they are beginning to receive the recognition that they so greatly deserve.

Speaking of studios and recording, Skindred’s deduct disc, “Babylon” was released originally in April of 2003, and then re-released again (in North America) in August of 2004. When the album was released for the second time, it was only after US based Lava Records signed Skindred to their label and offered the band a chance to get more exposure and more help pushing their material than ever before. Fortunately for the group, this could never have proved truer and now they are climbing the proverbial ladders of success everywhere. As Skindred continues to tour and play numerous shows all over the world, one thing is for certain, this band definitely has a prosperous future ahead of them. The musicians are all super-talented and the tunes that they create are nothing short of musical sorcery. Being a band that combines in their music, diversity of culture and lyrics which pertain to both generic and pressing social matters, this is for certain a group whose positive influence, trend-friendly role models, and inescapably addictive songs, is bound to be heard the world around.  [ END ]