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The Skints
(Do The Dog, 2008)
Next month, London reggae-punk crew The Skints will drop debut album, Live. Breathe. Build. Believe. It’s quite the understatement to say that within the punk and ska communities there’s a little bit of anticipation brewing. Let’s take a trek down memory lane and check back in with the band’s self-titled E.P., the record that put the quartet on national radio and on the touring map.
‘Murderer’ opens the six-tracker with an introduction to the chilled reggae mentality of the band. Deep bass grooves, tweaky melodica chimes and strolling guitar strokes are harmonised by the triple-pronged vocal assault. Josh Waters-Rudge is all up and in your face whilst Jamie Kyriakides is as rootsy soulful as it gets. Marcia Richards’ mellow tone elegantly evens out the whole affair. The Skints’ not so secret weapon is without a doubt this trio of varied yet united tones.
If ‘Murderer’ is the band’s chilled demeanour, then ‘N55’ is its fast-beating pulse. A tale of anxiety driven schooling is given the up-tempo treatment, a recklessly fast dash through a song that will have you skanking along in half a heartbeat.
The rest of the record tends to fit into one of these two categories. ‘Sociopath’ is a seriously groovy number, showcasing drummer Kyriakides’ sublime vocal. It’s also injected with a vicious shout-along at the end of the track. ‘Jungle Plane Wreck’ is another fast number, benefiting from the addition of saxophone as well as a killer bassline from Jon Doyle. It takes the groove of ‘Sociopath’ and deep etches it a new one.
‘Misunderstood’ is another skankathon of a song. It’s bouncy yet angry; relaxed yet fierce. Closer, ‘Little Flag’ manages to mangle everything before it into one four minute romp of annoyance and defiance. It’s a wicked close to 24 minutes of impressive hybrid-punk with a very London feel.
It’s had some time to seep into the consciousness, but to be honest on first listen this E.P. was as heady a piece as it sounds now. And to think, the band was really, really young when this was recorded. A year and change of maturing (the road’ll do that to you) means that Live. Breathe. Build. Believe. has the potential to be very, very strong. If you haven’t checked out The Skints yet, now’s the time to do it. Better late than never, right?
SkaMutiny Rating: 4/5
Al
Ahead of the release of Live. Build. Breathe. Believe. The Skints have made single ‘Contemplations of the Modern Day Rude Boy’ available for free as part of the Rebel Alliance Recordings label sampler. Click here to nab it.
