Reggae-metal icons Skindred are having the time of their lives (Image: Supplied)
The unstoppable heavy metal, punk rock, reggae soundsystem known as Skindred are having a wild year. The band may have been tearing up stages for a quarter of a century, but this year the Newport trio are reaching new heights. After an intense chart battle with pop star Jessie Ware, the Welsh rockers recently bagged their very first Official UK Number 1 Album with You Got This, alongside a top spot on the Official Vinyl Albums Chart. They have also spent the beginning of summer dominating the festival circuit – including a legendary secret set at Download.
Renowned for their explosive live shows, boundless energy, and signature ‘Newport Helicopter’, the band are now gearing up to headline Manchester’s three-day progressive music showcase, RADAR Festival, on August 1. Closing out the Saturday night, the band will step into a headline spot previously held by the likes of Sleep Token, The Midnight, and Periphery. But never ones to be confined by genre, they will also be making appeareances at Boomtown and Beautiful Days festival.
Looking ahead, the band will be taking their chart-topping record on the road for a massive UK tour, culminating in a huge Halloween show at London’s Alexandra Palace alongside special guests Alien Ant Farm, Spineshank, and Orgy.
In the midst of their chaotic summer schedule, The Daily Express spoke to Skindred’s endlessly charismatic frontman, Benji Webbe to find out what they have planned for their RADAR headline show, how they keep their music fresh, and most importantly, what Benji will be wearing for their very special Halloween show.
Hey Benjii! You’ve been out playing a string of festivals in Europe, how have things been?
“The good thing about being a band from Wales is we [can] just fly over to Europe, play a massive festival in Germany or France or Spain and then get home in time for tea. We’re playing a festival called Dong, we’ve played there a few times. The first time we went on, we were on the second stage, around the corner, down the street, and then we just developed and developed. Now on Friday night (July 17), we headline this festival, so it’s incredible. The hard work pays off.”
How do you feel when you go and play new festivals? Do you ever get worried or nervous about connecting with the crowd?
“No, I mean, it can be difficult [but] when you got the power and you know what you’re doing, I think worrying is something that you leave because you know the capability of the band. That’s the good thing about Skindred, over the years, we’ve had time to really polish our act and get it right.”
Do you plan anything in advance, or is it very much about the here and now?
“I’ll be honest with you, we played Finland last week. We haven’t been there for like ten years, and I’d say that 75 percent of the crowd [had] never heard of us, and they just stood there when we first went on. Sometimes you have got to work the crowd; you got to go back to the old days of when you played the Crown and Anchor in Swansea, and nobody knew who you were. And I think that’s a good thing. When you’ve got to work for an applause, it’s something special.”
The band are renowned for bringing relentless high energy to their live shows (Image: Supplied)
What do you do to get people to join in?
“I’ve always said this: if you look like you’re having a good time, then it’s infectious and everyone else starts to do it. You get people with a face like a smacked a*s from beginning to end, but, you don’t look for them. What I always say is that having the years — for want of a better word—doing an apprenticeship in rock’n’roll, we know what we’re doing now.
“By any means necessary we’ll get this place rocking, and we do. We’re not just another band, you’ll hear on the radio or you’ll see on the TV. I love making records, and I think we make some really good records, but live is where Skindred is at. I’m excited now for the show just talking to you.”
Speaking of headlining, you’re headlining RADAR festival in Manchester early next month – one of my favourites – how are you feeling about it?
“It’s an honour for us to be headlining RADAR festival, there’s some terrific bands on the bill as well. We don’t take none of these festivals for granted, you know. We know how much work is put into a festival; we know how much work people have got to do to get these festivals off the ground and it’s just an honour to be in playing these shows [and] being the top of the bill.”
What can people expect at a Skindred headline show?
“It’s something for everyone. I know we mix reggae, punk rock, heavy metal, and we do it because we wanted to make music that brought people together. It was never about one genre, I never got that. I’ve always loved my music to be eclectic, and the show’s eclectic. Sometimes I’ll just play an advert from the 70s in the middle of it all.
We’re playing our tracks like ‘Give Me That Boom’, ‘Pressure’, ‘Nobody Gets Out Alive’, but in between, we’re having so much fun with the crowd. I receive messages after messages from all over the world [from] people who come to see Skindred and said they’ve never heard of us before, but they had the time of their life, and now they realise they’re fans for life. Even though we’ve been around a while, we’ve still got something new to bring to the game.”
They scored their first UK number 1 for their album You Got This (Image: Supplied)
You have nine albums now, so it must be difficult to pick and choose what to play for these headline slots – how do go about deciding?
“Well, the fights can be more passionate between the band, let’s put it like that. But one thing we’ve learned to do now, because of this internet world that we live in, we’ve learned to look at the songs that are really reacting and streaming well. I mean there’s a song we did years ago that streams higher than most of them and that’s a cover of ‘Electric Avenue’. I’m like, really? We did it as a joke, but we’ll pull it out of the bag and play that – people love it.”
What other covers would you like to do?
“I think we’d have a heavy metal version of ‘Here Comes the Hotstepper’. I think we do a ‘murder/here comes the hotstepper’. I think we do a very good heavy metal version of that. Heavy, heavy dance all-rock version.”
I’ll be holding you to that. Your album ‘You Got This’ went to number one in April – how have the new songs been going down?
“People are just loving them; they’re connecting with them straight away. There’s no sleeping at a Skindred show. You’re not getting that. And even if we do choose to do a slower or a more of a ballad kind of one, the reason why we’re doing it is because it’s a connection to me to people. There’s a song called ‘Saying It Now’ [from Big Tings] that I wrote about a friend of mine. And even that, like when we play that, people connect to it.
Your You Got This tour is also happening at the end of the year, right?
“I can’t believe we’re playing, Ally Pally, Halloween. I can’t wait, I’m telling everybody to dress up. It’s going to be the biggest party ever. Got some friends of ours from America coming over for it as well. I think being a band that’s been going so long, playing Halloween, playing Ally Pally in London on the 31st, that is our victory lap of the country. It hasn’t been easy, believe in me.”
Your outfits are obviously a massive part of your shows, what’s the big plans for Halloween?
“Look at it like this: I’m working on my outfit now. Everybody’s really excited. Arya wanted to do the three amigos and I was like, come on, Arya, that’s just too easy. The band’s excited, and our crew is s**t scared because they never know what we’re going to tell them to wear.”
You’ve been doing shows for over twenty years now, aside from your outfits, how do you keep things exciting?
“I come from a dance hall culture so even though we’re a rock band I take all the elements of the dance hall: the pull-ups, the rewinds, all that stuff, and I bring it to the rock world. I just feel like keeping music fresh.
“I’ll be honest with you, when I go to most shows, by the third song, I know they’re not going to do nothing else. They’re not going to get changed. They’re not going to do this, they’re not going to do that, they’ve spoken and that’s it. So, you’ve seen the band, but with Skindred, you’ve got to wait for the end to get to the Newport helicopter.”
The band have no plans to slow down anytime soon (Image: Supplied)
You know how to keep them there
“Yeah. It’s funny because I said to someone the other day, as much as Skindred is a band, I also look at myself as a DJ, and Skindred is a radio source. So if I want to play house of pain, jump around halfway through, I’ll do that. If I want to play, like I said, the popular advert, I’ll do it. I think winning a crowd over is more important than just people coming to the show to watch it.
“I’m talking to people who’ve seen Skindred 30 and 40 times now, and the reason why they’re coming back is because it’s not the same show. People, they buy a ticket once, they’re in, they get on the fairground called Skindred, and they’re not getting off till they’re feeling sick.”
It sounds like that connection is very important to you
“I do make a point of talking about my own personal life; the loss in my life. I really want people to not just walk into the show and just walk away. I want them to know that we’re all in this together; this thing called life, we’re all in it. We’re all losing people, we’re all having a hard time at work, we’re all having a hard time with the kids, and I want that to be something that’s expressed. You are not alone.
“A Skindred show – it ain’t just a rock and roll show, it’s a therapy class, it’s an uplifting class. You come alone, but when you’re there, you definitely will not feel alone. The music that we make is to bring people together in more ways than [one]. The amount of people who’ve said to me, I met my husband at the Skindred gig. I mean loads and loads and loads of people say it all the time: ‘we met through Skindred’. They went on their own and they came out as family. Skindred got the ability to do that.”
Is there a secret to your relentless energy then?
“No, I think I’m just autistic, that’s about it, really. I’m just madly autistic and very hyperactive. I’ve been told that I wasn’t a joy to babysit, if you know what I mean. I really feel honoured. I think longevity is something that gives you power because you learn how to deal with people, you learn how to talk to people, and you learn how to have a good time. We never were accepted by a genre. You know, all the metal bands thought we were weirdos. All the reggae bands thought we were weirdos. So we really had to be the kids in the class who made our own world, you know?
“I’m just happy to be on stage, and I know it’s the same with the guys, and I think if people see you enjoying yourself, it’s contagious, as I said before, I really do look forward to playing shows.”
I mean, you’re masters at delivering these high-quality shows!
“I know, it’s crazy, it’s so funny because people say to me all the time ‘when are you going to give up’? I said, give up what? What are you talking about? It’s only just begun as far as I’m concerned.”