skinslife

Skinslife's Paper Heroes will be playing at King's Cross' Monto Water Rats on the 2nd of September. They're onstage at the very early time of 7:15PM so there's loads of times for a few swarlies afterwards with Toby, Chris and myself should you come along.

Other bands on that night are Little Fish, Patch William and My Octopus George

Tickets cost £8 on the door, £6 online but Paper Heroes are kindly giving away 10 pairs of free tickets.

To win tickets go to the band's website and join the mailing list writing FREE TICKETS in the Enquiry box. On Sunday, ten names will be chosen at random and each will receive two tickets. We will email the winners to confirm that they have won and their names will be put on the Guest List for the gig.

For those of you who are too sensible to be part of the rat races they're also playing here too:

3 Sep 2008 - The Cavern - Exeter

9 Sep 2008 - Dublin Castle - London

10 Sep 2008 - Fibbers - York

12 Sep 2008 - The Cockpit - Leeds

13 Sep 2008 - Georgian Theatre - Stockton On Tees

16 Sep 2008 - Bodega Social Club - Nottingham

17 Sep 2008 - Jericho Tavern - Oxford

18 Sep 2008 - Roadhouse - Manchester

19 Sep 2008 - Carling Bar Academy - Islington - London

26 Sep 2008 - North Bar" Blackburn

29 Sep 2008 - Hampton's Bar" - Southampton

1st Oct 2008 - The Cross Kings - King's Cross - London

2nd Oct 2008 - The Light Lounge - Basingstoke

3rd Oct 2008 - Esco Bar - Wakefield

4th Oct 2008 - Vintage Rock Bar - Doncaster

18th Oct 2008 - Pilton Working Men's Club - Somerset

23rd Oct 2008 - Nambucca - Holloway - London

Skinslife: Since you posted Jenny Jones on Skinslife you've had the track played in Skins, played Skinslife parties in Cardiff, London and Birmingham and now your first release will be with Skinslife. Tell us how it has been for you and the band and why posting tracks on the site is a great thing for any aspiring musician.

Matt: It has been such an amazing experience for us, it happened very quickly and we haven't really stopped to take it in. We were very lucky to be picked out by Alex the head of Music at Skins and when we found out it was going to be on the show it was a wicked day! The things seemed just to get better we played at three of the Skinslife Parties and they were amazing! Each time playing to bigger crowds then we had ever played to and we got such a good reaction from the audience, it was so cool. We have also played some great Secret Skins Parties and have one coming up on August 14th at Halo in Leeds. They are really fun and it's been a laugh having some of the Skins cast on stage with us when we played.

Then when we were the first band to sign with the brand new Skinslife label, we were over the moon. Everyone at the label has worked so hard and we are so impressed, the video was a great experience and we are excited about releasing the EP in October! We would recommend to everyone to post their music on the site purely because the people at Skinslife are so nice, they aren't some arrogant music critic or magazine who wont give you a chance, they genuinely listen to you and they love all sorts of different music - it's amazing. Who knows they might want to release your first single too...

Skinslife: When listening to your tracks there seems to be strong influences from The Doors (especially in your vocal style), 2 tone Ska acts like early Madness and The Specials, American alt-indie acts such as Pavement and The Hold Steady and Hunky Dory era David Bowie. Would you say this is true and is there any new music that you've been listening to that might take the band in a new direction. Has for example Toby's love of Grime rubbed off on you?

Matt: We most definitely love Ska and it plays a big part in our music, it always creates a beat to dance to, we want a Indie Pop Ska feel. I guess my vocals are Doors-like in a way, but I never intended that. I started as a singer/songwriter inspired by the work of Nick Drake and tried singing and writing like him but when we started the band I sort of found my new voice and I wouldn't go back now. There are some influences from the 'sixties like Ray Charles and based on the lyrical ideas in some of our songs maybe Ray Davis and the Kinks. In relation to David Bowie, I think we all grew up with our parents playing his tracks and it's nice to sometimes throw some unusual chord sequence into a steady indie pop song, so yeah he's cool. We have taken inspiration from so many artists, but we are really trying to find our own sound and I think developing that. Sadly Toby's love of Grime has not rubbed off on us yet but he should make us a mix CD.

Skinslife: Your work with Skinslife is obviously only going to act as a stepping stone to bigger things so tell us what your (realistic) ambitions for the next few years are.

Matt: We have far too many ambitions for a new band but we really just want to keep touring. We have a big tour coming up in September with another new and upcoming band and have high hopes of a big tour in October (details to come)
We are also getting ready for a second single release in January and we have something really cool up our sleeves for that one! We are just going to keep on going keep on making new friends and building our fan-base and we will always be grateful to Skinslife for all they have done for us!

If you wanna see Paper Heroes check the dates below

1 Aug 2008 - Duke's Sidmouth Festival - Sidmouth

14 Aug 2008 - Halo Club - Secret Skins Party - Leeds

2 Sep 2008 - Water Rats - London

3 Sep 2008 - The Cavern - Exeter

9 Sep 2008 - Dublin Castle - London

10 Sep 2008 - Fibbers - York

12 Sep 2008 - The Cockpit - Leeds

13 Sep 2008 - Georgian Theatre - Stockton On Tees

16 Sep 2008 - Bodega Social Club - Nottingham

17 Sep 2008 - Jericho Tavern - Oxford

As always I’d like to hear everything you’re making but in particular the following genres

Modern chart friendly Indie like Skinslife’s Paper Heroes produce.

Funky House type stuff that sounds like DJ NG, Geeneus, Crazy Cousinz, etc.

Dark electronic noise like Alva Noto and neo classical ambient soundscapes like the Stars of the Lid.

Things that sound like UK Punk acts from the 70s.

And finally ANYTHING remotely Disco orientated.

I'm looking forward to your suggestions...

So Skins is going to Creamfields. We’ve tricked Toby into coming as we told him we were going to spend a weekend in the Cheshire countryside, little does he know it’ll be full of gurning scousers partying to some awesome dance music.

Although taking loads of speed (Obviously, SkinsLife and especially Toby condone and encourage the consumption of amphetamines in all forms and in great quantities from scary Scouse stereotypes with moustaches, bubble perms and Everton tops) and going in search of the elusive Donk is what everyone should be doing at the festival they should take time out from that search for my personal picks of the festival.

1) Toby cowering in a corner with a copy of the Sunday Telegraph shielding his eyes from what he believes is the downfall of civilization.

2) Switzerland's Luciano: he has produced some of the best tracks of the last few years (check Fourges et Sabres and his Nina Simone remix for two examples) and is one of the best DJs around, just check out his Fabric mix for confirmation.

3) Hercules and Love Affair: Their eponymous debut album is one of the successes of the year and after missing them at Sonar I plan on finally catching them here.

4) Claude VonStroke – Claude's been over in Europe for the past few months and you really should make the most of it before he goes back to San Francisco. Who’s afraid of Detroit is a legendary tune and he’s recently been playing an awesome house edit of Damien Marley’s ‘Welcome To Jamrock’. I was at the club in Barcelona where Hudson Mohawke dropped this tune, sending everyone mental and inspiring Claude to make his edit.

5) Magnetic Man – Skream’s DJ sets are now maybe the worst thing in dubstep as he rewinds every track to rapturous applause from idiot drum n bass fans hoping for loads of ‘wobble’. However his actual productions are still some of the best in the game and it’s this improvised set up with Benga that is keeping his credibility.

Honorable mentions also go out to Skinslife’s friends The Clik Clik, Philly's Plastic Little, the awesome (and hot) Little Boots, Boy 8 Bit (anyone remember his Burial remix?), Drop the Lime (his DJ sets are way better than his productions) and Portland's YACHT.

So here I am stuck in an overcast London unable to afford a train ticket to Bristol whilst Toby, Chris and hundreds of lucky extras are at Skins’ ‘Rave in a Cave’. With not much to do the temptation to put Grouper’s ‘Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill’ on for the millionth time in the last month and mope around is almost overwhelming but I’ve decided to unearth the gems that you’ve been posting on the site over the past month.

These are the tracks I’ve really enjoyed and I’ll be trying to find a place in series 3. Of course this is not a guarantee but just to let you know that good things should be coming your way and you’re definitely on the right path. Also if I haven’t mentioned you don’t be disheartened you still may be used.

The first band i liked were the awesomely named Dead Dog in a Black Bag are definitely up for inclusion. Some upbeat tongue-in-cheek electro indie is definitely something Skins should have tried to include before now.

Then i heard Orphees Cry, who have posted a track which begins with an awesome bass line before it moves into heavier territory. I can imagine this in some sort of frantic running scene.

ElsewhereThe Utopians give us some ‘geezer indie’ to remind me of growing up in Stoke and I just might think that there’ll be a place for music like this in the new series.

Nate Champion posted a good song that is surely up for consideration in one of The Slasher’s episodes. The emotional scenes in Skins are pretty much always soundtracked by songs like this so for everyone else who makes stuff like this keep posting.

Saving what I feel is the best for last Lokomotive Stations can also be grouped into that – does anyone else think it reminds them of Damon ALbarn fronting Chrome Hoof?

Keep the suggestions coming everyone let me know if you think i've picked out the best bands, if i've missed one particular band or if my suggestions are completely wrong.

Ashley P in my opinion gives the best suggestions. First he asks for some awesome Kompakt orientated acts (the new Burger/Voigt 12” maybe?) then he moves onto amazing twee Swedish indie pop with bands like Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. I’ll hopefully be able to please you with my choices in this series Ashley.

Thibaut then gives suggestions I never thought I’d come across on Skinslife. Alva Noto’s ongoing collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto (we used him in episode 5)is in my opinion the greatest ambient duo since Harold Budd teamed up with Brian Eno. Skins has a proud history of including ambient compositions from Summer Night Air to Stars of the Lid to Eluuvium so rest assured something like this will be popping up in series 3.

Elsewhere people have been asking for Fleet Foxes who have put out an amazing EP and Album over the past year and they fit in with the Slasher’s taste so they’ll most definitely be considered.

Agaskodo Teliverek have been around for a while and I think I under the right circumstances would be an excellent choice.

Joshwa has asked for Jamie Lidell. While for me his new Soul direction took me a while to get used to after his work with Cristian Vogel as Super_Collider the second single from his new album ‘Another Day’ is still my favourite pop song of the year and I’ve been trying to get it in Skins for months now.

For stuff I didn’t already know Tegan and Sara and GlasVegas have been getting a lot of love from you lot. I checked them out and they’re both definitely usable.

So all in all, good choices everyone! Keep them coming otherwise the music in series 3 will be like sitting in the car with your mum whilst she plays Terry Wogan's radio two show.

Hope you like them! Add your own and check back for the video next week.

Take a look at the Northampton Secret Skins Party! Add your own photo's if you fancy and we'll have a video for you in a bit.

Middlesbrough photo's and video coming soon...

I love Grime. Toby loves Grime even more than me. Superstar in the making Daniel Kaluuya loves Grime even more than Toby.

So let it be said that Daniel’s episode is likely to include an upcoming British based MC. We’ve already asked MC Toby Welch but he’s too busy with his beef with Lil Wayne to come back and do something for Skins. We have some other MC’s in mind but perhaps you know about an upcoming MC that even Daniel and Toby don’t know about.

Give some props to your favourite new MC below and you may even see them in the new series of Skins.

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Everyone in the SkinsLife office has been working fucking hard over the last few months whilst taking the country’s best upcoming bands on tour and getting releases ready for Paper Heroes and Edinburgh's The Unicorn Kid.

We’ve been working so hard that Toby’s been unable to sit in his dressing gown and slippers next to a roaring fire in his Hampstead mansion to catch up on the gossip about his old chums in the Financial Times; Chris has only spent half of his salary on upcoming hair products and I’ve only been going to one or two gigs a week. (Alex's holiday has now been cancelled. Ed.)

However, as of today I’m getting back into going to gigs to prepare to pick some awesome music for Skins series 3. Tonight I’m seeing My Bloody Valentine’s first show in ages at the ICA. Hopefully they won’t be awful as this band have been pretty special to me since I was a 15 year old stuck in a Stoke on Trent suburb.

Tomorrow I’m going to the Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder showcase at Hearne Street Car Park. His debut album ‘Los Angeles’ is out now and is available in a lovely gatefold 2LP format. It’s my album of the year so far and FlyLo is always awesome live: I can't recommend it highly enough. Also playing on that night are Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Kode9, Mala, Gaslamp Killer, Samiyam and quite a few other cool acts which makes it a night to look forward to.

Then on Sunday night Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Yellow Magic Orchestra are playing their first UK show since 1980 at Massive Attack’s Meltdown festival. Sakamoto is a bit of a hero of mine and I even managed to get his most famous track ‘Forbidden Colours’ in Chris’ episode in the last series (That was the funny one where the writer Ben merged the scripts from Rocky and Trainspotting and hoped no one would realise.) Supporting him will be Warp’s awesome new signing Pivot.

Then’s it’s off to Barcelona for Sonar festival where I’ll be seeing pretty much everyone who is important in music including Ricardo Villalobos, Pan Sonic, Buraka Som Sistema (of Skins episode 6 fame), Richie Hawtin, Pram, Shackleton, Jeff Mills (of Skins episode 7 fame) and tons more.

When I’m back from that and after tearful reunion with Toby I’ll be ready to keep looking out for the best upcoming music in the country, both for the SkinsLife label, the tour and a little TV series called Skins.

Keep posting your tracks and I’ll listen to them when I’m back.

Alex