More about: The Skinner Brothers

Speaking with Zac, frontman of London based rock band The Skinner Brothers, was like sitting down and chatting with an old friend you haven’t seen for ages. "When I was working in pubs," he begins, "You sort of get sucked into that lifestyle. After your shift it’s ‘let’s just stay here’ or ‘let’s go to the next spot’. I did it for years. I convinced myself I’d end up hanging with cool people but it never happened. Before you know it, a few years have gone and you’ve not done anything, you’ve got no money, you’ve got no tunes and you’ve got no fans." He laughs: "I'm joking, but you get me. It's a fun but vicious cycle".

Joke or not, Zac Skinner and his band certainly have at least two of those things now. Their latest EP Culture Non-Stop comes shortly after Iconic, is full of raw, gritty guitars and voluminous choruses, and sounds just like they’re more than ready to pack out stadiums. So there's the tunes—and trust us, The Skinner Brothers have fans.

Produced by Zac at his home studio in Brentford and mixed by Grammy nominated James Krausse, Culture Non-Stop is a cogent release from an artist who wasn't always so clear-cut. “Other stuff I’ve done before—like all the old albums—was just me putting out tonnes of stuff with no direction. I didn’t have any proper management or anything, I just wanted to earn more money off Spotify and I thought that the more tunes I put out, the more money I’d get.

"Now I’m trying to be way more focused with no filler; I want to build up the trust of the people listening. Before now I’d go off and do a random genre or something and I feel like most people would be like ‘I don’t trust it anymore’". 

It does seem like it’s a never-ending battle when it comes to creating new music; fans seem to dislike it when you try something slightly different (à la Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino), but get bored when music stays the same. “I feel like if Arctic Monkeys didn’t make that change, they wouldn’t be about anymore, or they’d be like in the middle of that festival line-up every year" Zac says."...not that that’s a bad thing but you know what I’m saying."

"I’ve got this little thing yeah, I call it my Kasabian bracket. It’s sad but it helps me when I’m writing stuff. It’s a pretty broad bracket to be fair but on one side is the slightly more poppy stuff, still acceptable for the Kasabian listeners, and then on the other side you’ve got the more hardcore stuff, not too hardcore but hardcore enough. I’m always aiming for the middle. That’s what I think about every day to keep me in check.” 

Skinner’s been at the music thing for ten years, and is only really now starting to feel some sort of benefit coming from all the hard work. “I’ve been trying to smash it for years. I had my first management in 2016/17 and I thought I’d made it then. I hadn’t obviously, I hadn’t even released a tune but I was thinking ‘nah I’m in with the big fishes’!

"It’s all time and money. Trying to get funding is so tight. You’ve got to work a job, put the hours into the music and learn how to write songs, get all the guys together to make sure everything still works as a band and then you have to pay for rehearsals.” Everything, in essence, revolves around money which, as an upcoming band, there isn’t a lot of. 

Despite The Skinner Brothers having around 22k monthly listeners, the band find themselves in a vicious cycle of being unable to reach the perfect target audience. “Streams don’t always correlate when it comes to live shows. You could be on international playlists but they don’t know who you are. You can be played over and over in Brazil or something but because it’s not local they can’t come to your shows and you can’t afford to go there because Spotify aren’t paying out. When people ask you what it’s like to be in the music industry it’s like ‘I don’t even feel like I’m in it’. I don’t know if you can call it a job if you can’t earn a living from it, it’s just like ‘what: do you mean my hobby?’"

Thankfully for them, The Skinner Brothers are building a significant fanbase in their home country of the UK too, thanks in part to This Feeling and their conitinued support. With a mad headline gig at The 100 Club complete, three outdoor slots supporting The Streets over the next month and another 100 Club show coming in October, things are looking good—at least in the fan and tunes departments.

“I think some of the London dates are like 15 thousand each gig...not money, I mean people. I don’t know if there will be that many people there when we play..." he tails off. "But I think because of lockdown and that people will be seeing it as like an all-day thing”. There's hope in his voice, and for good reason: things are looking up for The Skinner Brothers. If you find yourself at a gig they're supporting, make time to see them...it's not unlikely that you could be watching the next best thing. 

Buy tickets to see The Skinner Brothers support The Streets at South Facing Festival, August 22. 

Culture Non-Stop is out now.

More about: The Skinner Brothers