We read that you worked with Mike Pelanconi on this release, with this in mind, how was this process and how does he push you as musicians? Mike AKA Prince Fatty is an amazing producer. And he absolutely took us to school haha! I'm kidding, but he did really make us refine our playing in authentic Jamaican beats. It was like an old Kung Fu movie, whee the young apprentice gets trained in the mountains by the wise old sensei. Recording the whole thing on to tape made the whole thing sound so much more real as well.
What musicians would you say have influenced you on Part & Parcel and why? There's so many influences in this band, it's always impossible to answer that one...but for actual MUSICIANSHIP and playing in the studio, we were taking influences from people like the Ras-Ites, Roots Radics, Sly & Robbie, The Skatalites, The Wailers, Stevie Wonder...a whole bunch!
You guys recently released your first single from the album - Ratatat, with this in mind how did you guys go about deciding this would be the first single to release? Ratatat wasn't originally going to be the first single, but after our cover of Katy B's "On a Mission" got such a mad response on Youtube, we thought we'd follow it up with another song where Marcia is the lead follow and a little more grimey influenced.
What can you tell us about your newest single Ratatat? As in, what is the message behind the song? Ratatat is actually quite a bitter heartbreak song haha! Marcia obviously tells her story at 100mph and in the second verse, I give my account of an unfortunate female situation. It's definitely one to get wild to at shows though.
How excited are you about your upcoming tour with You Me At Six, and what should attending fans expect? Possibly the kind of music they've not really heard much of before? We hope people will give us a chance even though we don't sound anything like any of the other bands playing, but people are coming out for a good night (hopefully) so maybe they can be introduced to something a little new to them, and just appreciate good vibes music! And maybe buy our new album haha.
Also, you guys sometimes get slots where you will be supporting bands that are not entirely similar to your sound,with this in mind, do you ever worry about not connecting to the crowd? Yeah of course, but it'd be a bit boring playing to the same kinds of people all the time. When we toured with Gym Class Heroes, it was touch because their fans are SO passionate about Gym Class, that sometimes it felt like we weren't good enough. But once you look past the first 4 rows of Travy McCoy die hards people were vibing, and we walked away with some really dedicated new people on our side. I don't think you should be 'scared' to play in front of anyone if you're proud of what you do though.
Last year you guys got to play with some of the bands you grew up listening to (Reel Big Fish, Capdown, among many others) how awesome is this for you as a musician? Or is it maybe just surreal? It's very awesome and very surreal. We've been very lucky to have played with so many artists we grew up listening to, our friends don't believe us most of the time! We can't thank those artists who were and are heroes to us for taking us out on the road with them enough. We are forever humbled.
What else does 2012 hold for The Skints? Obviously Part & Parcel is out April 9th, go get that! Lots of touring, after You Me at Six we go to Europe with State Radio then we are straight into our busiest festival season yet, with a headline tour right after the summer...we're gonna be everywhere! Hopefully we'll see you about. The Skints will be working hard but most importantly having fun in 2012.