Our friends SKIES have been one of the busiest bands around during lockdown,
performing daily livestreams from their home in Kent, strengthening the bond
between the band and their dedicated fanbase. They've released a live album,
recorded with full kit in a bedroom, and a series of acoustic songs. Today
they release their new single It's Alright and we caught up with Alie for a
chat about the craziness of the past few months and their plans for the
future.
Hi SKIES! You’ve got a new single out called It’s Alright.
Could you tell us a little about what it’s about?
The song is about asking the question 'If you could live your life over, what
would you do again?'. A lot of people seem to believe in an afterlife of some
sort and it got me thinking if you can believe in another life or another
world after this one, what about if that one ends? Would or could we go on
forever from one world to the next, and could some of us stick together
through it all and somehow relive all our most precious moments again? It was
a nice thought and I felt like I wanted to write something that summed all
that up so It's Alright happened.
It was initially planned to be released to coincide with your May tour that
got cancelled. Like a lot of other acts you chose to delay the release –
what was the reason behind that and why does it feel like the right time
now?
We were thankful that we were still able to hit pause on the release. As we're
an independent band, we had the ability to hold the release without any major
consequences. The main reason to hold off was because the song and the music
video in particular hit me personally a bit too close to home and we wanted
the song to come across in a positive and uplifting way. We hope now that the
beginnings of normality are starting to appear, it's a better time.
Could you tell us a little about the video and its star performer?
My Grandmother, 'Nanny', (who is a legend haha!) is 97-years-old and she's lived in this little bungalow across the road for as long as I can remember
The time was coming for her to move out of her bungalow and live with my parents just across the road, in our family home - she actually used to live there - so it's a great place for her to go back to and have a little extra support from my parents. When it came to choosing where to film the music video for the 'It's Alright' release, I had this feeling…
Every Wednesday I would see Nanny for lunch and I wanted to capture a lunchtime there before she moved out. We’ve never filmed anything like this so I wasn’t sure about it being a music video, but I put the idea to Jericho and he loved it!
We filmed in April 2019, not long before she moved out. We waited to release this video because ‘Born Yesterday’ was due to come out first. We made plans to release ‘It’s Alright’ in Spring 2020 - but as everyone knows, a lot happened at that time. We delayed the release, partly because this video meant a lot to me anyway, but particularly as it was really hard not being able to see Nanny or my family during the lockdown.
We wanted to wait until I could see her again, which thankfully we can and had fish and chips for lunch with her last week for the first time since lockdown which was amazing! Even as I write this now, I’m not allowed to hug her yet as part of the current guidelines, to try and keep her safe.
When we filmed the video, it was all about appreciating the things in life we can easily take for granted. It’s about cherishing the things that you would choose to do if you could live your life over again. This video is something I’m always going to treasure. Writing this song has given me the chance to make this video and I hope you enjoy it.
The line “let’s do it all again” appears prominently in the song – and was
the name of the tour that got cancelled. Does that feel like it’s become a
motto for the band?
It's been quite strange to see how coincidental album titles appeared at this
time, such as The Howl & The Hum's Human Contact, and The Slow Readers
Club's The Joy Of The Return... things planned before lockdown have taken on
new meaning. We felt the same with the tour title - it was quite strange when
we postponed the Let's Do It All Again Tour - we were like, when we rebook it,
do we just call it the 'Let's Do It All Again Again' Tour.
We decided to title our compilation CD release that too because it felt like a
positive way for us to try and look at things, to look ahead to what we want
to do again rather than looking at all the things we can't do. I think it has
become a bit of a motto, or even an attitude for us at this time.
You’ve done a huge number of live streams from Jericho’s bedroom with
acoustic songs and chat – over seventy in total which became part of your
fans’ daily routine and a real crutch in the earlier days of lockdown. Was
that the intention or did you think things would have been over in a couple
of weeks?
It was a few days before lockdown officially began and there really was
something in the air, we just had this feeling that we needed to do something,
even if just a few people tuned in, we needed to reach out and also needed to
just play some music to help keep our minds off things.
The week before we had excitedly set out on our first living room gig and we
were planning to tour the country doing that and so we were quite
disorientated by it all. We felt right away we wanted to play daily livestream
shows but had no idea we would end up doing over seventy shows! It has been,
and still is an amazing experience - we feel like we have got to know
people/fans so much better and it also created an online community between
fans too which wasn't something we expected would happen at all but was great
to see!
You’ve recorded acoustic versions of all thirteen tracks you’ve released so
far and shared them on Bandcamp, which was an innovative way of both
releasing new songs. Where did that idea come from – and has it given
you a different insight into your own songs given that the recorded and live
versions sound very different?
We really enjoyed stripping it back a bit - I think because what you're
hearing acoustically is really the original version of the song. When writing,
SKIES songs begin with just my acoustic guitar and vocal. We love playing with
drums and synths but really we just love playing and it's been great to
appreciate the simplicity that comes with playing acoustically.
We decided to release each track on a weekly basis as part of an acoustic
album as people were really wanting an outlet to support us and we wanted to
take some of the recordings from the stream and have them almost as a memory
of Living The Stream for us and our fans to look back on. It felt like it
would be a marker to point back to what we've all been through together. It
just felt right to have that as part of our Bandcamp back catalogue and with
the 'pay what you like' feature people were able to get the tracks whether
they were struggling financially or not which felt important to us.
We have noticed that new songs we're writing at the moment sound like they
might be more at home on an acoustic but I think we just feel more at home
with a stripped back feel at the moment, I think we'll always have a soft spot
for massive synths and drums though!
Instead of touring you performed live shows from Jericho’s bedroom with a
full drum kit and live-streamed on yours and the venue’s Facebook and
offered tickets to help support the venues. How difficult an operation was
that to try and recreate a live gig experience in the bedroom?
We really felt like 'the show must go on'. All over social media were tour
posters with 'cancelled' written over the top or statements apologising for
cancelling a tour and I just wanted to post something other than that...
So, we decided to announce that the tour would be happening via livestream
instead. In a way we still don't see the tour as being cancelled, we just
played it from home. Maybe that was just our way of coping, but the response
to the tour was amazing and we sold over hundred optional tickets to split
with the venues so it was something we're glad we did. With the logistics,
thankfully we're a 2 piece band, and we live together! So we were very lucky
in that respect during this situation. We picked up our drum kit from Alie's
parents house just before lockdown as we realised things were getting more
serious and we wanted the option to play full set up if we could.
During this time, we've tried our best to see limitations as opportunities and
so, instead of a bed being in the way, the bed became a drum riser! Also
thankfully, Jericho is really on it with the tech side of things, so he knew
what he was doing - I feel really lucky to be in a band with him for a lot of
reasons and that's just one of them! He suggested we record each set from the
tour and I'm glad he did as I think the recordings turned out really well
under the circumstances and was great to be able to release them as a
fourteen-track CD to remember the tour by.
You released a CD that contains the thirteen tracks you've released plus
new single It’s Alright – and it really captures the essence of SKIES that
you get from watching you live and feels like a greatest hits album in the
sense it’s very full on from start to finish. Does it feel like this will
allow you to draw a line under some of those songs as you write new ones?
I think it's been a great time to really take in what we've put out as a band
over the last few years. It's given us a chance to look back at everything and
I hope that gives us a better place to then look forward at what's next. We've
always wanted to release an album and being able to put these fourteen tracks
on a live CD that we're really proud of makes us excited for what we are
capable of next - that we are capable of making an album in the future and
this was a good test run.
Your next step, as lockdown restrictions are relaxed, is to go out and play
in fans’ gardens – exactly how are you going to make that work and how can
someone apply for you to come and play?
Yeah, we're now planning a Living The Stream Garden Tour for summer. We're
keeping an eye on all the guidelines and want make sure we keep everything
safe for our fans and us but we had a test run and it went really well. It's
new territory for us and fans and we want it to work well - there's nothing
like live music and we want to do whatever we can to bring that back to our
fans. You can fill in
this form if
you're interested.
You’ve played a couple of new songs during these sessions – have they been
recorded for release and can we expect to see another EP (or a SKIES album)
in the near future with Born Yesterday and It's Alright featured?
We have a lot of new material and it's been great to play some of it
acoustically and see how the new songs are received. It's all gone down really
well so far... you'll have to wait and see but we have a lot of work ahead of
us!
Has lockdown given you inspiration to write more, or have you, like some
artists have stated, suffered from writer's block?
There's definitely been some new songs inspired by what's been going on. It
would have been harder for me not to write during this time I think. Saying
that, we've been so busy with the live streams, social media and creating
hand-made merch I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to write but
we'll make more time for that soon I'm sure.
You went full-time as musicians. Given everything that’s happening in the
ensuing period, is it a decision you regret in any way?
It was literally the week before lockdown that we planned to go on the road
and invest in making a living that way as musicians. The past few months have
hopefully given us more of a foundation for when that can happen. Funnily
enough, the work we had would have dried up anyway because of lockdown so it
was nice to have quit by choice and it gave us a clearer head to approach
making a living with the band.
Thankfully we have been able to survive because of the band, because of the
support we have received from fans during this time buying merch, livestream
tour tickets and tipping us during our streams. We're so grateful for that. It
has been a challenging but incredible experience and I think this has eased us
in to relying on the band to make a living in a time you'd think the opposite
would happen. Who knows what the future holds for the music industry or how
musicians and fans will have to adapt to live music, whatever happens, we're
excited to get back out there and do it all again...
Let's Do It All Again and Living The Stream is available on their Bandcamp digitally and the former on a limited to 68 CD.
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