SKID LIFE bets on a creative Heavy/Thrash with elements of Doom Metal on new album “Awake”
After a three-year hiatus, the brazilian Heavy/Thrash Metal group Skid Life reunites to record what would be the successor to their last studio album “There’s No Peace”, released on the same day in 2017. The trio composed by Anthony Juno at vocals and guitar, Billie on bass/vocals and Gar on drums releases his fifth studio album “Awake”.
Rising from the ashes of a post-apocalyptic scenario left by its predecessor, the new album comes with a theme of reconstruction and awakening in its lyrics. Awake is the band’s fifth studio album and features nine new tracks plus a bonus track. Listen to the album “Awake”: https://open.spotify.com/album/4EhRKI3JU95IrYe69jhpxC
The album is full of elements of Doom Metal in its composition and it was following this line of sound that the trio decided to record the track “Children of the Grave” by Black Sabbath as a bonus for this work.
“Awake” is the band’s most recent work to date. The album is available on all digital platforms and the group is preparing to release new concert dates to promote this album.
We talked to the band about their musical influences, future plans, trajectory, among other curiosities. Check out!
Where did the name “SKID LIFE” come from? A: The name came about through Nirvana who in their early days had been called Skid Row at some point and since they didn’t use that name anymore I thought it would be a cool idea because the name was pretty good, but it turns out I I went to search the internet and found out that there was already a Skid Row and that’s when I found out and became a fan of this band. As I had liked the sound of the Skid I decided to keep it and come up with something from that, so I got Skid Life which years later I found out was a slang used for extreme sports practiced in the snow and other types. But basically Skid means to slide/skid and I brought this meaning to Portuguese to form the name, from our Brazilian point of view it would be Vida de Deslizes or Vida Slizante.
How and where did the idea of forming the band come about? A: The idea came up in high school in 2004 and the band was initially created to be a Nirvana cover and so it was during its first year, but after a while I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make my own songs and things took a different turn. That’s when I wrote the first demo with 9 tracks and when I met Billie and presented the songs to him in order to bring him into the band and here we are to this day.
The band released a full album. How was the recording and production of this content? A: This latest work of ours was a completely different experience for us because for the first time we were able to close a recording studio just for Skid Life for 17 days and that gave us a lot of freedom to record and produce this album. We had time to do the recordings without having to rush, we were able to adjust some compositions that needed a little more attention, to create new things that were not yet part of the songs. All in all, it was one of the best recording processes we’ve had over the years.
What are the main musical influences of the band? A: We draw from many sources within Rock and Metal. But to name a few names we really like Metallica, Megadeth, Sepultura, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Tad, Skid Row, Iron Maiden and many others. In general, each one of them forms our school, each one of us has a very different taste in music and that makes our sound something different.
How do you see Skid Life’s trajectory, achievements and maturity from the first day together until today? A: It is a great evolution in all aspects. We arrived here at our worst stage and we are evolving together into our best version, in the beginning, for example, there was a lot of fighting over everything, nowadays this rarely happens and if it happens, it is resolved at the same time. Before we had several limitations and nowadays a lot has improved in terms of equipment, finances and so on. Today we are a family, a company, a real band and that is a source of pride for the three of us.
Is there any new material coming soon? A: We’re already working on the songs for our next album, but for now we still don’t have an estimate of when we’ll record and release it.
Does the band have a concert schedule? If so, tell us where the band’s next gig will be. A: At the moment we don’t have any date set because we are in the composition process, but as soon as we paint a date we will disclose it on our social networks.
“Waiting for Doom”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEKVppWf7NE
