Skindred - Arya Goggin
Questions: Stuart Millen
Welsh reggae metal. It's an odd combination. But in Skindred's case, it works. And it works well. Forming from the ashes of Dub War back in 1998, the British four piece have released five albums and toured the world relentlessly. Known for their energetic live shows, the band have just released their new album Kill the Power and will bring bringing their eclectic mix of metal, rock, reggae and punk to Australia for the Soundwave festival.
On his one "night off" between hectic UK and European tours, drummer Aryan Goggin spoke to Caught in the Mosh about catching up with old friends, the new album and miraculously beating internet pirates...
You’ve just done a UK tour with 11 shows in 12 days. You start a European tour with another 11 shows in 12 days. Tonight’s your night off. What are you doing?
We’re on our way to catch a ferry to Europe!
You’re busy, busy, busy!
Yeah, exactly. I wouldn’t want to change it though. That’s what we’re here for.
So a heavy schedule is your preferred way of touring?
Oh absolutely. You can get into a groove that way. That’s the thing... you get into the groove of it, start feeling comfortable. I think if you break off too much you can lose it sometimes. I think one day off is nice. Other than that, everything else is just a bit greedy.
Ha! Well, you’re in for a bit of a change. You’re heading to Australia in a few weeks for Soundwave. Most bands that play Australian summer music festivals see them as one big holiday.
You know what, I can imagine mate! I’m thinking of it as a holiday myself. I’m brining my flip-flops, my vest and a couple of pairs of shorts and that’s it. I’m going to be on the beach, chilling out.
Over the years you’ve toured with a lot of the other bands on the Soundwave lineup. You must be looking forward to the festival and catching up with old friends?
I can’t wait. You know what it reminds me of? We do the festival circuit in Europe every year and we did the Warped Tour and that sort of stuff and it just reminds me of that sort of thing, but with the same line-up every day. I guess it’s like the Warped tour in the States, but we’ve got lots of friends on this one. I can’t wait. It’s going to be like summer rock camp. Barbecues every night (laughs).
On his one "night off" between hectic UK and European tours, drummer Aryan Goggin spoke to Caught in the Mosh about catching up with old friends, the new album and miraculously beating internet pirates...
You’ve just done a UK tour with 11 shows in 12 days. You start a European tour with another 11 shows in 12 days. Tonight’s your night off. What are you doing?
We’re on our way to catch a ferry to Europe!
You’re busy, busy, busy!
Yeah, exactly. I wouldn’t want to change it though. That’s what we’re here for.
So a heavy schedule is your preferred way of touring?
Oh absolutely. You can get into a groove that way. That’s the thing... you get into the groove of it, start feeling comfortable. I think if you break off too much you can lose it sometimes. I think one day off is nice. Other than that, everything else is just a bit greedy.
Ha! Well, you’re in for a bit of a change. You’re heading to Australia in a few weeks for Soundwave. Most bands that play Australian summer music festivals see them as one big holiday.
You know what, I can imagine mate! I’m thinking of it as a holiday myself. I’m brining my flip-flops, my vest and a couple of pairs of shorts and that’s it. I’m going to be on the beach, chilling out.
Over the years you’ve toured with a lot of the other bands on the Soundwave lineup. You must be looking forward to the festival and catching up with old friends?
I can’t wait. You know what it reminds me of? We do the festival circuit in Europe every year and we did the Warped Tour and that sort of stuff and it just reminds me of that sort of thing, but with the same line-up every day. I guess it’s like the Warped tour in the States, but we’ve got lots of friends on this one. I can’t wait. It’s going to be like summer rock camp. Barbecues every night (laughs).
Your music has a wide range of elements and genres. Do you find that helps in a festival environment, where people might be hearing you for the first time? A bit of “something for everyone”?
Yeah, I do. I think we stand out on a festival bill. We always have. And I think Benji can really drag the crowd in. I think when you come to see us live you’re not going to just see four guys up on the stage staring at the floor, playing their songs from the record. There’s passion involved. It’s like you’re partying with us. We’re not going to just stand there and entertain you. You’re involved in this. And that’s the thing, it drags you in, kicking and screaming, whether you like it or not. And that’s the way we’re always done it. Festivals are perfect for us.
Do you approach festival shows differently to pub gigs?
Well, the club tours are our tours, so we’ve been playing for an hour and a half, an hour forty. We’ve got a full production, all our own lights, that sort of stuff. With a festival, we usually... depending on the bill... we rarely headline the bigger festivals, so we usually get about 30-45 minutes. So therefore, we just want to hit them hard with the tracks off the record. I always say it’s like an advert; watching our set at a festival is like an advert for the main event, which is our own gig. Like a trailer. And you’ve got to make that trailer so fucking good that they want to come back for more.
Yeah! Do you know whether you’ll have any shows of your own on this tour?
I don’t know actually. We’d love to. It seems like a long way to come and not play a show of our own. So hopefully we will. We’re all keen to do it. I want to play as much as we can really. But we haven’t been told. I think they do those things called the sidewaves. I don’t know if we’re doing any of those but we’d definitely like to.
Well, I certainly hope you get a sidewave show! I was lucky enough to catch you in Perth in 2011 and it was amazing, one of my top ten live gigs.
Thanks! I remember Perth really well. We’re all good friends with Karnivool. They all came out and we hung out with them all night. It was really fun that show!
Will you be catching up with the Karnivool crew again this time?
Yeah! Last time we went round to one of their houses and had a barbecue, a load of food. And we’ll be doing the same again this time as well.
Yeah, I do. I think we stand out on a festival bill. We always have. And I think Benji can really drag the crowd in. I think when you come to see us live you’re not going to just see four guys up on the stage staring at the floor, playing their songs from the record. There’s passion involved. It’s like you’re partying with us. We’re not going to just stand there and entertain you. You’re involved in this. And that’s the thing, it drags you in, kicking and screaming, whether you like it or not. And that’s the way we’re always done it. Festivals are perfect for us.
Do you approach festival shows differently to pub gigs?
Well, the club tours are our tours, so we’ve been playing for an hour and a half, an hour forty. We’ve got a full production, all our own lights, that sort of stuff. With a festival, we usually... depending on the bill... we rarely headline the bigger festivals, so we usually get about 30-45 minutes. So therefore, we just want to hit them hard with the tracks off the record. I always say it’s like an advert; watching our set at a festival is like an advert for the main event, which is our own gig. Like a trailer. And you’ve got to make that trailer so fucking good that they want to come back for more.
Yeah! Do you know whether you’ll have any shows of your own on this tour?
I don’t know actually. We’d love to. It seems like a long way to come and not play a show of our own. So hopefully we will. We’re all keen to do it. I want to play as much as we can really. But we haven’t been told. I think they do those things called the sidewaves. I don’t know if we’re doing any of those but we’d definitely like to.
Well, I certainly hope you get a sidewave show! I was lucky enough to catch you in Perth in 2011 and it was amazing, one of my top ten live gigs.
Thanks! I remember Perth really well. We’re all good friends with Karnivool. They all came out and we hung out with them all night. It was really fun that show!
Will you be catching up with the Karnivool crew again this time?
Yeah! Last time we went round to one of their houses and had a barbecue, a load of food. And we’ll be doing the same again this time as well.
Like your last Australian tour, where Union Black had just been released, this tour sees you with another new album. Kill the Power come out just last week and it’s quite varied compared to previous releases, with female vocals, acoustic guitars, some dub-step. Was it a conscious decision to vary your sound or just a natural progression?
It was a little bit of both actually. As the tracks were developing we were getting more and more excited about the things we could do with them. I think we threw the kitchen sink at them to be honest. We didn’t really think about how we could do things live, we just wanted to make the best album we could. You know, the thing about Skindred is there are no limits or boundaries on what we can do and what we want to do. We get so excited about stuff. You know, if we want to put an acoustic guitar in there, like you say, if we want to put in some female vocals, no one can tell us we can’t (laughs). We’ve never sat in one pocket, in one style. We’ve never been in a “scene”, there’s nothing we really have to live up to. It’s not like were part of the Big Four of the thrash movement. There’s no one else like us around. We just have to make it up as we go along.
So what's the Skindred writing process then?
What usually happens is we get together in the rehearsal room and the guys will bring in riffs or ideas or concepts of songs and we’ll chat about them and start laying down and logging ideas. This time we went straight into a studio in Brighton and logged the ideas. Everything was mic’d up, everything sounding great so we could really analyse each of the ideas to see whether they’re even worth pursuing. What we usually do is pursue everything. If something doesn’t make it, then no worries. Well, on this, we were really, really picky about what did make it. We were really analytical about what did make it. We were really analytical. We took everything apart. It wasn’t because we were striving towards some sort of perfection; we wanted to learn as songwriters as well. I think we learned a lot with Union Black. That was a darker record for Skindred and this record has a lot more variation. I think it harks back to Babylon in term of light and shade, with songs like Pressure. Then you’ve got Firing the Love or World Domination. There are those kinds of moments that Kill the Power has that got us really, really excited.
We did two lots of pre-production as well. We recorded everything at Hi-fidelity in Brighton then went to a rehearsal room in Bristol and just jammed it as a band, just rocking out. Then we got the producer to come down. He then took everything apart. Then we went back to Bristol (laughs). There was a lot of back n forth. And then we took time touring in between these times as well. So by the time we got to the record, we had a finished... I knew what I was doing for the first time ever! I got to sit down and track and concentrate on the performance. And we’d never done that. Usually there’s a lot of writing when it finally comes to press record. But this time I knew what I was doing. We were really prepared. Because we had time.
And I believe you’ve been playing a few of the new tracks live for the last six months even though the album has only just been released. Does that mean you’ve had songs ready for a while?
Truth be told, the album was finished in April last year. Done. We recorded it and we were just waiting for the label to release it. And it’s just been released. So when we played the new tracks live for the first time, they were already recorded and done. So we took a huge leap of faith with it really. Obviously in the old days, you’d road test every song. You’d write a bunch of news songs and you’d take them out on the road and see what the reaction was like. But with this, the record was done and dusted. And then it was like, we have to start playing the new songs otherwise we’ll go insane because we need to play something new!
It was a little bit of both actually. As the tracks were developing we were getting more and more excited about the things we could do with them. I think we threw the kitchen sink at them to be honest. We didn’t really think about how we could do things live, we just wanted to make the best album we could. You know, the thing about Skindred is there are no limits or boundaries on what we can do and what we want to do. We get so excited about stuff. You know, if we want to put an acoustic guitar in there, like you say, if we want to put in some female vocals, no one can tell us we can’t (laughs). We’ve never sat in one pocket, in one style. We’ve never been in a “scene”, there’s nothing we really have to live up to. It’s not like were part of the Big Four of the thrash movement. There’s no one else like us around. We just have to make it up as we go along.
So what's the Skindred writing process then?
What usually happens is we get together in the rehearsal room and the guys will bring in riffs or ideas or concepts of songs and we’ll chat about them and start laying down and logging ideas. This time we went straight into a studio in Brighton and logged the ideas. Everything was mic’d up, everything sounding great so we could really analyse each of the ideas to see whether they’re even worth pursuing. What we usually do is pursue everything. If something doesn’t make it, then no worries. Well, on this, we were really, really picky about what did make it. We were really analytical about what did make it. We were really analytical. We took everything apart. It wasn’t because we were striving towards some sort of perfection; we wanted to learn as songwriters as well. I think we learned a lot with Union Black. That was a darker record for Skindred and this record has a lot more variation. I think it harks back to Babylon in term of light and shade, with songs like Pressure. Then you’ve got Firing the Love or World Domination. There are those kinds of moments that Kill the Power has that got us really, really excited.
We did two lots of pre-production as well. We recorded everything at Hi-fidelity in Brighton then went to a rehearsal room in Bristol and just jammed it as a band, just rocking out. Then we got the producer to come down. He then took everything apart. Then we went back to Bristol (laughs). There was a lot of back n forth. And then we took time touring in between these times as well. So by the time we got to the record, we had a finished... I knew what I was doing for the first time ever! I got to sit down and track and concentrate on the performance. And we’d never done that. Usually there’s a lot of writing when it finally comes to press record. But this time I knew what I was doing. We were really prepared. Because we had time.
And I believe you’ve been playing a few of the new tracks live for the last six months even though the album has only just been released. Does that mean you’ve had songs ready for a while?
Truth be told, the album was finished in April last year. Done. We recorded it and we were just waiting for the label to release it. And it’s just been released. So when we played the new tracks live for the first time, they were already recorded and done. So we took a huge leap of faith with it really. Obviously in the old days, you’d road test every song. You’d write a bunch of news songs and you’d take them out on the road and see what the reaction was like. But with this, the record was done and dusted. And then it was like, we have to start playing the new songs otherwise we’ll go insane because we need to play something new!
So the album was finished in April last year. It’s now February and it’s only just come out. In the current era of the Internet and album leaks, that’s a long time to keep it secret! Sure, it leaked a few days before it’s release, but how did you keep it under wraps for so long?
Do you know what, I don’t know. I was really, really impressed for how long it stayed off the internet to be honest, because we had been sitting on if for so long. We signed to a new label, Cooking Vinyl and they’ve been fantastic. So I guess it’s more props to them really, for having the trust. They were sending out promos way before the release. So I guess people were on our side on this one. They didn’t want to fuck us over too much, which is pretty cool.
I’ve seen in a number of interviews that you guys accept that the internet is here to stay and that people take music for free. You have a really good attitude towards that, asking people to come to your live shows and buy some merch. To support the band that way.
Yeah. That’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s going to happen. So if you do do that and you like the band, then you’ve gotta come and represent, otherwise the band won’t be there for you. Because the only way we can do this is, is by people coming and buying the shirts and coming to the shows. That’s the only way we can make the record. If you’re making the record for free and you guys are enjoying the music then you’ve got to represent and be part of it with us. Otherwise there’ll be no more music for you to listen to.
Your video for Kill the Power looks like it was shot in India. What’s the story behind that?
Yeah, India. We shot it in India in October last year. It was insane. We had a tour booked in Japan and then we had an Indian festival put in straight afterwards. And before that we’d been talking about the single what it was going to be, we’d all decided it would be Kill the Power and we had to do a video. We were like, we’re going to do a video in the UK, with a UK director, that’s cool... everyone was excited. We got the treatment, it’s going to be cool, and then suddenly the director pulled out. And all of a sudden it was oh, shit, what are we going to do. We don’t really want to do a standard video. The director had a really good idea. And I just said why don’t we do it in India? We’re over there for a few days, why don’t we just do one over there and see what happens? If it sucks, we can just go back and use a director in the UK and do the original idea. If it works, we’ve got a cool fucking video from India. No one does this any more. Back in the day, in the 80s and 90s, when budgets were wild, people would go off to Thailand to shoot videos, you know? It was the real thing. You’d get Slash standing outside a church, with Axl jumping off an oil rig or something. These days, with budgets and stuff, you’ve gotta take advantage of what you’ve got. We were going to be in India, so out manager made a couple of calls and made it happen. It was guerrilla warfare out there! It was a guerrilla video shoot. We didn’t know what was going to happen, we were paying the cops off. It was all very illegal. But we managed to get an amazing video out of it.
And no doubt a lot of fun!
Of course, yeah! It was amazing. It was brilliant fun. We try and act in the video but we’re all smiling while we do it.
Do you know what, I don’t know. I was really, really impressed for how long it stayed off the internet to be honest, because we had been sitting on if for so long. We signed to a new label, Cooking Vinyl and they’ve been fantastic. So I guess it’s more props to them really, for having the trust. They were sending out promos way before the release. So I guess people were on our side on this one. They didn’t want to fuck us over too much, which is pretty cool.
I’ve seen in a number of interviews that you guys accept that the internet is here to stay and that people take music for free. You have a really good attitude towards that, asking people to come to your live shows and buy some merch. To support the band that way.
Yeah. That’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s going to happen. So if you do do that and you like the band, then you’ve gotta come and represent, otherwise the band won’t be there for you. Because the only way we can do this is, is by people coming and buying the shirts and coming to the shows. That’s the only way we can make the record. If you’re making the record for free and you guys are enjoying the music then you’ve got to represent and be part of it with us. Otherwise there’ll be no more music for you to listen to.
Your video for Kill the Power looks like it was shot in India. What’s the story behind that?
Yeah, India. We shot it in India in October last year. It was insane. We had a tour booked in Japan and then we had an Indian festival put in straight afterwards. And before that we’d been talking about the single what it was going to be, we’d all decided it would be Kill the Power and we had to do a video. We were like, we’re going to do a video in the UK, with a UK director, that’s cool... everyone was excited. We got the treatment, it’s going to be cool, and then suddenly the director pulled out. And all of a sudden it was oh, shit, what are we going to do. We don’t really want to do a standard video. The director had a really good idea. And I just said why don’t we do it in India? We’re over there for a few days, why don’t we just do one over there and see what happens? If it sucks, we can just go back and use a director in the UK and do the original idea. If it works, we’ve got a cool fucking video from India. No one does this any more. Back in the day, in the 80s and 90s, when budgets were wild, people would go off to Thailand to shoot videos, you know? It was the real thing. You’d get Slash standing outside a church, with Axl jumping off an oil rig or something. These days, with budgets and stuff, you’ve gotta take advantage of what you’ve got. We were going to be in India, so out manager made a couple of calls and made it happen. It was guerrilla warfare out there! It was a guerrilla video shoot. We didn’t know what was going to happen, we were paying the cops off. It was all very illegal. But we managed to get an amazing video out of it.
And no doubt a lot of fun!
Of course, yeah! It was amazing. It was brilliant fun. We try and act in the video but we’re all smiling while we do it.
And how did the festival show in India go? Had you played there before?
No, it was our first ever show there. We had no expectations, no idea what it was going to be like. Karnivool had actually played in India and the told us it was fantastic. So we were prepped for it. The show was really good but I had no idea what the people were going to be like. You know when you go... I don’t know whether you’ve travelled before... but sometimes when you go to different countries it’s almost like you see in technicolour. Things look different. I think with India it was so... you know, the poverty is so... it was disgraceful. We couldn’t comprehend it to be honest. So I think that’s changed quite a few boys in the band. We realised how lucky we are. We were staying in a 5-star hotel opposite a ghetto where there was a little girl sleeping in the street. It affected everyone massively. And then we’d play a rock show to 6,000 people and they’d all loose their shit. So, there were very mixed emotions in India.
Wow. That’s a weird situation; the dichotomy of 5-star hotel versus the ghetto.
Yeah! Right there on the doorstep. It was strange! But they treated us absolutely beautifully and the people were fantastic. I can’t wait to go back there. It was great. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Indian music festivals, European festivals, Japan, club shows... What goes into choosing your setlists?
Lots of fighting! (laughs). Lots of arguing. Lots of calling each other names and not speaking to each other for days. That’s what goes into choosing the setlist (laughs). No... What we usually try to do is... well, the live set we’ve just done, we’ve been playing an hour and a half, an hour forty minutes and the idea was to do... You know when you go to see a big band at a stadium or arena? Well we thought, lets do that for a change. Lets try to do a setlist that has peaks, that builds to crescendos, try to do a proper, proper show. And I think that with what we do already it really worked out. And we’ve thrown in a DJ battle thing that I’m doing with our DJ guy, there are guitar spots and it’s just really... we want to keep it interesting for ourselves as well as the audience.
Well, you’re playing so many shows in a row, you’d want to keep things interesting, otherwise you’d go insane!
Well that’s it. And I think by the time we get to Australia, we’ll know what we’re doing (laughs). You guys are going to benefit.
What do you have planned for Australia? How many of the new songs will we hear at Soundwave?
I think we’re going to play a bit of everything. I don’t know our set time at the moment; I don’t know how long we’re allotted. And that’s where it gets to be a bit of a problem, because you want to play the older songs, the songs people are familiar with but you also want to play the new songs. And that’s what we’re there to do. We want to try to get the message of Skindred out. So, depending on how long we get, I’d say at least two new songs.
Awesome. Well, like I said, your show in 2011 is one of the best live shows I’ve seen in many, many years, so I’m really looking forward to seeing you again. And I’m sure everyone at Soundwave will be equally impressed. Good luck with your current tour and see you in Australia soon.
Thanks man. Thanks for all the kind words. It means a lot. See you soon.
No, it was our first ever show there. We had no expectations, no idea what it was going to be like. Karnivool had actually played in India and the told us it was fantastic. So we were prepped for it. The show was really good but I had no idea what the people were going to be like. You know when you go... I don’t know whether you’ve travelled before... but sometimes when you go to different countries it’s almost like you see in technicolour. Things look different. I think with India it was so... you know, the poverty is so... it was disgraceful. We couldn’t comprehend it to be honest. So I think that’s changed quite a few boys in the band. We realised how lucky we are. We were staying in a 5-star hotel opposite a ghetto where there was a little girl sleeping in the street. It affected everyone massively. And then we’d play a rock show to 6,000 people and they’d all loose their shit. So, there were very mixed emotions in India.
Wow. That’s a weird situation; the dichotomy of 5-star hotel versus the ghetto.
Yeah! Right there on the doorstep. It was strange! But they treated us absolutely beautifully and the people were fantastic. I can’t wait to go back there. It was great. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Indian music festivals, European festivals, Japan, club shows... What goes into choosing your setlists?
Lots of fighting! (laughs). Lots of arguing. Lots of calling each other names and not speaking to each other for days. That’s what goes into choosing the setlist (laughs). No... What we usually try to do is... well, the live set we’ve just done, we’ve been playing an hour and a half, an hour forty minutes and the idea was to do... You know when you go to see a big band at a stadium or arena? Well we thought, lets do that for a change. Lets try to do a setlist that has peaks, that builds to crescendos, try to do a proper, proper show. And I think that with what we do already it really worked out. And we’ve thrown in a DJ battle thing that I’m doing with our DJ guy, there are guitar spots and it’s just really... we want to keep it interesting for ourselves as well as the audience.
Well, you’re playing so many shows in a row, you’d want to keep things interesting, otherwise you’d go insane!
Well that’s it. And I think by the time we get to Australia, we’ll know what we’re doing (laughs). You guys are going to benefit.
What do you have planned for Australia? How many of the new songs will we hear at Soundwave?
I think we’re going to play a bit of everything. I don’t know our set time at the moment; I don’t know how long we’re allotted. And that’s where it gets to be a bit of a problem, because you want to play the older songs, the songs people are familiar with but you also want to play the new songs. And that’s what we’re there to do. We want to try to get the message of Skindred out. So, depending on how long we get, I’d say at least two new songs.
Awesome. Well, like I said, your show in 2011 is one of the best live shows I’ve seen in many, many years, so I’m really looking forward to seeing you again. And I’m sure everyone at Soundwave will be equally impressed. Good luck with your current tour and see you in Australia soon.
Thanks man. Thanks for all the kind words. It means a lot. See you soon.
Skindred return to Australia for Soundwave 2014. Tickets on sale now from Soundwave and Oztix.
Sat 22nd February - Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds
Sun 23rd February - Sydney, Olympic Park
Fri 28th February - Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Sat 1st March - Adelaide, Bonython Park
Mon 3rd March - Perth, Arena Joondalup
Kill the Power out now on CD and download.
Sat 22nd February - Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds
Sun 23rd February - Sydney, Olympic Park
Fri 28th February - Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Sat 1st March - Adelaide, Bonython Park
Mon 3rd March - Perth, Arena Joondalup
Kill the Power out now on CD and download.