GENRE: ALTERNATIVE
There's a long story about how Skylab were formed. If you're really that interested, you can probably find it somewhere. But the important things are that Hamish Kennedy and Matthias Fischer founded the band after their last one broke up on the brink of (moderate) success and they were joined soon after by the eternally optimistic drummer Marigold Harper and the eternally apathetic Rumi Kirasabe, who now plays lead guitar. Eventually, adopting the belief that if they focused on becoming at least recognised the music scene would be forced to eventually notice them, the band set about doing so.
Hamish Kennedy, bass: One of the founding members of the band, along with its predecessor, Turtlebite, Hamish has been in bands with Matthias Fischer since their schooldays. It seemed natural for the two to continue afterwards. Relatively quiet, but the most thoughtful, articulate and creative member of the band, Hamish is one of the band's main songwriters, although he leaves the business side of things to the rest of the band.
Rumi Kirasabe, lead guitar: Rumi was the last to join Skylab, after seeing the band play a show at the bar at which she worked, following them back to their practice space, and through sheer bloody-mindedness being at last accepted. She often joins Hamish when he writes, although her contributions to the band are generally more in the way of polishing, titles and general organisation- the main driving force of the band, the band would most likely fall apart if Rumi didn't spend much of her waking time actually organising everything.
Marigold Harper, drums: The various members of Skylab at the very least tolerate each other, but Marigold plays a valuable role in stopping the tension that could easily arise from the band's conflicting personalities. She does this by distracting them as much as possible, playing the drums very loudly, approaching life with an easy-going attitude (the band developed a vaguely rhythmical sound so they can theoretically play many of their songs without their drummer, so often does she turn up late to gigs) and not caring a bit about the general anger the other three regard her with. They like her really. Hamish and Rumi tend to leave the drum parts to Marigold- she isn't the best of drummers so makes up for it by pretty much constantly varying what she's playing.
Matthias Fischer, rhythm guitar: Probably the only member of Skylab who, in terms of musicality, actually knows what he's doing, Matthias is nevertheless relatively ignored by the other three, since he, unlike Rumi, doesn't really hate everyone by default, doesn't, unlike Hamish, spend a significant amount of time making a tiny part of a song sound better and isn't the target of generalised annoyance that Marigold is. He quite likes being the "other member". It just means he has to carry all the others' things sometimes.
Hamish Kennedy, bass: One of the founding members of the band, along with its predecessor, Turtlebite, Hamish has been in bands with Matthias Fischer since their schooldays. It seemed natural for the two to continue afterwards. Relatively quiet, but the most thoughtful, articulate and creative member of the band, Hamish is one of the band's main songwriters, although he leaves the business side of things to the rest of the band.
Rumi Kirasabe, lead guitar: Rumi was the last to join Skylab, after seeing the band play a show at the bar at which she worked, following them back to their practice space, and through sheer bloody-mindedness being at last accepted. She often joins Hamish when he writes, although her contributions to the band are generally more in the way of polishing, titles and general organisation- the main driving force of the band, the band would most likely fall apart if Rumi didn't spend much of her waking time actually organising everything.
Marigold Harper, drums: The various members of Skylab at the very least tolerate each other, but Marigold plays a valuable role in stopping the tension that could easily arise from the band's conflicting personalities. She does this by distracting them as much as possible, playing the drums very loudly, approaching life with an easy-going attitude (the band developed a vaguely rhythmical sound so they can theoretically play many of their songs without their drummer, so often does she turn up late to gigs) and not caring a bit about the general anger the other three regard her with. They like her really. Hamish and Rumi tend to leave the drum parts to Marigold- she isn't the best of drummers so makes up for it by pretty much constantly varying what she's playing.
Matthias Fischer, rhythm guitar: Probably the only member of Skylab who, in terms of musicality, actually knows what he's doing, Matthias is nevertheless relatively ignored by the other three, since he, unlike Rumi, doesn't really hate everyone by default, doesn't, unlike Hamish, spend a significant amount of time making a tiny part of a song sound better and isn't the target of generalised annoyance that Marigold is. He quite likes being the "other member". It just means he has to carry all the others' things sometimes.
GENRE: ALTERNATIVE
Music For The Modern Age, Skylab's second album and first of which they're honestly proud (the first, The Lights And The Sound, lasts about twenty minutes, features only seven songs and was rather rushed), was written and recorded in only two months. This time it isn't rushed, though, honest. It sees the band opening up from the rather ill-defined melancholy-ish sound on their first album, and in general it's a step up in many ways. Maybe it's not the finest album ever, but it's hopefully at least in some way memorable.
PREVIEW TRACK COMING SOON