Skaters are a trio straight out of New York City, coming to London to play their first shows in the UK with a live band featuring a mix of friends and musicians from the Boston and NYC music scenes. With the three members, Michael Cummings, Josh Hubbard and Noah Rubin all previously having played in bands such as The Paddingtons and The Dead Trees as well as alongside Dirty Pretty Things, Little Joy and Adam Green it would probably take more effort for these guys NOT to sound good together. The band’s songs are a reflection of both past experiences and music styles, striking the perfect balance between lo-fi garage sound, awesome melodies and heavy-night, young-love lyrics.

 

 

FAULT caught up with Skaters at The Old Blue Last, their final London show, and sat down with lead singer Michael Cummings to chat about record deals, skateboarding and Prince Buster.

FAULT: So how did you all meet?

We met on chat roulette.

Um…

No, we didn’t really. Josh and I met in L.A. just some random night, he used to date a friend of mine so I knew of him and then we finally met. Long story short we talked about how our bands were winding down respectively and then he called me up and was like “I’m going to come to New York” and the next day he was in New York and expected us to book three shows, which we did. We thought we were just going to jam and see how things went….Josh didn’t.

What are the best and worst things about New York?

The worst things: the rats. The best things: the pizza, and the general camaraderie of New Yorkers probably.

How would you describe your music?

It’s kind of just an upbeat punk band really, with a slightly more developed melodic sense I guess, it’s not quite traditional punk music.

What inspires you most?

It’s really everything you know. Could be anything, could be this trip or just something really small like a really specific incident or all the cliché bullshit, relationships, aggression, politics.

Are they the main things you write about?

No not really, I wrote one song about being in a hospital; I wrote a song about….um it’s all over the place really. It’s just whatever you’re feeling at the moment, try and go into it with a really open mind so you don’t necessarily have to know or you don’t have to take a stance on something if you don’t want to. I feel like a lot of bands feel safer writing about very specific things, but it’s boring after a while because you hear about the same thing over and over.

 

 

Is it true that none of you skate?

Yeah, we don’t really skate. I mean I can get on it, it’s wheels and I board, I can do that but it’s more about the youthfulness when it comes to the name, it just makes us feel young. It represents youth and not giving a fuck and just doing stuff because it’s in front of you not because there’s some pre-conceived notion about what you’re supposed to be doing. I really enjoy skate culture, I like skate culture. After all it’s just a fucking band name isn’t it!

What’s been you’re best experience as a band?

Probably this trip so far, it’s just been all New York shows up to this point, playing a little bit around the East Coast but mostly New York, focus on the neighbourhood and shit. I think the UK is really responsive to us. It’s Josh’s home. I think a lot of our influence comes from here, it’s important to us.

Do you think you’ll play the festivals next year?

Yeah we’re going to, we got confirmed for a lot of festivals already. We’re doing Lollapalooza next year then we’re coming over here and doing all your festivals, Reading and Leeds, Live at Leeds and a bunch of others. We should have 30 something festivals next summer.

You’ve just signed a record deal in New York, how did that come about?

We got kind of scouted by one of the labels. One of them bites and then they all bite, and you figure out which one you want to let bite you! Yeah, we got an option. That was cool.

 

Are you currently working on any new material?

We’re focusing on a record right now. It’s kind of a huge task. We’ve been playing songs live that will be on it, and we’re going to release our first official 7″ in January.

What albums have you been listening to recently?

It’s kind of all over the place, got this Prince Buster record that I really liked and I listened to. That Total Control record, the band from Australia, and I listened to that Blood Orange record, you know, Dev. Also some hip hop records and stuff. Just kind of all over the place, like old Tropicália as well.

What’s your FAULT?

Good times. There’s a saying RIP Bad times. Good times is probably our biggest fault, they can get in the way sometimes [Laughs].

After watching one of the best new bands we’ve seen play in London this year, and hearing their plans for the coming months, there’s no doubt in our mind that Skaters first album will be the soundtrack to 2013’s summer. If you haven’t heard their music yet go and download the Schemers E.P. for free from www.skatersnyc.com – RIP bad times.

 

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY BY REBECCA HOPKINS