New York, NY (Top40 Charts) London "tropical punk" four-piece, THE SKINTS, are pleased to announce the release of their highly-anticipated fourth album Swimming Lessons, released today via Easy Star/Mr. Bongo. Drawing on influences as sprawling as Bad Brains, Popcaan, No Doubt, Alton Ellis, Wiley, and Weezer, Swimming Lessons deals with crushing heartbreak, the impending doom of Brexit and the current political climate, all the while surviving as independent musicians navigating the weird world of 2019. All of these are proverbial "swimming lessons" life throws at us. In addition to the release of Swimming Lessons, The Skints will be hitting the road on a 13-date west coast US tour From May 23 - June 8.
Born from the underground London punk scene, The Skints have built up a formidable live reputation in recent years, playing as much as 150 shows a year.
Along with sold-out shows across the UK,
Europe and the US, the band have performed at some of the biggest festivals in the world, and recently received plaudits for their new single "Learning to Swim," grabbing critical acclaim, airplay and nods of approval from far and wide.
Lyrically their darkest and most introspective release to date, Swimming Lessons takes its inspiration from reggae, soul, dub, punk, hardcore and rap. The Skints have a knack for fusing different genres of music that strike an accessible chord with a political, personal and philosophical message. From 8 Bit-influenced dancehall to sound system shaking dub, melodic grunge to harmony laden soul, Swimming Lessons boasts collaborations with three of Jamaica's brightest roots stars of today.
"In the 4 years since our last album FM, the band has toured globally non-stop. The creative hunger in us has been building up so much, because as an independent operation, we simply haven't had the luxury of spending money on studio time whilst playing to sustain ourselves," says guitarist and vocalist Josh Waters Rudge.
Lead single "Learning to Swim" is a sentimental blend of lovers rock, pop and hardcore punk as The Skints confront personal tragedy while the rub-a-dub heavy "Restless," questions the broken promises and perpetual lies of those governing over us today, featuring Grammy-nominated Jamaican reggae star, Protoje.
Elsewhere, The Skints delve into pop-punk territory with "What Did I Learn Today" and "The Island", showcasing the band's ability to effortlessly jump from one genre to the next, before the collaborations continue with freestyler Runkus on the carnival-friendly "Armageddon" and
Jesse Royal on the soulful "Love is the Devil."
"As well as enlisting some of the absolute best of Jamaican vocal talent on the features, we're really trying to push all ends of the spectrum of what The Skints music is and can be. Our whole back catalogue is diverse in mood and emotion, song to song, and on Swimming Lessons we've tried to take things a step further," adds keyboardist/vocalist Marcia Richards.
Formed while at school in 2007, The Skints hail from the Waltham Forest and Redbridge boroughs of North East London. They cut their teeth in London's underground punk scene, before venturing out of the M25 to play their first self-booked DIY venture, going on to embark on a heaving touring regime across the nation.
Their album Live, Breathe, Build, Believe, released at the end of 2009, was championed byBBC
Radio 1's Punk Show, whilst 2012's Part & Parcel, the second full-length album by the band, further built their fan base and opened doors to heavy touring, festivals and markets outside of the UK and across Europe. Their follow-up album, the critically-acclaimed FM, released in 2015, reached #5 on the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart in the US and #7 on the Independent Albums Chart in the UK.
Since the band's conception, The Skints have toured extensively across the globe, playing hundreds of shows and festivals including Summerjam (Germany), Dour Festival(Belgium), California
Roots (US) and ReggaeSunSka (France). In the UK, The Skints sold-out their most recent UK tour including London's prestigious Shepherd's Bush Empire, and have performed at Reading and Leeds Festival, Bestival, Glastonbury andBoomtown Festival, performing to 15,000 fans.
In addition, the band have supported a number of bands internationally that include Less Than Jake, Mariachi El Bronx, Gym Class Heroes, Protoje, You Me At Six,
Sublime with Rome, Fat Freddy's Drop, Steel Pulse, and Stephen Marley.
Easy Star Records is the leading independent reggae label in the U.S., with a diverse stable of artists that includes Rebelution, Protoje, The Green, Easy Star All-Stars, The
Black Seeds, The Expanders, New Kingston, Gentleman's Dub Club, and others.
Swimming Lessons is out now on all music platforms. The Skints will be on tour in the US from May 23 - June 8. The band will also be available for in-person interviews and sessions in NYC on May 20 and May 21.
THE SKINTS U.S TOUR DATES
May 23 - Reno, Nevada @ Jub Jub's
May 24 - Monterey, CA @ Monterey Fair Ground
May 25 - Las Vegas, NV @ Downtown Las Vegas
May 26 - Laguna Beach, CA @ Mozambique
May 27 - Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone
May 28 - Sacramento, CA @ Holy Diver
June 1 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
June 5 - San Diego, CA @ The Cashbash
June 6 - Redondo Beach, CA @ Saint Rocke
June 7 - Riverside, CA @ Romano's
June 8 - Rancho Cucamonga, CA @ Route 66 Festival.
