On Sept. 7, 2017, local reggae band Skunkape made its debut opening for Through the Roots at High Dive. A year later, they have a zealous fan base at each of their almost-weekly shows. I met up with the band at Downtown Billards Inc. in Ocala.
Lindsey Breneman: How long have you guys been together?
Austin Williamson: Sept. 7 will be a year since our first show.
Breneman: Sept. 7 was your first time ever playing together?
Ken Hill: Yeah. We had, what? Two to three weeks before our first show to write our set?
Williamson: Yeah.
Breneman: Was that difficult?
Hill: It was less difficult than it should have been, but we all kind of mesh in this really weird organic way. I don’t know. I guess me and this guy (Taylor Johnson) have been, like, jamming doing music for, like, a decade on and off.
Breneman: When did you start doing your own music?
Hill: Immediately. Yeah, we’ve been an all-original band the whole time. Except, we have, like, one cover song that these assholes insist that we play all the time.
Breneman: What’s the cover song?
Hill: “Clint Eastwood” by the Gorillaz. This guy (Williamson) raps on it, and it’s great. Drumming and rapping at the same time. The ladies love it.
Breneman: At both your shows I attended, I’ve seen the same group of people front row. Do you guys have a loyal fanbase?
Hill: Disgustingly loyal, actually.
Taylor Johnson: That’s, like, one of the best things. We just want to say thank you to them, actually. I didn’t realize until, like, our last show? But we do have just a lot of good friends and people from work. It’s a really supportive community.
Breneman: Taylor, both times I’ve seen you perform you were constantly interacting with the crowd, actually diving into it each show. How do you do that so easily?
Hill: Pure narcissism.
Johnson: Yeah it’s just a lot of looking in the mirror. No, I’m kidding.
Hill: The biggest thing, I think, if you don’t mind me interjecting, is that so much of the crowd is our friends, right?
Johnson: That helps a lot. Also, just like my upbringing, I’ve been onstage, around people since I was a little kid. My parents were music pastors. I did music in the church. I did acting. When I was, like, 16, I met him (Hill), and we started performing together, so there pretty much hasn’t been a time in my life when I wasn’t onstage. I feel more comfortable onstage and more comfortable expressing myself. Honestly, it’s not so much getting myself in the mode. It’s more like: Yay I get to do this tonight! It’s my therapy, my escape, you know?
Breneman: That’s amazing, yeah. So how often do you guys write new songs?
Hill: Not often enough anymore. But we have a good number of three-quarter written songs that we have yet to debut.
Williamson: It’s coming soon. We’ve put a lot of focus on getting the songs that we have really tight, so that we can get an EP so we can actually get music out. And all the songs that we have recorded now are really solid.
Hill: We did the first batch of, like, six songs that we wrote when we had, like, two weeks before our first show. Then a few months later, we sat down and wrote, like, another six song set that we’ve really been refining since. We’re about ready to drop maybe another six or close to that. We’re fixing to do some CD stuff so we can get on Spotify and iTunes. Standard “give us money when people get our music” kind of stuff. Give us that 3 cents per download. I’ll take it.
Johnson: The affirmation I get makes it all worth it.
Breneman: Where do you draw inspiration for your music?
Johnson: It depends on the song.
Hill: A lot of stuff comes from deep things in our lives. And a lot of times, we’ll write a song, and then something will happen in our lives where we go this song was clearly meant to be about (us).
Johnson: Yeah, and it really depends on the vibe of the song we’re going for and the message per song a lot of times.
Hill: We definitely try to be positive but realistic in our writing. We don’t pull punches.
Johnson: Yeah, I don’t like the forced optimism in a lot of reggae bands. That’s cool and all, but, you know, life isn’t always peachy.
Hill: Life has a dark side.
Johnson: Yeah, so you shouldn’t feel ashamed to express that too. We need to talk about it. So yeah, it depends on the song. A song like Slowly is pretty much just about having sex and having a good time. But then a song like “This Place” is about, like, not losing hope.
Hill: One Way is about, like, surviving through friendships, being where we are through the people that we’ve met.
Williamson: We’re tethered forever.
The whole band laughed at that reference to their own lyric from their song “One Way.”
Johnson: So yeah, it just depends, and that’s how a lot of the songwriting happens too. It’s not necessarily something we, like, sit down and we’re, like, okay, song time. It’s all spontaneous. It all like hits you at different times.
Breneman: What’s your favorite song of yours?
Hill: My favorite song of ours is probably “This Place.” “This Place” is just a banger. It works.
Johnson: We wrote it after a really traumatic experience. We had a good friend that passed. Now, every time we play it we dedicate it to him.
Hill: Yeah like we said, sometimes we write songs about events in our lives.
Johnson: And it’s the main song, like some of our songs are just for fun, but I really do hope This Place brings them some hope. It’s just a good relief song. Like, you listen to it and you feel a little better about that day.
Hill: It’s got good vibes through the whole thing. I think that’s our unanimous vote for favorite song.
Breneman: When’s the next time people can see you?
Williamson: Next show that we’re playing, as of right now, is Nov. 4 at High Dive. And we’re playing Nov. 18, hopefully, in New Smyrna Beach.
Johnson: Me and Ken are doing a little house party tonight for fun.
Hill: We’re going to play songs for whiskey.
