Sure we’ve heard about you before, but we think it’s time for Tone Deaf to get to know you a little better. Slip in to something comfortable while we put on some music, pour us a couple of drinks and turn the lights down low.
Who are you and what do you do in your act?
You got Lach Jenno on guitar and vocals, Lenny Delandre on bass and vocals and Matt Turner on drums. Skinwalkers is who we are.
Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
I ‘borrowed’ The Sunnyboys, The Badloves, The Doors, The Clash, a B.B King record and probably a few more if I recall that right.
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
I’m not exactly rocking an iPod right now but music is just about coming out of everywhere else. Lately I have been doing a lot of listening to Alexisonfire, Gallows, The Warriors, Bring Me The Horizon, a lot of pretty new music. All of us have been listening to a lot of good Australian bands picking supports for the ‘Fall or Resist’ Tour in July, can’t wait for it.
‘Home taping is killing the music business was the catch-cry of the record industry in the 1970s, but it managed to survive until now. What do you think is the difference between mates taping copies of friend’s records back in the 80s and 90s and file sharing now?
Scale. If home taping was music murder, then file sharing could be music genocide. The name has changed but the game is the same, just on a bigger scale. Anyone can easily download any artist or bands entire back catalogue with the push of a button, scary from the financial side. Supposing you were looking for positives to the situation? Free promotion, untapped access to all free music, those pirates might love your music and come to a show or buy a CD. It’s still wrong, and mostly bad but maybe not all bad.
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What was the first gig you went to? Where was it and what was the venue?
I could mention some other ones that go back childhood days and some ones that just shouldn’t count, but the first gig I went to and saw something legitimately awesome, would have been The Living End at the Brisbane Convention centre. I think they were on the State of Emergency tour. First band I’d seen that I had grown up listening to was great to see the translation from CD’s loud in your room to Live and totally deaf the next day.
What’s your favourite site to download music from and do you ever pay for it? Can we find any of your releases there?
We don’t really favour any download site, none of us illegally download music, memories of the old WinMX and Napster when young, but nowadays we usually buy physical CD’s, we’re all still pretty sentimental with music, being able to hold it in your hand can put something a little more special to it. But you can find all our music on iTunes officially for purchase, chances are you can find it in other places too; we probably didn’t put it there though.
What artist made you want to pick up an instrument and/or sing?
Played piano from 9 or so, don’t remember the specific inspiration back then. When I started playing drums I was listening to a lot of The Who, and Keith Moon is a mad drummer. He drove his drums AND I have to keep believing that because I can only drive my drums, I got no car!
Have you ever been arrested?
None of us have ever been arrested. Maybe we’re good upstanding citizens or maybe we’ve just haven’t been caught.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Sadly there is no crazy unique Skinwalkers ritual before we hit stage. There might be one day, but for the time being it usually consists of one shot of Ouzo to coat the throat and warm the blood. That and a good dose of warming up. We value the time spent together before we play, if the three of us are together getting ready, we’re better in tune (pardon the pun) before we play. We usually tune up too.
What’s been your most outrageous rider request?
Best damn riders we’ve ever had come from playing private functions like house parties and shows like that.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
Honestly, there’s too many to pick just one. All we can say is we’re keen to play with any of Australia’s great artists, from the upcoming to the legendary, we’d just about play with anyone.
Right, let’s get really intimate. Tell us what releases you have that we can listen to with the lights down low, or even better, where we can see you play in person next.
Not sure about lights down low maybe” Breakheart “off our new EP. Our next show will be our EP Launch for “Fall or Resist” national tour starting on the Sunny Coast on the 15th July at Kings Beach Tavern, then touring through the Gold Coast, Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane.
