If you’ve been around the Bay Area metal scene for the past decade you’ve probably heard of and/or seen the band Skinlab. Discovered in the late 90’s by veteran metal band Machine Head, Skinlab has made a name for themselves in the groove/hardcore genre over the past 12 years and built a broad base of loyal fans. Their new album, “The Scars Between Us” came out on Tuesday and marks their first album in 3 years. (I saw copies of it next to Megadeth’s new album at Rasputin’s here in Berkeley).

“The Scars Between Us” doesn’t waste any time getting to the heavy. “Face of Aggression” grooves and blasts right into the next track “Amphetamine God”, arguably the heaviest track on the record. In a world where hybrid variations of metal runs rampant, Skinlab stick to their guns and churn out the heavy down-tuned groove, and they get respect for that. Their flavor might be a little dated, but no less raw and energized. The band is good at building up tension in their songs and then letting loose, sometimes with speed and double-bass, sometimes with slow-grinding breakdowns. As a new listener to Skinlab I would have liked to have heard a little bit more drive and some less breakdowns. I won’t hold this against them though.

I have to point out – one reviewer on metalreview.com went way out of his way to say that not only was this album boring and bad, but the musicianship wasn’t tight and the production was “unbalanced”. This is his opinion, obviously, and that’s fine – but in the very next breath he praises bands like “Baroness”, “Kylesa” and “Intronaut”. To this I say, “Are you fucking kidding me?!?” Baroness describe themselves as Rock / Indie / Metal. Which brings me to my next point: So many metal bands are combining various styles of rock / indie / death metal / screamo just to cater to the hipster crowd with black-rimmed glasses and tight jeans. This is a mistake in my opinion and honestly, hipsters can go fuck themselves as far as metal goes. Those bands are going to be gone in a few years, trust me. As far as nu-metal goes, I heard less nu-metal in this album than I did flavors of Sepultura and Crowbar. The production on “Scars” is just fine. If you want to hear mediocre production then just pick up any old album by Bloodbath. Don’t get me wrong – I love Bloodbath, some of their albums just needed some more work. Anyways, I digress.

I was able to catch front man Steev at the band’s cd release show at Blake’s on Telegraph. If you’ve never been to Blake’s, I would describe it as a place that conjures up feelings of nostalgia and underground music that metal was made of in the early 80’s. The joint is off of Telegraph Ave., which is one of the most colorful and nostalgic places in the Bay Area to begin with. The stage is in a basement, it’s dark, and the band plays at the same eye-level as the fans. There’s nothing to stop a mosh pit from getting out of hand, only the silence between songs. There are countless places in the Bay Area like this – it’s great.

You’ve been around for about 12 years now…

Wow, has it been that long? (laughs)

Your new album, “The Scars Between Us” came out this week. It’s your 5th studio album?

4th studio album.

Tell us about the album. What should fans know about the album?

Fans should know that it’s an album of redemption, we’re back and just trying to let the music, in itself, just kind of showcase our hunger and the drive behind Skinlab. I’ve said it numerous times that we didn’t stray too far from what we’re known from and I think that’s overall going to be our winning point. We took a little bit of a different road on our last record, I think maybe me vocally, and I recognize that.

Redemption seems to be like a common theme on this new album. Where did that come from?

You know, a lot of people have turned their backs on Skinlab. We’ve fuckin’, we’ve had a hard run. We’ve always been a band to help everyone. We learned that from Machine Head. They taught us to really help out people, no matter what. I mean, unless they fuck you over then fuck them. Doing that though, you sometimes forget to help yourself and you hope for people to repay you and maybe help you out down the line and sometimes it doesn’t turn out that way. The whole thing is, we’re out for blood man. We feel like there’s a scene that we definitely helped to develop that we weren’t a part of for a few years, by own our choice.

(Opening band starts and we move into the bathroom from the green room)

“Slave the Way” was written for a reason. (laughs) “Slave the Way, Pave the Way”. One of these days we’ll be writing a song like, “Quit your fuckin’ crying and get out there and work!” That’ll be the title of our next record.

That’s kind of the theme overall in the country today, right?

You know you can’t be bitchin’ and crying about a lot of the stuff like I just said. Look, I don’t want it to come out like anyone owes us anything, by all means. But I’ll tell you what, we got a pocket full of receipts from all the dudes we’ve payed and we’re just going to get out there and try our hardest to try and redeem ourselves.

You guys are touring in September and October. How have fans been receiving the new album and the shows?

So far, I mean, the response has been way overwhelming. The fans that like it, of course, you get the ones that are like, “Fuck! Dude! Holy shit it’s so much heavier!” We’re starting to get that more the last couple of days because people have bought the record. People come to our cd release shows and at the in-store today they actually bought the album and they’re told it’s aggressive and they get it and then they’re saying “Wow it’s really fuckin’, it’s crazy, it’s a lot heavier! What are you guys doing!?” It’s just great, people are noticing. It’s been a long-time coming.

You guys just recently played a show with Death Angel, another “local” metal band. What do you make of the fact that bands like Death Angel, Machine Head, Exodus, all of the bands with the “older sound” are still producing albums and still playing shows, including you guys. What do you attribute that to?

(I couldn’t understand the first part of his response, but I think it was about being not lumped in with the bands I just mentioned). We’re a different generation of band. Just because I know them, I think I can relate to the answer you want: those guys are timeless. Rob, Gary Holt, Eric Peterson, all those guys. They’re just like me – right next to my toilet I have the new Revolver, the new Decibel, Hails and Horns, whatever. To keep on top of stuff, you have to listen to it. You have to be on top of what’s going on and those guys definitely -

(Tour manager interrupts us to bring in some beer.)

Cheers!

Cheers! So, it’s definitely, those guys are such huge inspirations. I don’t know what keeps them going! I have no idea. I wonder, you know? Getting to sing in Exodus for just a minute, I got to see first hand all about Gary. He’s just something else, he’s a fuckin’ machine. I can see where that drive comes from.

The groove / hardcore sound that kind of defines you guys is still very much alive in California, especially the Bay Area, especially the East Bay Area. What do you make of that?

Yeah it’s trippy like that. I mean, we got bands like High on Fire that are really riff-oriented and guitar and drum oriented and really good melodies. I don’t know, it must be in the mud. East Bay mud! (laughs) But you know, when Skinlab started out, and still to this day, we’re fans of Crowbar and Eye Hate God, Acid Bath -

So the more Southern kind of groove?

Yeah. You know, we just did it our way, and doing it your way you tend to, it’s like a band trying to cover Pantera, you end up being like your own version of Pantera but it’s not fucking Pantera.

Your video for “In for the Kill” features two cage fighters duking it out. Is this what fans should expect at Skinlab shows?

We don’t encourage that. But you know, the fans have been known to get pretty crazy.

They’re free to express themselves…

Yeah! Good, friendly, violent fun. It’s like what Exodus said. That’s what it’s about – your friend falls down pick him up, don’t beat the shit out of him or clobber him, you know? But sometimes we wonder like, “Why are people just looking at us?” We’re not just a normal band that just sits there and does a lot of riffage like “skeedle-deedle-skeedle-deedle” and all these Iron Maiden riffs. We’re more of a “feeling” and our bodies just express more movement than say, our hair.

Speaking of hair. Who showers the least? That’s what fans really want to know.

Paul. Without question. He’s our bicycle messenger fuckin’ drummer.

He’s the only one without dreads, right?

Yeah. No – our new guitar player doesn’t have dreads.

You new guitar player, that’s Buzz?

No, our buddy Buzz didn’t make it. This is the first time we’re talking about it, but everyone has their own personalities and when you join a band you have to conform to the band. Buzz has been his own character for many years and we love him for that, but…

So who’s the new guitar player?

We got a new guitar player. He’s been busting his ass off. His name is Brian Jackson he used to be in a band called “Creep” from Las Vegas. He called us and he’s been persistent and told us that he’s got it down. It’s cool, he’s been kickin’ ass and playing the songs really good now. In the next couple of days he’ll be conforming to our stage presence which is, like I say, a little bit different that normal bands. We’re in the molding stages right now.

Great. Lastly, what advice do you have for all of the bands out there that want to know how they can keep going for 10, 11, 12 years plus and keep touring and producing albums?

Well, for some people…it’s weird, I don’t even think twice about it. I was born into it, my kids are born into it. My drummer just gave my youngest kids his drumset from the “Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded” album and he’s got no choice. It’s not my choice, it’s just what’s in his blood.

So it’s just gotta be in your blood?

It has to. Some people have the passion, some people don’t and this industry is no fuckin’ parade, I’ll tell you that much. It’s a fuckin’ dog-eat-dog world out there. We’ve been nice doggies long enough. We’ve turned into the fuckin’ Rottweiler, it’s been “hell behind the cage” I’d say – for far too long.