9+1 Q&A with Skip Curtis

What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

Skip Curtis is an artist, songwriter and record producer from South Wales, UK.

In 2015 he started the ‘fake’ band XY&O to demonstrate some of his song-writing. Soon after, radio stations in the USA began playing XY&O’s demos and the ‘fake’ band became a real one.

Debut single ‘Low Tide’ went straight into Spotify’s Viral Top 10 and XY&O found themselves in the unusual position of having a viral hit on their hands having only played one gig.

In 2019 Skip began releasing solo material whilst writing and producing for other artists as well as establishing the record label Pet Shop Records. mes both.

Always been a lover of good soul vocals and soul music but will take the vibe anywhere it requests to be taken.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

My new single is called Sink Into You. It’s a nautical love song. There’s not much more powerful than the force of water, so it felt like the ideal metaphor to use when writing a song about devotion and love. It’s the last single before my debut album ‘Culture Violet’ comes out.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

Musically, tons! I’m influenced by too many artists to choose from. But some of my favourite artists are Prince, John Martyn and Ryan Adams (but I don’t condone John and Ryan’s behavior!) and bands like The Paper Kites and The War On Drugs. I grew up being massively inspired by bands like Jimmy Eat World, Blink 182 and Alkaline Trio though. Punk rock means a lot to me.
Non-music wise. My biggest influences are zoologists. My hero growing up was Steve Irwin. I love animals so anybody who fights for them was and is an inspiration.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

My sound is probably best described as pop rock… which sounds really boring. There’s certainly a punk rock influence that creeps in at times though, palm muted guitars but also elements of acoustic folk and Americana at times. It’s a kind of smorgasbord of singer-songwriter, classic songwriting arrangements.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Albums:
Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
Self-titled – Blink 182
A-ha Shake Heartbreak – Kings of Leon

Movies:
O Brother Where Art Thou
Life
The Birdcage

Books:

Desert Island Survival – The SAS
Republic – Plato
Animal Encyclopedia

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

I love studios. The lure of recording studios was a big part of why I wanted to be a songwriter and artist. That being said, I’m not one for spending days and days at a time in the studio. I like recording in short sessions, but often.
Live is a tricky one. I love being on stage and performing! But, everything else about playing live I struggle with. Sitting around, waiting, travelling, carrying gear around. I’m not so keen on all that! I get bored easily doing that, and then I get wound up.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

I’m in a band called XY&O too. We’re from Cardiff in the UK and we spent the first few months of our career with people thinking we were from Cardiff-by-the-Sea in San Diego, California because we’d listen ‘Cardiff Bay’ on our Soundcloud page. We were on radio stations in Cali and offered gigs in California, which was weird!

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

Probably a song from my just released debut album called Tall Towers / Nature Crawl. It doesn’t have so much of a typical song arrangement and also has a really strange, minimal guitar solo. Which is mostly because I’m not good enough at the guitar to play an actual solo…

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

I’m just trying to wait out the pandemic like every other musician until we can hopefully start playing live safely again!

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

Skip: What’s your favourite animal?

Skip: The Clouded Leopard, so beautiful.

Photo Credits: Emily Jayne

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

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