The Skints, London’s prime purveyors of punky reggae, have announced a very special UK headline tour for October 2024.
The four-piece, who blend sunny, feelgood grooves with hard-hitting lyrics, have clawed their way up from the underground punk/ska scene to become a global reggae phenomenon.
Drawing from influences as wide as soul, pop, grime and hardcore, their original brand of “tropical punk” has seen them evolve in to one of the hardest working and most respected bands in UK music.
Now, with a new album in the works, they’re taking their very modern brand of punky reggae on the road for a 13-date stripped back and unplugged British tour, which starts in Brighton on 7 October and ends in Cardiff 16 days later.
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 beyond the M25 to play their first self-booked DIY venture and embark on a heavy touring regime around the ‘toilet venue’ circuit.
Opening doors
Debut album Live, Breathe, Build, Believe, released at the end of 2009, received late night/specialist rotation across radio, including BBC Radio 1’s Punk Show, and the follow-up, 2012’s Part & Parcel, grew their fan base and opened doors to gigs, festivals and markets across Europe.
Their third album, the critically-acclaimed FM, released in 2015, reached No 5 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart in the US and No 7 on the Independent Albums Chart in the UK, and saw The Skints tour across the USA, Canada and Japan.
They have now played hundreds of shows and festivals including Summerjam (Germany), Dour Festival (Belgium), California Roots (US) and ReggaeSunSka (France).
At home, The Skints sold out their most recent 10-date UK tour, including Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and have performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Bestival, Glastonbury and Boomtown Festival, performing to 15,000 fans.
Support slots
Their prestigious support slots include NOFX, Less Than Jake, Mariachi El Bronx, Gym Class Heroes, Protoje, You Me At Six and Sublime.
Their most recent album, Swimming Lessons, released in spring 2019, drew on influences as wide as Bad Brains, Michael Prophet, No Doubt, Alton Ellis, Wiley and Weezer.
From crushing heartbreak, the impending doom of Brexit, surviving as an independent musician and navigating the weird world of 2019 – all of these are proverbial “swimming lessons” life throws at us.
Lyrically their darkest and most introspective release to date, it also saw The Skints pushing and blurring the lines of genre to a more extreme degree than ever before.
From 8-bit Game Boy-influenced dancehall punk-pop to sound system-shaking dub, melodic grunge to harmony laden soul and boasting collaborations from the crop of Jamaica’s brightest modern roots stars, Swimming Lessons was a musical ride that blew away any expectations of what to expect from The Skints.
Visit www.gigsandtours.com or www.theskints.co.uk for more info and tickets .
