With a new EP out and a massive tour on the way, we chatted to Skegss bass-player Toby Cregan about recording, their relationship with the music industry, an of course, Aaron Goccs.
On the surface, Skegss appear to be self-appointed slackers. When the recording process is often described in interviews as the guys just hanging out, jamming, then hitting the studio, it’s easy to wonder if they’re ever surprised by the amount of stuff they get done. Toby’s answer strengthened the idea that Skegss are a testament to the age-old allegory – never judge a book by its cover.
“Although we’re not super organised, we do want to do heaps of stuff. So, I don’t know if we surprise ourselves because we’re constantly doing shit. I feel like there’s heaps of rules – people try and make rules when you’re in a band, like, you have to do certain things at certain times, whereas we’ve just kind of not really wanted to do the same.”
With this approach, being signed to Ratbag Records is the perfect fit for the laid-back trio. Skegss were signed by the Dune Rats run Warner sub-label in July 2015, and have maintained a “super relaxed” relationship since. Toby reminisced, “we all just got on it so we could all have like, a luncheon together and have a couple of beers together. I guess it’s just like, yeah, Ratbag boys, it’s cool.”
Thinking back to their massive tour with Dune Rats, Toby spoke of the relief of having a chance to touch base after “putting off talking about label stuff” for so long.
“Every night on tour we’d just talk about – just taking the piss, like talking about music industry shit when really none of us even know anything about it. Dunies are kind of onto it ‘cause they’ve made a couple of albums so I guess they know more than us, but it’s so funny talking about that kind of stuff with your friends.”
Since the tours end, Skegss have been in recovery mode. When asked if things had blown up since the tour, and Toby revealed that he didn’t really notice any differences and that he’d prefer to keep it that way.
“More people are coming to our show’s but the dynamic’s still the same. We don’t wanna try and change it because it’s been good since we’ve been playing together. I don’t know, I don’t wanna fucking think about that anyway – that’ll add pressure.”
When later asked about the upcoming tour, Toby expressed disbelief at the fact that it’s their “biggest headline tour yet,” admitting, “It’s kind of overwhelming, some of the shows have sold out already. And I think we’re doing like, three shows in Melbourne.” Yet however daunting it may be, Toby can’t wait.
“That was kind of the coolest thing about the Dunies tour – usually you have to get up hung-over and just fuckin’ travel all day, but we’re only gonna have to be travelling hung-over one day after four shows or something so that should be good. That’ll give you time in the cities to catch up with some friends and stuff like that.”
One of those friends Skegss will be catching up with will no doubt be Aaron Gocs. The mullet-adorned comedian appears in the group’s newest video for Got On My Skateboard, alongside home-video footage of Skegss as kids. “I’m so stoked that Gocsy agreed to do it and was down,” Toby enthused, “We get to hang out with him when we’re in Melbourne when we’re playing down there. And we’re just massive fans of his so that’s cool.”
The idea for the video came from a discovery that Toby made while watching Goc’s Ocean Girl video.
“There’s a short part in the video where he drops in on a skate ramp. And we were like “Gocsy can skate?” We didn’t want there to be skate boarding in the video but we literally ran out of time and ideas so we were just like, “we’ll just get fucking Gocsy to skate around, it’ll be epic.”
It’s hard to miss Big M as another recurring theme in the video. Inspired by Dune Rat’s recent release of their own lager, we wondered, if Skegss had their own flavour of Big M, what would it taste like? Toby, a bit caught off-guard, settled on a champagne taste. Would it sell better than Dunies Lager? “I don’t know. Probably fuckn’ not,” Toby laughed, “A champagne milk? I doubt it”
Speaking of their upcoming spot at Brisbane’s The Blurst Of Times festival, Toby expressed excitement at sharing the bill with Briz 182, Good Boy, and Royal Headache. Coincidently, Good Boy (along with Pist Idiots) are supporting Skegss on their upcoming Australian tour.
“Good Boy are playing, and they’re coming on our national tour when we get back from Europe. I’ve seen them before and they’re fuckin’ awesome, so, can’t wait to see that again. But, yeah, I guess I’m gonna see them a couple of times.”
Skegss are hitting the road in celebration of their new EP Holiday Food, which sees the boys at their best. Holiday Food features everything we loved from their previous work, with a crisper sound and stronger vocals. Toby noted that the group feel the same way.
“We’re just so excited to get it out because we’re really stoked – we feel like it’s the best stuff we’ve done so far. We haven’t all hung out yet since it’s come out because I live up here in Byron and the other boys live down in Foster, so when we get together it’ll feel more real life – like it’s all finally out.
On the note of holiday food, we asked what was Toby‘s favourite. “I don’t know about food but when I go on holidays I always drink margaritas a lot,” he revealed, “I like em on holidays”
You can sling Skegss some margarita’s (or champagne milk) on their upcoming tour.
Their new EP Holiday Food is also available now via Ratbag Records.
SKEGSS HOLIDAY FOOD EP TOUR
with Good Boy and Pist Idiots
7 June / Howler / Melbourne / Tickets
8 June / Howler / Melbourne / SOLD OUT
9 June / Howler / Melbourne / SOLD OUT
10 June / Jive / Adelaide / Tickets
15 June / Oxford Art Factory / Sydney / Tickets
16 June / Oxford Art Factory / Sydney / SOLD OUT
23 June / The Zoo / Brisbane / Tickets
24 June / The Waratah / Hobart / Tickets
25 June / Club 54 / Launceston / Tickets
30 June / Capitol / Perth / Tickets
