Start Listening To: Skiving
A conversation with Skiving about self-delusion, cross-stitch pixel worlds, and the joy of dicking around in the studio.
Skiving are a five-piece from London making songs for anyone who’s ever daydreamed about clocking in to a job they hate. Equal parts playful and chaotic, their music balances sugar-rush fun with sharp-eyed social commentary, collapsing into odd time signatures just when you think you’ve got it figured out. With their debut album The Family Computer on the horizon, the band talk fantasy, failure, DIY community spirit, and why novelty instruments sometimes beat guitars.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
We’re 5 friends from London who make fun music for people who fantasise about having a job they hate.
Can you share the inspiration behind 'The National Lottery' and what message you hope listeners take away from it?
This song is the sugar-rush maximalism of childish self-delusion. It’s a critique of accumulation of status, through money or commodities, through the eyes of a child that thinks he’s won the lottery. It starts pretty playful and silly, with syncopated guitars and brass playing off each other, then about halfway the kid learns he hasn’t won anything, and we all fall into different time signatures for the breakdown as things fall apart.
How did the transition from Human Resources to Skiving influence your creative process or the music you’re making now?
This is a great question but to be honest we changed the name after finishing the album so it didn't really have any bearing on the creative process.
What was it like working with Conor Kearney and Adam Brown during the recording of your upcoming album, The Family Computer?
Working with both of those guys was an absolute pleasure because they’re both great friends of ours, so being in a studio with them for days on end was just a very extended hang (that we had to pay them for). They both really get the music and the sound we’re going for, and added so many elements that are now some of our favourite parts of these songs. Hopefully Rick Rubin next though.
Could you describe the visual elements of your music video and how they complement the themes of 'The National Lottery'?
The video was Colin’s idea - it’s ridiculously high concept for a DIY video. Essentially Harry is haunted by a better version of himself, whose animated form is rotoscoped on top of Harry for the duration of the video, and succeeds everywhere Harry fails. It follows similar themes of pathos, failure and hubris from the song.
How do you feel your live performances differ from the studio recordings, and what do you aim to achieve on stage?
In the studio we are very into layering up on the live sound, and adding textures and sounds that there aren’t enough of us to replicate on stage, lest we were to learn to play with a backing track (ew). The live show is much more about the energy of the songs, it’s high energy fun music and we have a lot of fun playing it which I think comes across in our shows.
What role does social commentary play in your songwriting process, especially in relation to the themes explored in your new music?
It plays a role in the sense that all good music is an exploration of social phenomena, but it’s not something on my mind when I’m writing the lyrics. The lyrics are about social relations, sometimes specifically how they’re shaped by capitalism, but they’re not didactic and I don’t sit down with the mission of writing a song about xyz problem with capitalism. I wouldn’t say I ever really sit down with the mission of writing a song full-stop, I just wait for inspiration to strike.
Can you tell us more about the artwork for your upcoming album and how it connects to the overall concept of the project?
The artwork for all the singles and the album was designed and made by our friend Kate Weir, who has impressively and painstakingly recreated a digital pixel world in cross-stitch for us. The images she has designed really capture the themes of nostalgia and wistfulness that come up on the record, and the contrast of the digital imagery captured in thread, the unreal and the real, really matches the contrasts in our music.
How has your experience of organising fundraiser gigs shaped your perspective on community and the role of musicians within it?
Organising and playing those shows has been an incredibly galvanising experience for us within the London music community. We used to host some of these fundraiser shows in our living room, and the sense of community you get when 200 people are in your house to support not only local music, but also raise money for Palestine, is pretty unmatched. It’s also funny to have to wash footprints off the ceiling.
What are some of the challenges you've faced as a band since forming in 2021, and how have you overcome them together?
We’ve had to learn to do a lot of things DIY because we don’t have any money, and there is so little money going to the arts in the UK, but we’ve learnt to overcome that by finding a community of people who also don’t have any money but love to make art and music. We’ve made all our records and music videos for next to nothing but we have talented friends so everything looks and sounds sick.
What’s one thing you’ve learnt about yourselves as musicians during the creative process for The Family Computer that surprised you?
We’ve learned that we all much prefer dicking around on novelty instruments in the studio (highlights including a mysterious apple-shaped xylo-bell and a very long spring) to playing our actual guitars and drums. Maybe next album we’ll drop that stuff and focus exclusively on silly little toys.
What do you love right now?
Geese! What a crazy bird.
We also recently heard a great band from Manchester, Mleko, who are about to put out their first single, so we’re pretty gassed for that.
What do you hate right now?
The enshitification of most things
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
I still listen to Light Up Gold by Parquet Courts about once a month. I think you can feel the urgency with that record, it sounds like it was made in a week but it’s all so considered. I want people to feel that kind of energy when they hear us.
When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?
I hope they have fun but also feel a bit sweaty for a reason they can’t explain.
Photography By: Hannah Hayden and Georgia Rose