Exclusive Q and A: Matt Skiba Shares His 'Sekrets'

posted in: Exclusive Interviews • Rock

Matt Skiba has spent the last sixteen years as the frontman of alternative punk band Alkaline Trio. Though he has written and performed as a solo artist on the side, Skiba’s new project Matt Skiba and The Sekrets is the creative outlet he’s been waiting for. By bringing in My Chemical Romance drummer Jarrod Alexander and AFI bassist Hunter Burgan as studio musicians, Skiba was able to create a polished and powerful debut album for which he has written completely on his own. We caught up with Matt to discuss the new band, inspiration behind the album’s lyrics and what’s in store for the future of  The Sekrets and Alkaline Trio.

OS: You’re known for being the lead singer of Alkaline Trio, but you’ve also had a few other projects over the years. How is the music of Matt Skiba and The Sekrets different from anything else you’ve done?

MS: I’ve always gone in with a partner, and with this, I did it by myself. I wrote the songs, I went in initially and did the rough tracks…it was the first time that I hired musicians to play on the album with me. You can still tell that it’s me, I just wanted to incorporate a full band. I wanted to do something a little more grandiose in terms of what’s happening on stage. So now I get to do it (I have this Souther Death Cult shaman warrior garb that I’m going to be wearing). I’m not playing guitar, but we have two guitar players. It was the first time I went into a studio to make a rock record totally by myself, with a producer.

OS: For this project, you recruited Jarrod Alexander of My Chemical Romance and Hunter Burgan of AFI. What led you to choose them to make this record with. What made you want to work with them?

MS: Their skills as players, primarily. Jarrod and I became friends because of this project. He was playing in a band called Dead Country, which we took on tour…this was after he played drums on Babylon. The producer Cameron Webb recommended Jarrod, he was like, “He’s a great drummer, he’s a great guy.” Our friendship, and we’re really really good friends now, developed from him playing as a session guy on my record. From there, I got a phone call from My Chemical Romance’s attorney, who’s a friend of mine, and she said “I need a drummer for a band, I can’t really tell you

who, but I need him, like, yesterday. Do you know anyone who can come out and play?” And I said, “Well, it’s funny you should say that, I just did this album with this kid Jarrod and he’s a fucking ripping drummer.” She called him up and now you can see him on stage with My Chem. I’m proud to have put My Chem in touch with Jarrod. Hunter and I have been friends for a long time. I think great music and great art comes from working as a team, being friends and loving each other is important. It makes communicating and playing together much easier. I had Hunter in mind the whole time and when it came down to the final hour and I sent him the record. Three days later, we were in the studio recording Hunter on bass. They’re going to be with me on this tour and I hope that everyone would still be available. We’re going to tour the world with this record, over time. As schedules permit, these guys are my A-Team, but I also have a back-up plan, some  great friends and heroes that have offered to play, too.

OS: The name of the record is Babylon. What is the meaning behind the title?

MS: It was inspired by a book I was reading, called The Ancient Babylonian Mystery Religions. I do a lot of reading, I’m kind of a history nerd. I was reading this book a friend gave me about these pre-Christian, gnostic pagan-like sex cults in the city of Babylon and the surrounding areas. And also how it went underground and adhered to more of a Christian belief system. I take a big interest in that time in history and I think what Babylon represents to people is also representative of this album. This record has a lot of gnostic references. It’s a very sexual record, there’s a lot of romance on the record. One of the books that inspired one of the songs is about this writer Harry Crosby and his mistress and how they came to kill each other, literally (they committed double suicide). My girlfriend at the time did the sculpture that’s on the cover. I was recording the record and I came back to her house late and had recorded this song “Voices.” There’s a line that says “I escape to a place called Babylon” and I thought about that and saw the sculpture, and I was like, “That’s the cover and the record’s called Babylon,” in a matter of thirty seconds.

OS: Would you say your creative process is motivated informed by different influences than it is for Alkaline Trio material?

MS: This time around, it’s the same. I read constantly, I’m a huge fan of film arts. Those things always inspire me with every project that I do. This time around it was a book called House of Leaves [that] inspired the song “How the Hell Did We Get Here.” A book called Black Sun about Harry Crosby, who I just mentioned, inspired the song “Olivia.” But I take these ideas and make them my own and apply them to my own life and my perception of things or what I may be going through at the time. It’s very confessional, for lack of a better term. It’s a very personal record, it’s a very honest record. There’s nothing on there that isn’t true to me.

OS: There’s an obvious ’80s new wave vibe on some of these tracks. Were you inspired by any specific ’80s music from that era when you were writing Babylon? Who else would you say influenced you during the songwriting process?

MS: Oh yeah, tons of it. Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division. The Chameleons were a huge influence, I fucking love that band. The Cure is always an influence in anything I do, Robert Smith is one of my favorite songwriters ever. Of course Morrissey and The Smiths were a big influence. But I also love Teenage Head and a lot of the more punk rock/new wave ’80s bands. Even stuff like Billy Idol and Pat Benatar, radio rock stuff.

OS: You’ve said that you’ll be playing the entire album live. Will you be adding any material from your other projects to the setlist, too?

MS: Just this album.

OS: Will you be playing it in order?

MS: We’re talking about it. We haven’t gotten together yet to rehearse for the tour, but that’s kind of the idea. I have this elaborate stage outfit and we’re choreographing lights and everything to the set. I figure if the set’s going to be the same every night, why not just play it like a story? I want it to be theatrical, different and something hopefully people walk away from wowed. That’s the goal. It’s either going to be amazing or wildly embarrassing, and I think the prior is what’s going to happen…and obviously what we’re hoping for!

OS: What’s coming up next for Alkaline Trio?

MS: At the end of this month, I leave for Europe with Alkaline Trio for three weeks to do shows…so Alkaline Trio is still very much alive and well. We’re planning on going into the studio in the fall to do another record.

Pick up Babylon on May 8th, and don’t miss Matt Skiba and the Sekrets on their first tour!

06/07/2012 – Chicago, IL @ The Metro
06/08/2012 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
06/09/2012 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts
06/10/2012 – Washington, DC @ The Black Cat
06/12/2012 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
06/13/2012 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House
06/20/2012 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
06/22/2012 – West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour
06/23/2012 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
06/24/2012 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House