Skip The Use Can Be Late

Skip The Use is a name that basically means ‘don’t go down the usual path’... in other words ‘shake up the established order of things’ or ‘push the boundaries’.

And clearly Skip The Use makes a point of shaking things up and entertaining its public at all costs. That is its DNA, its driving force, and the reason behind the formation of this new genre of ‘famous five’ (Mat Bastard for vocals, Yann Stefani on the guitar, Jay Jimenez on the bass guitar, Lio on the keyboard and Manamax on the drums) not quite five years ago. Skip The Use is a real tornado of a band, as much from the visual as the musical standpoint, and it has never stopped intriguing us since.

Let’s rewind briefly. It all started several years ago with Carving, a punk gang which made a real name for itself in the north of France and further afield thanks to its energetic leader-lead singer-composer (the adjectives can be placed in any order). Carving then turned into Skip The Use in 2008. This new band rapidly began to make an impression by injecting its punk fury into rock and metal riffs, all this peppered with electro beats or other disco or hip hop influences.

Obviously I could go on for hours about the many concerts given by Skip the Use, in France and abroad, since the band first formed, with, while we are on the subject, some unforgettable moments such as when it opened for Rage Against The Machine, MGMT, The Hives, Mark Ronson and Boys Noize, or when it finished off one of the three evenings of the 2010 Solidays festival with a bang.

But that is not the end of it. On the contrary, the real thing… the real debut of Skip The Use is in the present, here and now. And this here and now has a name… their new album Can Be Late.
This album, recorded at the ICP studio in Brussels, was mixed by Manu Guiot (the sound engineer of the music TV programme ‘One Shot Not’ who has also worked with the Sex Pistols, Mike Jagger and the Eurythmics for many years) and Tim Goldsworthy (best known for his work with LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture) who have expertly put their talents, which no longer need any introduction, at the service of the band’s energy.

The title Can Be Late tells of their determination to take their time despite the general impatience and pressure to see them release a new album sooner. Skip the Use preferred to fine-tune its project and to give the album its own identity, knowing all the while that it was useless to try to recreate the energy of a live performance in the studio, even if this energy had always been their calling card in the past.

Making people dance and making people think. At least no one can accuse Can Be Late of being sluggish in terms of its ambitions. Because while riffs and beats are important to Skip The Use, words are equally so, be they hinted at or screamed out loud.

Whether they refer to a lying God (People In The Shadow), talk about the desire to break out of certain straitjackets and therefore certain deadlines (Can Be Late), whether they deal with ecology (The Face), or take a moment to reflect upon the destiny of a man who has lost everything after having confused politics, power and violence in ‘Fallin’, the members of Skip The Use are not afraid to speak their minds. And these are just a few examples.

But we shouldn’t get them wrong. Even if Skip The Use doesn’t miss a chance to open their mouths, their activist tendencies are focused in another direction. To entertain people, bring them together and get them dancing, and to transform each of their concerts into a real collective and interactive experience with the public: this is how we can sum up their sense of commitment and their objectives for 2012.

Thinking about it, it is not a bad strategy to win the public’s favour. But, unlike many others, Skip the Use keeps and will keep its promises to draw you, let there be no doubt, into its wake as of the 6th of February 2012.

Xavier Bonnet