The Metal Den’s Randy “Rocket” Cody recently conducted an interview with
Steev Esquivel Of SKINLAB for his loyal army of Den Headz worldwide.
Rocket: Where were you born and raised?
Steev: I was born and raised in San Jose, CA.
Rocket: Do you come from a big family?
Steev: Yes and no. I was raised an only child. But my mothers side of the family is huge… my grandma had 14 children. All my cousins are just now starting to grow up and find each other.
Rocket: What bands first drew you to heavy metal music?
Steev: Death Angel, Metallica, Laaz Rockit…. were the first thanks to my cousin. Then came along Exodus, Possessed, Vio-lence, Exciter, Mercyful Fate, Megadeth, and Anthrax.
Rocket: Who would you say are a few of your biggest vocal influences of past and
present?
Steev: Ronnie James Dio has always been my favorite. But my influences vary from R&B vocalist to pop singers. My step dad was always rockin something, I liked little bit of everything from Smokey Robinson to
Michael Jackson…..I was raised on soul music early Motown stuff… as I grew older and wanted to rebel a bit so I started getting into The Clash, The Plasmatics… later getting into early Black Flag with their
first singer and then later, Henry Rollins… that’s when a whole floodgate of influences came about like: DRI, Suicidal Tendencies, GBH, Raw Power, Dr Know… then came the metal and it was all over for my speakers then… hahaha.
Steev: After quitting Defiance in 92, I was super influenced by heavier bands that had distortion like Danny Lilker from S.O.D, Blacky from VoiVod, Rob Blasko back in the Drown days, Godflesh and basically any band that was just dirty and grinding.
Rocket: What kind of bass guitars are you currently playing live and in the studio?
Steev: Well as of today I think its safe to announce that I am the newest member of The Jackson Guitar family… huge thanks to Chris and everyone at Jackson… looking forward to making a killer bass and supporting the company to the fullest!!
Rocket: What kind of amp rigs?
Steev: I’ve been trying out a few amp lately, but there is nothing like Ampeg! I’m running an Ampeg b4 with a Maxon bass overdrive. Over the years I’ve learned how to play a little tighter and have been
able to back off the distortion a bit allowing me to go for more of a bullfrog tone than a sizzly top end.
Rocket: How has it been working with Stand And Deliver Records on the new Skinlab
Release The Scars Between Us?
Steev: Stand and Deliver have been great! They are taking all the proper steps to getting our album in stores along with help from Sony/RED. They have been really easy to work with, and help us out in any way possible. Things are going great it’s nice to have the trust of a label again, we’re looking
forward to a good run with them and possibly another album or DVD…so far so good …!!
Rocket: Where was the album recorded and who produced it?
Steev: The album was recorded in a couple different studios we did the drums and vocal with our partner Juan Urteaga at Trident Studios in Concord CA. The guitars and bass were all done at Snake’s Greendot studios in Berkeley…we’ve been fortunate to have their hands on this album. It was a great opportunity for us to grow together as well as Snake getting some production experience….all in all the album was produced, recorded and engineered by Juan and Snake.
Rocket: Where is the easiest place for a fan to buy your new album?
Steev: There are TONS of places to get our album, Interpunk.com, Itunes, our online store(www.districtlines.com/Skinlab), our myspace page(www.mypace.com/skinlab) and you can always check you local music stores like Best Buy, FYE, Hastings all those good places. I haven’t heard
that many complaints about not being able to find the album, Sony/Red and Stand and Deliver Records have done a great job with the placement of the album and I think it should be arriving in more and more stores every week!
Rocket: You shot a killer video for the song “In for the Kill”, which premiered on Headbangers Ball this past July. Who directed it? And do you enjoy the video making process?
Steev: A good friend Jordan McClure directed the video, he had a great staff and excellent vision. Good kid man, he’s gonna be a big shot one of these days. Both fighters, Nate and Greg were awesome to work with. They were both cool with our friends that came down, you couldn’t ask for cooler guys.
I really hope Nate comes back harder and strong with each fight….he deserves it man, he’s as serious as it gets and so are we so I think we complement each others careers a lot.
Rocket: What is your opinion of how ‘free downloading’ has drastically affected
record sales in the 21st century?
Steev: Well, considering on one site alone we had 6,000 Illegal downloads of our songs the first week of the release it definitely makes it hard to be a full time band, and not have side jobs. I just don’t think a lot of people understand how much time, effort and money goes into making an album. It’s too bad the critics and sales don’t include all the illegal downloads, it would change the industry!! But the bottom line is stealing is stealing…cheating is cheating. I have downloaded songs in the past but only to figure out if I was going to buy the album or not. Illegally downloading songs directly had an effect on whether I would buy the album or not… in most cases I did go out and buy the album after downloading a couple tracks to check out, but some albums sucked and were disappointments so the download helped me find out before I wasted my money… looking at it like that is not the prettiest vision but it’s a reality, and I choose to live in reality. I am not mad about it… but fans can’t bring their downloaded copies to shows to get autographs. Hahaha.
Rocket: You have a bunch of tattoos. Which one is your personal favorite and why?
Steev: My favorite… hmmmm – they are all really personal so I love them all… the first real tattoo I got was from my best friend Dirk… it’s a Scorpio on my left arm in orange. I have a friend in Germany names Shiepi who did the backside of my arm with the bound gagged artwork(the dude in the syringe) and I have a picture of my son Noah who was done by the brother of the drummer from Kreator… kinda cool… that and the baby blocks with my kids name Noah and Elijah along side my wife’s name… dig’em all wouldn’t change for the world… about time for some new ink!!
Rocket: With all the shows you have played over the years now, which one remains
Your personal crowning achievement, in terms of the band putting on its best
performance and getting the best crowd reaction?
Steev: I would say both times we played Dynamo and the first time we played the London Astoria with Machine Head… just amazing shows, not only to watch but to play. We had a great response from the UK, always fuckin killer when we get out there! This year Mayhem Fest was awesome… it was the last show with Glen and we just went for it!! Great crowd reaction. Our boys from Jager Music were all there throwing down with us… fuckin rad!!
Rocket: It’s been a great year for metal in 2009. Which are some of your favorite
heavy metal albums released so far this year?
Steev: Yeah man… lots of killer bands and albums this year for sure. I just got Alice in Chains yesterday… heavier shit like Suicide Silence, God Forbid, Divine Heresy, Dirge Within, Shadows Fall… all good metal bands and good friends that I support. The new Cannibal Corpse is straight up brutal. Those guys are just killin it. They crushed Mayhem fest.
Rocket: There are a lot of “unsigned” bands that open for you guys in the clubs. Can
you tell me who you think are some of the cool underground metal acts
people need to keep an eye out for?
Steev: Yeah, there’s a bunch of newer bands. My favorite is from San Jose called Thousand Kingdoms. Also, my boys from Sacramento Dropseven, along with Northwestroyale from Eugene and Oblige from LA that has the former Hostility drummer.
Rocket: What are Skinlab’s touring plans looking like for the rest of 2009, going
into 2010?
Steev: We have a couple shows left for 2009, mostly West Coast stuff, and we’re currently booking 2010 with hopes to get out to Europe and Australia. We just got back home after having to cancel the remaining dates on our first full U.S tour due to my lungs getting a massive infection. So right
now we are looking to rest up a bit try and say stress free so we can get back out there.
Rocket: What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to a kid nowadays starting out on
his or her instrument with big hopes of achieving the “rock and roll” dream?
Steev: Dedicate yourself to it 100%. There’s gonna be highs and low’s through out the journey, just keep focused while making a name for yourself. Make sure to surround yourself with people you’re going to be able to relate to. Being in a band isn’t always about yourself. It’s about a team and making things work together. Last would be to take care of your gear. Nothing like you guitar falling apart during a song or
performance…..these are all things I am still working on, you can never learn enough.
Rocket: Where do you see yourself in ten years from now?
Steev: 10 years from now I see myself in the front row for my sons band…..definitely see myself working somewhere in the music industry. Not sure where, maybe managing some band, or helping with promotions, but I will still be a metal bastard no matter what that’s for sure… hahaha.
Rocket: Thanks very much for rocking this interview out with me. Best of luck with
it all moving forward. Go ahead and give special thanks out to any of your
friends, family and supporters.
Steev: Hell yeah, this list could go on forever! First thanks to The
Metal Den for taking the time to interview us… keep up the good work!
Thanks to everyone in Skinlab for sticking it out, and all of our friends
and family for putting us with us……ha ha ha. Thanks to Stand and Deliver
Records for backing us, everyone that helped put the record together, and
most of all…………ALL of our crazy fans all over the world!
http://www.myspace.com/skinlab
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