SKORTS
This week we feature SKORTS, but not because they need the exposure. As instinctive masters of self-promotion, their live show speaks for itself. In the New York City band’s short time together thus far, they have come to be known far and wide for an intense, unreplicable energy that cannot possibly be forced. Fittingly, the band formed almost entirely by chance, and with their upcoming release, they’re challenging the notion that lightning can’t strike twice.
SKORTS’ highly anticipated debut album, “Incompletement,” is out Friday, Oct. 31, just shy of two weeks before they arrive in Europe to begin their longest tour to date. And recently, lead singer Alli Walls, guitarist Char Smith and bassist Emma Welch took some time from their busy schedule to answer a few questions about their latest.
YY: “Incompletement” includes two tracks that have never been performed live, which seems unusual for a band whose reputation is grounded in performance and spread organically by word of mouth. How did recording these two songs influence the overall tone of the album compared to the tracks that represent your most refined offerings from the live set? Have you since played these songs in front of audiences, or are you saving them for the release show?
Emma: They definitely shaped the storytelling and arc of the album. There has always been a softer side in the music we make, in the people we are. And these songs live in that softer place fully. Most of our songs were shaped in the rehearsal room and tested on the stage, then further fine-tuned in the studio. And these two, “Anyone” and “Lace,” came about through demo-making and stayed there into the recording process. We never felt they needed to be anything else.
We’d like to probably play them at the release show/at some point, but these songs exist in this album world and we don’t need anything more from them. Being a live band and capturing that in the album is a huge part of our identity, but these songs show that even that isn’t our full identity. Here’s an intimate side no one knows yet, where the songwriting and the softness are forefront, and a different kind of playfulness too. It is very exciting to us that people who have known us as a strong live band now get this new window into our music. That just adds to our wholeness as a band that values both the stage and the studio equally.
SKORTS has built significant momentum on the touring circuit, but you’ve also mentioned that touring often involves significant DIY administrative work from the band. When you think about logistics surrounding larger tours in the future, how do you reconcile the "polished, stadium-ready rock" ambitions with (at times) the practical necessity of staying true to your DIY roots?
Emma: It all informs each other. We’ve been fortunate to start working with a booking agent this year. Recently we got to experience a hybrid tour that was part DIY, part agency-booked after having our own fully DIY-booked tours before. It’s really nice having help from people with experience and leverage to get us slowly to those grander and grander stages. But I’m very grateful for the experience we had/still sometimes have doing it ourselves because we have much more awareness of what goes into making a tour happen and thus are more prepared to advocate for ourselves and to have appreciation for the work that goes into making a show happen.
The more understanding we have of what’s going on, the more we can lean into what we’re there to do onstage and just rock a good show. And the endless hours we’ve spent rocking all sizes of bars and DIY spaces have shaped who we are as performers. And as we’ve gotten to see the square footage gradually rise, we’ve been able to spread our fire wider. Whatever the size, we try to turn some heads and make any room feel epic.
Char: The “polished, stadium ready rock” is a subconscious byproduct of the four of us making music together. We do have a big sound, but a lot of that perception of size comes from simply being tight. We aren’t writing with venues in mind, but we do like to make sounds that can occupy a lot of space and also leave a lot of space.
“Burden” was one of the band's earliest demos, and Char noted that it almost got "completely swept under the rug" until producer Teddy O’Mara insisted on bringing it back. What do you think it was about the song that eventually convinced you that it needed to not only be refined in the studio but also chosen as the opening track on the upcoming record?
Char: It didn’t take any convincing. We were just writing so much at that time and were probably starting to play shows around the same time. We might have felt that some of the other songs were stronger or more fun to play live. There are a lot of songs from that time that did get completely swept under the rug. Great songs! The exact reason why that happens is unknown to me. You always think about maybe reviving a few, but it can be tough to back-track and not chase what currently inspires you. With “Burden,” refining it in the studio allowed us to find what it was missing to make it a frontrunner. The track is kinda hard to pin down genre-wise, which makes it a fun opener for me.
Alli recently self-described her first attempt at writing music as "very innocent and childlike.” Is there any part of those early days that comes out on the new record, or is it pretty much all post-electric guitar Alli? What might be an aspect of your writing that has remained since the very beginning?
Alli: There’s always going to be certain parts of that in my writing. The way I write songs requires a lot of time alone in a room where I’m just allowing melodies to form. I’m not asking anything of myself in those moments. I’ve been writing songs that way since I was a child, but the electric guitar and certain life experiences did really mark a divide in the types of songs I was writing and the volume at which they were performed. Who I am now is a collection of every lived experience I’ve had… so that younger part of myself is with me and that helps keep the spirit of play alive when writing.
Between the videos for "Eat Your Heart Out" and “Burden," the band’s visual output has some striking contrasts. What — if any — philosophical or aesthetic lines were drawn to differentiate the debut album's visual identity from previous singles?
Alli: No philosophical lines were drawn. Because of the range of the songs, the visuals can be drastically different. But it wasn’t intentional for it to be so different visually. There’s no telling what the next direction will be either.
Emma: We made these videos almost exactly a year apart from each other. And our sense of what the album was and how and when it was going to come out changed a lot over that year. As did who we were as a band and people. For each video, we let the song dictate the tone of the world and followed what we were into/driven by in those moments. It was exciting clocking how different those videos were going to be and how that represents the range of our music. And both of these videos, in their own unique way, were us throwing our bodies fully into the specific world we were creating. And that’s a big part of what we do onstage and, as the videos show, that takes many forms.
Char: There is a lot of contrast in the music as referenced in question 1. We have a lot of (unreleased) songs that are very far away from what people might expect from a loud, live rock band. It’s hard to have one true aesthetic when the music occupies so many different worlds.
In a recent interview, the band indicated a commitment to coming across as genuinely as possible, “with the least amount of algorithmic influence.” How does that philosophy shape your decision-making process surrounding the album — from its sights to its sounds — to ensure that the band is sticking to its authenticity rather than being consumed by market expectation?
Alli: The philosophy starts with the four of us just getting together and asking ourselves, “does this feel like it’s lifting the art?” We have to momma bear this shit. It’s imperative for us to voice our opinions so that we can stay in control and that the creative decisions come only from us.
Char: It’s tough, because on one hand we have these respected and professional people willing to help us and push us forward and we are lucky to have their help. But on the other hand only you know what is right and what isn’t right for you and your soul and your music and your aesthetic and the way you want to connect with all that. The landscape of music right now is so artificially enhanced. It’s difficult, but you can’t let it get ya down. There is always a place in this world for good music. You gotta know that what you’re doing is worthwhile on its own and that suits are gonna suit.
Emma: I think it helps that we’re not particularly good at marketing things. Our focus has always been on making good music and playing good shows. And it’s been a constant enigma creating whatever our “presence” is online. I definitely can feel the value of making an impression digitally. When we were on the road recently out in the midwest, there were a handful of people at every show that said they found our music online someway or another and that brought them out in flesh and blood to see us and talk to us and be present with our music.
The balance is something we just keep checking in on. We identified a little while back that we are committed to a slow and consistent state of growth. We’re not looking to blow up or go viral or whatever. We want to feel the growth of consistently adding new handfuls of people that connect with our music. And we’re exploring all the different ways to get to those people in a way that will make them want to stick around for the long haul.
“Incompletement” is out on Halloween, followed by a solid tour across Europe. What are you most looking forward to, and what else is on the horizon for SKORTS?
Alli: I don’t usually think that far ahead. But I’m showing up for the future!
Emma: The tour is going to be our longest and most hardcore yet. I’m really excited to see how we grow as a band playing that many shows in a row, and to so many new environments. I’m excited to try to journal every day while we do that and for future me to look back at this time. I’m looking forward to handing people physical copies of our music for the first time. And definitely excited to get in the studio as Char said. Our first record was made whenever we could get the hours in our rehearsal spaces. And we are hoping to do a designated chunk of time in a studio to make the next one. I’m excited to see what that way of working will produce for us.
Char: Looking forward to getting this album out of our hands. I think I’m just realizing the true meaning of “releasing” music, because it’s going to feel like a sweet release when it’s finally out. Excited to eat and drink a lot in Europe and see what those crowds are like then come back to the states and hopefully tour the record here. We have a LOT of other songs to record as well. I can’t wait to get back in the studio and start that process ASAP.
