SMILE LIKE THEY MEAN IT

In their 25 years, by their own admission Skindred have "never been massively commercially successful or super-cool". But with new album Smile they reckon "our time is now".

- Niall Doherty

While the world around him is sleeping, Benji Webbe is up with the lark. The Skindred frontman usually goes to bed around nine, wakes by 2.30am and spends the early hours being creative. This morning he was up at 4am writing lyrics. Now 56, he’s still is one of the most entertaining rock frontmen of our time, a man who was born to play ringleader to thousands in festival fields. But it’s here in this pre-dawn solitude where Webbe runs through the creative windmills of his mind.

“I watch movies, and lines come from the movies and stay with me,” he says, chatting to Classic Rock in a hotel bar a short walk from Wembley Arena. It’s a sunny afternoon, and this evening Skindred will be at the venue to receive the Best UK Live Act award at the Heavy Music Awards 2023.

“There was one line the other day,” he says: ‘Don’t let your past hold you hostage.’ I thought it was a great line, because so many of us are troubled by our past. When I’m writing for Skindred, I know it’s such an engaging audience-participation in the music, it’s beautiful knowing people are going to be affected in the right way.”

These were the thoughts going through Webbe’s head as he was writing the words to Skindred’s exhilarating latest album, Smile, their eighth. Never before has their blend of metal and reggae been so well honed, with the dancehall element of their music – always such a key part of Skindred’s DNA – particularly prevalent on the skanking summery vibes of recent single L.O.V.E. (Smile Please), a candidate for the pop song of the summer.