Skew’s Big Debut

Band’s first album gets over 10,000 streams on Spotify

RUBY MCMAHON

Becoming a musician is everyone’s dream: rocking out on the guitar, singing and racking in thousands of streams. This dream is not viable for many, but for seniors Will Phimister, Tommy McGrath, Cooper Florio, and Dylan McKee, music is their reality.

The band’s roots begin four years ago when the friends first started playing together. The band became official last year as they started writing, producing, and releasing songs.

All while managing their junior year as well as the stress of the pandemic, the Skew band members hung out every weekend, creating their debut album featuring nine songs, some of which solely produced by McKee.

“We didn’t really time manage. When we hung out, we would all cooperate on a song and that’s how we were able to record. It took a little bit longer with school to record and release, because we usually would work on a song a few times after having recorded it,” said Phimister.

Creating a sound with little technology is no easy task. Skew’s musical inspiration is from artists such as The Beatles, Mac DeMarco, Radiohead, Weezer, and The Strokes- all artists who had the help of a recording studio to produce the music.

Even with limited resources, the band has already met many impressive goals, such as the album drop, the 10,000 stream milestone, and numerous performances.

“It was really crazy to have ‘if you leave, then what?’ hit 10,000 streams. We were just happy that people enjoyed our music,” said McGrath.

Recently, Skew performed at a “Rock the Vote” event where they, as a band, learned about the preparation before performing.

“We have performed at a few similar venues before. We hope to perform more original music as we start playing for more shows,” said Phimister.

Over the course of the summer, most songs off of Skew’s self-titled album have reached 1,000 streams. As the listener count continues to grow, so does Skew’s love of music.

“Listeners can expect more music soon- most likely a few singles first, but another album eventually,” said McGrath.