Skinny Lister interview: ‘The songs on this album are pretty personal’

Having toured extensively with Frank Turner, Greenwich’s Skinny Lister have not so quietly been picking up fans across the globe with their raucous punk-folk style. They speak to Zak Thomas about the risks of crowd surfing with a double bass, Brexit, and one infamous night in Hamburg

From left to right: Max Thomas, Sam Brace, Dan Heptinstall, Lorna Thomas, Thom Mills and Michael Camino. The six-piece are heading out on tour next month to promote their new album

It started with a few sips of alcohol from a suspicious-looking medicine bottle, before lead singer Dan Heptinstall tripped over a homeless person and was punched by a prostitute. This is what it means to be “Hamburg Drunk”, the subject and title of the eighth track from Skinny Lister’s third album The Devil, The Heart & The Fight.

When I email Heptinstall after our interview to clarify what was in the bottle he says: “It tasted like strong gin, I think. My memory of that evening is a little vague.” Nevertheless, a rather eventful night in Germany’s second largest city was great material for a song and one of many personal stories scattered throughout the band’s new album.

The Devil, The Heart & The Fight is Skinny Lister’s best album yet; maintaining their punk-folk edge, while adding some pop gloss that pushes them towards a stadium-filling sound. Part of their charm was their rough recordings – what you heard live was what you got on the album – so it was a brave move, but one that completely pays off. While their first two albums seem to draw from folk staples like The Pogues and The Men They Couldn’t Hang, comparisons to Arcade Fire on their latest record wouldn’t be too generous in places.

“Injuries” could sit comfortably on the Canadian outfit’s seminal record Funeral, with its cyclical guitars and marching beats, while “Geordie Lad”, a call-out to the band’s former bassist Dan Gray, is a slick, impeccably produced anthem with a killer riff and sprawling chorus.

Despite this leap towards a more expansive sound on the new album, recorded in just five weeks with producer Tristan Ivemy (previous clients include The Holloways and Frank Turner, whom Skinny Lister share a record label with), the new album still feels like an intimate insight into the complex psyche of Heptinstall and his raucous colleagues. Two of which he has with him when we meet; siblings Max and Lorna Thomas.

Yorkshireman Heptinstall does most of the talking, while the Thomas siblings from Leicester chip in every now and then for clarity. The six-piece formed in London but, having become fed up with prices in the capital, they decided to relocate to separate places around the UK. Heptinstall and Lorna Thomas live in Hastings, while her brother is based in Bristol. They’re a tight bunch, like a kids’ troupe from an Enid Blyton novel, constantly fascinated by new things, and you can tell they have spent many hours living in each others’ pockets.

“I think it makes it slightly easier and more honest to write songs that are close to you. We try and keep them kind of universal but most of the songs on this album are pretty personal,” says Heptinstall. And you can’t get more personal than “Tragedy In A Minor”, which documents the plight of their drummer who was dumped by his fiancée just two months before their wedding. But, the band are quick to point out that the drummer has found love again.

When the conversation turns towards Brexit, the EU referendum still raw in the mind when we meet in August, they’re open about their disappointment. “Our hearts were hung low – we were sad when we went out to Europe the first time after the referendum,” says Max Thomas. His sister says it felt weird but the band hadn’t received any abuse. “People think we’re mad but I think we just have to go with the attitude that that’s how people voted and we’ve got to carry on really,” she says.

Still there are genuine concerns for what Brexit might mean for a band touring at Skinny Lister’s level. They’re worried about the bureaucracy they might face in Europe if they have to travel to five countries on one tour, as they often do. Heptinstall describes how in Switzerland they have to make separate arrangements to pay tax on their merchandise sales and, in theory, that might be what happens in other European countries after Brexit. Likewise, the thought of having to get a visa every time they go to Europe is daunting. “I mean, that sounds like we’re just talking from a purely selfish point of view but it does affect us personally,” says Heptinstall.

Skinny Lister are familiar with the visa system in the US, having toured there extensively over the last few years, but that hasn’t stopped them from going back there again and again. Their double bassist, Michael Camino, has a habit of crowd surfing with his instrument, leading to one group of fans in Atlanta forming the Michael Camino Lift Team. An idea that Skinny Lister are keen to outsource to their fans across the globe, particularly as Camino was dropped at a recent gig in London.


 Lorna Thomas gets ready to pass the double bass to Camino in the crowd at the Cambridge Folk Festival last year 
 (Rich Etteridge)

“We did have a slight hiccup the other day when we were supporting Gogol Bordello at Koko. People weren’t sure what to expect, were they? Michael did get dropped,” says Lorna Thomas, sheepishly. “Where were you, Michael Camino Lift Team? You were missing!” she says, sniggering.

They’ve been planning to get Michael Camino Lift Team T-shirts printed, but Heptinstall jokingly points out that the original Atlanta fans will probably want commission. Nevertheless, Lorna Thomas promises to put it on the band’s to-do list.

What strikes me the most in our meeting is the trio’s genuine warmth. Skinny Lister are careful to be polite about everything and everyone they meet; with some bands this can appear false, but with them it seems sincere.

I don’t get the sense that they sit in their Mercedes Sprinter after gigs and shut themselves off from the world; they’d much rather go off and explore the places they visit. They seem grateful for every ounce of help and the fans they’ve gained along the way. And with uncertain times ahead, I have no doubt this will serve them well. Heptinstall just might have to stay clear of that medicine bottle.

Skinny Lister’s third studio album ‘The Devil, The Heart & The Fight’ is released on 30 September. They tour the UK in October with dates in Manchester, Glasgow and London