Tell us about the SKAMP? You have been performing for over 15 years, what inspires and motivates you to create music and to keep on going forward?
Inspiration can come from where you might least expect it. The song “always too much” was inspired by a tshirt I saw on a guy in the street. Life inspires me. All kinds of different moments big and small. But it comes in waves. Right now I’m writing a lot but for a couple of years we didn’t have much to say collectively although we had plenty going on personally. Sometimes things need time to fester and find their voice;)
What are you working on right now? How has your music changed during the years, what has influenced these changes?
Describing our music has always been the biggest pain in the ass for us. We’ve sat in many record label offices, in Sweden, in London and tried to explain “our sound”. Why so hard? Because it’s hard to categorize us and bigwigs don’t like not being able to label something. It makes them uncomfortable. But the fact is we sound like SKAMP. Eclectic shite:) we’re a band you need to see live to understand.
Our music hasn’t changed over the years. I’d say we just go through different love affairs with different styles. Our latest tunes ” good girl gone bad” and “this generation” are grooves we love. Musically I think Vee needed time to recuperate and over the past few years he’s been heavily dosed in all types of music thanks to running Loftas. I think this inspired him.
You have quite a unique sound, so how would you describe you creative processes?
Everything in English is written by me. And I usually produce my vocals too and vocal melodies. Vee makes the music and both Vilius and Vee write their raps. Usually the music comes first but sometimes I’ll have an idea for a song like the subject matter or a hook and the song will evolve from there.
We know that you are going to perform in London soon, what people should expect from this gig?
We’re primarily a band who love playing live. So if you haven’t been to a SKAMP gig prepare to be pleasantly surprised and if you have seen us live then bring your friends along:)
During the long career you have recorded hundreds of songs,won loads of music awards, and performed at Eurovision, but what would you say was the most important experience or the most memorable moment one during your career?
I think people forget how young we started out. We had our first underground video “Nematomas priešas” when the guys were 18 and I was 16. We had out first hit with “summertime” a year later. So after a year of being told mixing languages and styles just wouldn’t work in Lithuania it was a wonderful moment to win “best debut” everywhere because it’s the an award you can only win once. And a more recent memory was, after a 5 year break, having “good girl gone bad” go straight into nr one on the charts here. That was pretty cool considering we didn’t do any major hype or boring press releases. Just some intriguing social media posts. I would say what I’m most grateful for is being able to live from music. I know there’s a very small percentage of people who can do that without “day jobs” and I’m very grateful for that. And I know it’s the people who come to our concerts and buy our music that I have to thank.
How would you describe your typical fan?
Describing our typical fan is like describing our music. We have all kinds of fans, all shapes and sizes, all ages, all colours and all genders. But all our fans are beautiful and clever;)
Social links:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SKAMPVEVO
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skampmusic
Website: http://www.skamp.lt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skampmusic