SK No Edit – Backslide

On the release of SK No Edit’s first single “Backslide” (that you can watch the music video of right here, also stream it on Spotify) we caught up with the NYC pop punk rock artist for this exclusive interview. 

When and why did you start making music?

I started writing original music when I was in college in Boston. I toyed with writing songs when I was younger, but I was never serious. I had serious athletic aspirations that culminated in a collegiate cross country and track & field career. Music motivated me through that and helped me channel my anger and pain from earlier life experiences into running. But when a career-ending injury abruptly ended my ability to run competitively, I was left searching for something to fill the hole that sports left. I tapped into the other constant part of my life and identity: music. From there, I learned to engineer and produce, focused on writing genre-bending songs, and started performing around Boston.

What are you aiming for with your music?

My goal has always been to be able to give music my full attention, instead of splitting it with my 9 to 5. Of course I have bigger goals—playing major venues across the country, going platinum, and getting a Grammy, but I’m taking it step by step.

That being said, my most important aim is to connect. Music always helped get me through. I could find a song to express every emotion that I felt. I want to give to others in the same way. I want to speak to the people like me—that grew up different from the societal norm or marginalized in one way or another. I want to speak to perseverance, to love, to the shit we all go through, to finding a way to real justice—all that.

Where did you grow up? How has it influenced the music you make?

I grew up in New Jersey, just west of New York City so we were always tapped in to that music scene. My favorite rappers have often been New York/New Jersey names: 50, Wu-Tang, Lauryn Hill, Redman, Jada, Fat Joe, Remy, Biggie.

Most of my music tastes outside of hip hop started with my family. My grandfather had an operatic, booming bass voice and would sing Irish classics unprompted in restaurants and bars. My mom had Tracy Chapman, David Gray, Green Day, the Chicks, and Fountains of Wayne on repeat in the car. My dad had me memorize lyrics to the Allman Brothers.

I started to find my own music niche in bands like Blink 182 and Linkin Park.

How would you define “making it” in the music industry? What’s the life you can envision reaching through “making it” with your music?

My version of “making it” in music would be having my career as an artist be able to replace my 9 to 5. I want to show out at major venues across the country.

What’s your favorite album of all time?

I don’t have just one favorite album. John Mayer’s Room for Squares, 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying, Walking on Cars’ Everything this Way, and Lil Dev’s Life Still Ain’t Fair are definitely among them.

What was your favorite album this year?

This is tough. I’m really loving Pale Waves’ Unwanted.

What was your favorite song this year?

I really fw “Lesson Learned” by Vory.

How often and for how long do you practice?

I hit different modes. I’ll lock in to a zone of supercharged writing and knock out a bunch of songs. Then I’ll get into a rehearsing and perfecting gear. I’m constantly working on music in one way or another. The minute my 9 to 5 breaks, I’m at it.

Stream SK No Edit – “Backslide”:

• YouTube [Music Video]: youtu.be/ywkut8BXCZ0
• Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/2U6bFmw4ulixp5hgRoYU36?si=jYvMg9xZQNe0gjOHQvlTcw

Follow SK No Edit:

• Website: SKNoEditMusic.com
• Instagram: @SK.No.Edit