INTERVIEW
“We’re getting really close to becoming one unit”-Gavin By Leslie Terhorst Photo by Aaron Goulding So, we’re relaxing at the Switchfoot Bro/Am, stage side in the VIP area, waiting for Switchfoot’s arrival. Their image graces the cover of the most recent Revolt In Style and they’re scheduled to autograph a few hundred covers for their fans before they go on stage & perform. Just before they arrive, we hear interesting music floating thru the crowd. It’s a fusion of roots reggae, new wave ska with Hawaiian influences. It’s coming from the stage. Of course, we had to see who it was, the signing was just going to have to wait. We move to the front of the stage. Brian and I look at each other in shock, Holy crap! We knew right away it was our old friends “The Skains”, and there’s Makua Rothman front and center, ukulele in hand, leading the group into what is their first big show and possible big break. 8,000 screaming fans can’t be wrong. It’s been three years since RIS last visited with The Skains, and it seems this wayward group of Mission Beach surf rats have turned into a bona fide band. Joining forces with big wave surfer, and musician extraordinaire, Makua Rothman; The Skains have taken their music, and their existence, to a whole new level. After a sunset photo shoot for the cover with Makua, we head over to the recording studio to meet up with the boys. After a couple of hours shooting pictures, while they perform a full set of songs, (I hope every song makes it onto their new album due out late fall), we get down to the nittygritty surrounding the new collaboration - Makua Rothman & The Skains.
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First things first, we start with clarifying who is still in the band, who’s not, and what changes have been made since our last visit. “We’ve started to focus on our music a lot more. We kicked our bassist out, and brought in Hunter, we (Gavin, myself, Marty, and Hunter) all went to elementary, middle, and high school together.” States Ben. We asked how Makua got involved? Hunter explained, “Makua pretty much raised Gavin, and taught him how to play music, so he’s been keeping an eye on how Gavin’s been doing musically through the years. He saw us developing skills awhile back when we first started, but never really showed any aspirations of wanting to play with us. He’s always been really supportive though. About 6 months ago Makua decided to go full-blown with his music, along side of his surfing, he wanted us to be his band, and to write music with him.” I think it’s time for you to meet the band. “What are your names, ages, and positions?” After some innuendo & laughter about sexual positions....Well, let’s just have the band introduce themselves: “Skyler Lutes–23-Percussion/ Production,” “Marty Janés-19–Lead Guitar,” “Ben Wasserman–19-Drummer/Playboy,” “Hunter Hartmann-19-Bass Guitar/Reverse Cowgirl,” “Gavin Garcia-19–Rhythm Guitar/Backup Vocals,” “Zien Garcia-17–Keys/Sax,” “and the smartest guy in our band...” chimes Makua, “Makua Rothman – ‘nough said!” As you can see they have a bit of a sense of humor. Something I did notice is that they are completely comfortable with each other. For such a young group, you typically don’t see this kind of bond; normally it takes bands
years and years to get this close. But I guess when you’ve grown up together, and family is involved, everything just flows naturally. Especially when it comes to writing music. “We’re getting really close to becoming one unit,” boasts Gavin We wondered who and how, they came up with such a great song set? “It’s a collaboration of all of us,” states Makua. “Everyone in the band make it what it is,” adds Skyler. Ben continued “That was definitely one of the biggest questions when we started this big group together. How are The Skains and Makua going to mesh and fuse into each other? We had several songs already as a band, that now we’ve work-shopped all together as a band, and adapted them so they include all our styles together. We’ve have definitely come together as a unit, instead of two separate entities.” “No matter who writes the songs, we all perform them together, we’re a band.” Interjected Makua. That is one thing I can say fore sure, they are most definitely a solid band. They have a number of gigs lined up; not to mention a stint they just did in Hawaii playing with Legendary Original Black Uhuru Lead Singer Don Carlos. As we were finishing up Makua let a little cat out of the bag by announcing, “We have a lot of huge stuff lined up for The Skains, but I can’t tell them yet.” Damn, I was hoping for an inside scoop, I guess we’ll just have to wait. I foresee a huge future for Makua Rothman and The Skains. Be sure to keep and eye out for them, you know I will. And if you see that they have a gig, show some love and support for our local boys that have done good.