SK8

By: Ashley Vitarelli

Provisioned with the perfect concoction of drive, dedication, and talent, the incredibly gifted singer, songwriter, and recording artist SK8 arrived in the City of Stars with one goal in mind: to create. Suffice it to say, he has done that and then some. Be it collaborating with some of the biggest names in the industry, receiving praise and accolades from both critics and fans alike, or releasing his debut EP Last Day On Earth, SK8 has proven time and time again that he is a spectacular creative that has not only created an original sound and music, but also a name for himself. As fans all around the world cheer his name and his music reverberates around the globe, it becomes clear that SK8 marks the future of music — and everyone is listening.

“Growing up in Nebraska there wasn’t much going on,” SK8 reflects. “I played basketball growing up, starting when I was a kid. At age 13 I started doing music. When I was 15 and a sophomore, I started handing out CDs in high school, but I was still pursuing basketball. It was a lot of just kicking it and hanging out with friends, playing sports, and messing with music.” Moreover, despite SK8’s initial aspirations to play basketball professionally, as time went on, he started to take his creative interests more seriously and prioritizing music. “I was writing lyrics to popular beats,” he explains. “And that’s kind of what started my music career. And then when I was 15, like I said, I actually started giving out CDs in high school. I was trying to sell them, but I ended up just giving half of them away.”

As SK8 reflects on his past, a love and appreciation for music — as well as being inspired by a variety of different musicians — proves to be a common thread. “My dad, growing up, was always listening to music, so I always had a love for it,” he shares. “Even when I was going to basketball or to school, I always had my headphones in listening to music.” Listening then evolved into something else for SK8: writing. “I was just writing lyrics at home and recording it directly into the computer,” SK8 explains. “I didn’t even have a microphone, I just recorded directly into GarageBand.”

From GarageBand to Los Angeles, SK8 was destined to make history. “The move to LA was different then Omaha, obviously,” SK8 recalls. “It was a lot more fast-paced, but I moved out when I was 19, which was right after I opened on tour for an artist named Jack & Jack.” Beyond opening for the duo, SK8 also appeared on the goldcertified single Like That with Jack & Jack. “To know that people were connecting to that song was awesome,” SK8 says. “It was a cool period in my life to have that single on the radio. Reflecting back on it, it was something that helped start my career. Jack & Jack also had a large social media following. I opened up for them, and they did a whole House of Blues tour. After every show I was just meeting a bunch of fans and seeing a bunch of fans on stage. That’s how I started gaining a following and saw people that enjoyed my music. I had just a little bit of money in my pocket and I moved to LA, just staying on their couch. I started linking with artists and building my career from the ground up. I’ve been here for seven years now.”

Now, seven years later, SK8’s debut EP Last Day On Earth is available. “Last Day On Earth is a mix of rock and rap, which to be honest, all rock has a lot of rap,” SK8 explains. “My sound is just kind of coming together with everyone I grew up listening to like various hip-hop artists and various rock artists. To name a few, Lil Wayne, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime — just pulling all those people I like listening to and bringing them into my sound. I also wanted to utilize live instrumentation that has a more alternative sound, but also being able to stay myself and rap over the top of the beats. It was just a really cool collaborative project that I think is a new sound evolving in the culture.”

SK8 approaches his music with such care and attention to detail, a feat that manifests itself masterfully in all of his tracks. “Using live instrumentation and still being able to give my rap-rock feel over the top of that is that sound you hear,” he shares. “As we evolve in music, I think it should be genreless. There shouldn’t be any genres, everybody listens to a lot of different types of music and as an artist, sometimes they try to stick you in a certain category. I think Last Day On Earth is pretty genreless, it has a little bit of everything.”

That little bit of everything goes a long way, with SK8’s music meaning so much to so many devoted fans all around the world. With nearly 900,000 followers on Instagram and over 9.4 million global streams on some of his previously released music, SK8’s fanbase is loyal and vast. “I love my fans,” he reflects. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love doing. I have had a lot of personal experiences with fans. Even when they hit me up in DMs they will say ‘this song really connected to me’ or ‘this song really changed my life,’ or ‘this song really spoke to me.’ I love hearing that people are connecting to my music, that is what I am here for, to inspire people.”

In addition to SK8’s music connecting with fans, it also connects with other creatives in the industry, including Wiz Khalifa, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, DVBBS, Sueco, and Rock — artists that all appear as collaborators on Last Day On Earth. “The creative process, for me —especially when I am doing features — I like to be in the studio with the artist,” he notes. “I don’t really like sending music out to anybody, I like having an actual bond with the artist and being in the studio with them while we are creating it from scratch. Sometimes if I have a session and it’s a six to eight hour session I will get two songs done so that’s about three to four hours per song. I go into the booth and

lay my melodies first and then whichever melody I like I’ll keep those and write lyrics to that. It’s a longer process than people think.”

SK8 notes Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Lil Wayne as some of his biggest inspirations, and explains that his motivation to pursue music comes from his love for it. “I really love creating music and enjoy seeing myself grow as an artist,” SK8 explains. “I mean it’s always great to have people that respect my music and listen to it and enjoy it, but I don’t do it for critics or press, I do it because I enjoy it and to inspire people and to give my opinion or my feelings on a track. I never did it for the critics, views, or money, I just did it for the love of music. To have music out and have people relate to it is a bonus.”

Forward facing in his future plans, SK8 is poised to conquer what lies ahead of him in the industry. “I’d like to be able to continue to make music that people enjoy and be on bigger stages,” SK8 says of what he hopes to achieve next. “To be able to headline another tour and meet the fans — that is what is most important, that’s what’s next. Artists that I would love to play music with are first and foremost the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I would love to get a song with them. Lil Wayne would be an amazing feature.

There are a lot of artists that I would enjoy working with in the future. I could sit here and name hundreds of them, but those two, in particular, would be really cool.”

Reflecting on his experiences in the industry so far, SK8 has taken every aspect of his career in stride, all the while learning a great deal about himself and the music business. “Through my career, I have learned that creating music is something I really love doing and something I really enjoy,” he shares. “My favorite part of my career is being in the studio creating music. The most rewarding part is connecting with the fans and knowing that my music is transcending energy to other people. I would love people to just listen to the music and interpret it in their own way.”

SK8’s talent is seemingly infinite — capable of captivating the love of his fans all around the world, capable of collaborating with some of the industry’s biggest names, and capable of creating high quality material and music. Indeed, if music is a power, then SK8 is a superhero. And just as every story needs a superhero, the world needs SK8 and his artistry. “The power of music is to be able to inspire people and connect with people through the music,” SK8 says. “If I make a song and people connected to that and can feel that transfer of energy, that is really special. If I go into the booth and create music, that is an energy transfer from me going into the microphone and into the computer, and then it goes out to the digital stream platforms and it goes into the listeners’ ears. That is what it’s all about, the power and the energy transfer.”

Co-Directed: Heather Koepp & Oththan Burnside Photographer: Heather Koepp Wardrobe: Oththan Burnside Hair: Chatwaka Johnson