Song: "Voices"
Artist: Matt Skiba And The Sekrets
Album: "Babylon"
Year: 2012
"Voices" is a song that appears to be about someone suffering from schizophrenia. The person being described in the song is in such a bad mental state that they feel they are suffocating. Their own reality is a living hell and the outside world just can't comprehend or understand what they are dealing with. Those who are trying to offer help just can't get through. Matt Skiba got his start in the music world back in 1996, hailing from Chicago, Illinois. He is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for seminal punk band Alkaline Trio. The influential Alkaline Trio have released nine studio albums along with various splits and compilations over the last 18 plus years. Matt Skiba got his first taste of doing the solo thing in 2002 when he and 7 Seconds frontman Kevin Seconds released a split where both artists performed basically acoustic songs. In 2006, Skiba and F-Minus bassist Josiah Steinbrick formed the band Heavens and released the album "Patent Pending". This featured a more electronic sound incorporating drum machines and samples. 2010 saw Skiba release a solo album called "Demos". This was basically demo tracks that Skiba had on his personal computer. The tracks were songs that may or may not appear on future Alkaline Trio projects or future side projects. Either way, these were the songs in their infancy stage. 2012 was a busy year for Skiba on the side project front. First he formed a band called The Hell with Atom Willard, drummer for both The Offspring and Angels And Airwaves. This band would have two releases, 2012's "Sauve Les Requins" and 2013's "Southern Medicine". Also in 2012, Skiba formed a band featuring AFI bassist Hunter Burgan and My Chemical Romance drummer Jarrod Alexander. This band was called Matt Skiba and the Sekrets and they released one album called "Babylon", "Voices" being the lead single off of that album. Currently Skiba has confirmed that he is at work on a new solo album. He is also working with Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 on a children's punk album. Alkaline Trio last released an album in 2013 called "My Shame Is True". While Alkaline Trio is Skiba's main focus, he seems to make time for his various solo projects as well. The common thread in all of his music are his lyrics which tend to be personal and gravitate towards the darker things in life and relationships. No surprise that he is very much influenced by bands like The Cure, The Damned and Nirvana, all three bands offer up emotional, dark and personal lyrics in their songs. Like the Trio was heavily influenced by a band like The Misfits, younger bands such as My Chemical Romance were most likely influenced by Alkaline Trio. Matt Skiba's songwriting, solo and with Alkaline Trio, has left a permanent mark on the musical landscape.
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