OFM Music: Skum Love Sheds Love and Light on the Dark and Serious

In July, Los Angeles-based dark rock band Skum Love released their new single, “The Dark,” along with a music video that has a relatable message resonating around the grave emotions many of us experienced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Written under duress while quarantined, “The Dark” depicts unsettling imagery of four characters dealing with the weight of mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Inside this darkness is a ray of light in the shape of a hand reaching out to pull them out of the turmoil and bad decisions. 

Additionally, Skum Love partnered with the You Rock Foundation, a campaign created to serve as a safe haven to help those suffering to move forward with life, as part of the single. 

Skum Love—consisting of vocalist Skum Love, Robyn Sin on guitars, Cisco Z on drums, and J. Diablos on bass—has been at the forefront of the L.A. music scene for many years with a worldwide following. They have put out several independent releases, as well as two full-length albums. Combining punk rock ethics with a heavy, rock groove bordering on metal with an industrial influence, Skum Love is never one to jump on a bandwagon. Instead, they stick to their guidance and play what they want.

Can you begin by telling us more about the concept and inspiration behind your new single, ‘The Dark?’
During COVID, of course, we were all kind of, as I call it, in the dark. A lot of people started to become depressed, and I am not a depressed person. I am a very happy-go-lucky, always making jokes, kind of guy. Suddenly, I was becoming depressed, angry, and very anxious. So, towards the end of the year, I ended up writing these lyrics that were kind of explaining what I was going through, and I started to realize these feelings were the same feelings that other people were telling me that they were going through. I was sitting there strumming my guitar, and it came out very naturally. Like, the most natural song I have ever written. 

Everything went together perfectly, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this works. I started recording in my home studio, and after I shared it with a couple friends, they were like, ‘Oh my God. Lyrically, this is how I feel.’ I started to get a lot of, ‘That’s how I feel.’ I was not alone. A lot of people felt like me, and it was reassurance that it was OK. 

I lost a lot of people during COVID. Not just to COVID, but to heart attacks and suicide. I lost 27 people last year, so my grief was huge. I was crying all the time and dealing with things I have never dealt with before. So, the song is really about how I was feeling in that dark place, but how so many other people felt the same way. That we are together in that dark place.

The music video features a lot of strong visuals focused on mental health and substance abuse. Was showcasing these topics a way to deal with your grief?
Yes, definitely. For me, as I found out, a lot of my stuff was grief. For many others, it isn’t. I had friends that were dealing with being abused while they were home. Physical abuse, bullying, broken hearts. Losing their jobs, freaking out, and becoming suicidal. I took all those certain aspects and decided to put those views in the video. It is more, I guess, relatable to a lot of people instead of just what I was going through. 

How has the track been received by audiences?
So far, we have had nothing but positive feedback. Even on YouTube, there is not one thumbs down. I have had people privately message me going, “Oh my God, I watched your video and cried. I feel what you are doing. Someone said they had a friend who attempted suicide years ago and had to watch the video twice because it touched him that much. I think I did something right this time. 

Skum Love partnered with the You Rock Foundation to help shed light on people who might be going through difficult times. Can you talk more about this partnership?
I tried to do this with my last album, Sinister Minister. It has a song called “Leave Scars,” and it was about my eldest daughter who, as a teenager, kept trying to cut herself. I asked her once, “Why? I don’t want to yell at you; I just want to know why.” She said, “It’s because it releases the pain,” and I broke down. Like, oh my God, why is this happening? She is now grown and has her own family, but I understand now.

So, I wrote a song about it, and I brought that years ago to You Rock. The label was not very encouraging and did not want to put any money behind it, so it fell through. This time around, as soon as I got the song and video done, I went straight to them and said, okay, I’ve got the song, I’ve got the video, here it is. Joseph over at You Rock was like, “This is exactly what we were looking for. This right here can help people.” From then on, I became a big component with them. I am affiliated so much with them that I am raising money, going to do panels, all kinds of stuff because I understand more about how other people deal with depression. You Rock is an amazing organization that is helping people.

How did Skum Love come to be, and have you always had a passion for music?
When I first started, I was a teenager running around West Hollywood working at all the clubs, and I kind of worked for bands prior to being in a band. I wrote for magazines; I promoted shows; I was a big music fan, but at one point in my life, during my 20s, I tried to dabble in singing in a band and stuff like that. Just some punk stuff, but I said, “I am going to write my own music the way I want it to sound, and I am going to play what I want to play whether I release it or not.”

So, I started doing that, and one person who heard that music was Glenn Danzig from Danzig. I was working in his mailroom, and he goes, what are you playing? I go, oh, some music I wrote. He goes, I love it. Let me sign you. I was like, what? I don’t know how all that goes [laughs]. It fell through later on; I was young and dumb, but a few years later, I really took it seriously. That is when it really took off. I sold 10,000 copies without ever playing a show. Just by word of mouth, because this is way before there were cell phones, the internet, and social media.

In 2001, I put a band together with a lot of high-profile artists joining me on stage, and our first two shows were both sold out. I had Dino Cazares from Fear Factory, Justin Bennett from My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Frank Mercurio, the bass player from Cypress Hill—all of them came together with my original guitar player who is still with me, Robyn Sin, and we played two big, sold-out shows, and it was kind of freaky! From then on, I just kept doing it, and I kind of became a regional hit band. I sold lots of albums all over the world, but in the West region, I can play all over, do well, and I love it. It is basically my life’s blood, and that is why I was going through so much during COVID. I could not play, so I could not be me.

What specifically drew you to the rock genre?
Honestly, it was stuff like Alice Cooper, Kiss, the lights, the dressing up, the flamboyancy of just being able to go out there and just go crazy, be something that you would have to hold in when you are in regular company [laughs]. Iggy Pop, if I was religious, he would be my god. Hearing the aggressiveness of the music and the look of everything, that was my favorite part. Looking at Alice Cooper and the theatrics of it all. 

What do you hope listeners take away from your music?
I hope that people will take away a message of freedom, live life, and have fun. A lot of my songs in the beginning were very borderline on sexuality, going out and having a good time, getting crazy, and always talking about sinning. Now that I am in my 40s, I showed everybody the skum side. I am showing them the love side now. Songs like “The Dark,” I want to do things that make people think and go, “Wow, I can relate,” instead of, “Put this song on because I can drink, party, sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll.” I want to do more than that now. Hopefully, people will just relate to the music. That is what I am hoping for.

Would you consider your look and style to be a goth cosplay?
It could be! I really like dressing up. I remember the first time I wore a skirt out on stage and did myself up, people were like, “What are you wearing?” I would wear a big, black goth tutu, and people were freaked out about that at first. For some, I guess it is kind of a cosplay thing, but for me, I dress like that all the time. I am wearing a beautiful, long, black skirt right now, and I work for a guitar company.

Do you belong to any other fandoms?
When I was younger, I got into a lot of the cosplay stuff. I got into a lot of the comic book stuff and a lot of the horror stuff. I like the industrial stuff; I like the goth stuff; I love the punk rock stuff. Even though people say I don’t play punk rock. They are like, you are kind of an industrial rock band. I like to say we are more of a dark rock band. We have dark humor in it, and we are basic, three-chord rock ‘n’ roll. We just throw some nice keyboard stuff over it [laughs]. 

I think in my older age here, I have settled down more and not gone out to all the different events and things like that.  My wife is a beautiful artist, and she does a lot of the big horror conventions, so I am really into a lot of the horror conventions.

Since you are bisexual, do you like to incorporate LGBTQ themes into your music?
I am kind of doing what Rob Halford did in the beginning. He would stick little pseudo things in there and see if anybody gets it. I am very tongue-in-cheek and throw things in to see if people understand what I am trying to say. Like, the song ‘I Am Your God,’ I say, ‘open up wide and swallow the light.’ Things like that and very sexual innuendos. See if people understand. One of our heaviest fast songs called ‘Disease,’ it is really about how religions kind of keep people at bay. I talk about coming out of the closet, bringing the skeletons out of the closet, and being who you want to be in the lyrics, and there are little innuendos in there that if people read them, they would go, ‘Holy shit! I know what he’s talking about!’

At first, I thought I would be shunned and this and that, like anybody else would in those predicaments, but there are a lot of bisexuals in rock ‘n’ roll. There are a lot of gay men and women in rock ‘n’ roll, and some of them are still in the closet. Some of them are out. My wife dated women before she dated me, and we just clicked. We always joke about finding the loophole in gay marriage. She’ll even tell you, ‘If this doesn’t work out between us, I’m going back to women.’ We have been together for over 10 years. Together, and within my own music, we bring a lot of that together where we are like, ‘We have to express who we are. We cannot hold that back.’ 

What more do you hope to do to help the LGBTQ community?
I hope I can help other people think about who they are and be proud of who they are. I think that is the biggest hold-back. People who are against LGBTQ people are holding themselves in, and they don’t like other people letting themselves out. Hopefully, with my music, I am saying, “Be who you are. Let yourself go. Be happy. Be proud of who you are,” and I am hoping my music will help with that because I am very open with that stuff. 

I remember dating a man, and we would go to the rock and heavy metal clubs, and he was afraid to hold my hand. I’m like, “Why?” He’s like, “Well, you know. I’m the one that would probably get my ass kicked here because I am the one everyone knows.” They have seen me with women before, but I am with you, and I love you. So, I am here with you, and I do not want to hide that. I should not have to hide that. If that takes someone coming up to me wanting to kick my ass, they can try. I am going to fight for who I am. Other people need to do that as well. Fight for who you are, and believe in who you are. Hopefully, I can help with that some. 

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention our plug?
Right now, I am writing some new songs, and we will have some more stuff out soon. We have a lot coming up!

Connect with Skum Love by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or visit their official website.