In the studio with Skindred: “The world seems like it’s ready for us now, so that’s our fuel”

Ragga metal favourites Skindred recently completed their ninth album, You Got This, the follow-up to 2023’s chart-busting Smile. We caught up with singer Benji Webbe and drummer Arya Goggin to discuss songs to pedal to, creative push and pull, and writing an anthem about grief…

Benji: “I was dying to call the album 01633, the telephone area code for Newport. But I was doing a spin class, of all things, pedalling away listening to AC/DC and the teacher kept shouting, ‘You got this!’ I thought that was great. I wanted to write a song that can be played in spin classes.”

Benji: “The darker and heavier the world becomes, the more love and more energy we need, so that’s what we’ve put into You Got This. We recently did a tour that went across England – a country that’s experiencing so much division and negativity. But we’re preaching the gospel of peace, love and togetherness, and those venues sold out night after night. This album is like those shows – everyone is welcome, but if you’re a c**t you can’t come in.”

Benji: “Smile’s success was validation for the graft – and not getting the recognition we deserve for so many years. Now we’re building on that further.”
Arya: “With incredible success comes incredible pressure. In our situation, you’ve got one of two options, really: you either go, ‘Fuck it, we’re burning down the house and doing something different,’ or you build on the foundation we’ve worked on for 25 years. The world seems like it’s ready for Skindred now, so we use that as our fuel.”

• Buy You Got This on exclusive yellow and black marble vinyl

Benji: “Every one of these songs has been inspired by a true event. I’m at an age where my friends are dropping out. I wrote the song Glass when I found out a mate of mine called Trevor had passed away. He was the only other black kid I knew who would listen to the Sex Pistols – I thought I was the only black kid on the planet who liked that shit! So I wanted to write an anthem for any of us who have lost friends and loved ones, and that became Glass.”

Benji: “When I write, I give birth to these beautiful babies, and when I take them to the rest of the band [completed by guitarist Mikey Demus], they start pulling those babies apart.”
Arya: “Benji writes about his life, but they’re not just lyrics – they’re like novels. We work together to condense that novel down to three minutes, but in a way that tells the story impactfully. As the lyric writer, it’s more personal for Benji, so that can be painful.”
Benji: “It can be gut-wrenching, but I’m cool with it, because I know in the end it’s all for the greater glory.”

You Got This is released on April 17, 2026 via Earache – get your exclusive yellow marble vinyl now.

This interview originally appeared in the winter 2025 issue of Kerrang!.

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