Skintones Album Release

The Skintones

Delivering high-grade hard rock to fans and astonished bystanders alike for years, The Skintones are geared up to unleash their latest round of devilish compositions they describe as “psychofuzzcore for your squishy parts.” Respected as rocking both stages and records, the three-piece band delivers the rock attack like few others. After years on the Madison rock scene all three members; Pete Ress, Gavin Lefebvre and Tony Leskinen have seen various degrees of success and failure, but continually redefine the limits of rock music.

When The Skintones formed in ’98, the main goal was simply to get together and have a good time. But lo and behold, their sound caught on and they developed a devoted following and accolades from fans and bands alike. All three members bring something substantial to the table. Especially vocals, they make sure that everyone adds into the music. Levity is the glue that holds their creative minds together.

The Skintones bring enough of their own creative energies to bear on the music that’s not easy to categorize. Their “eclectically pleasing” sound has elated positive crowd response in and out of Madison. They make sure that every show is fresh, and often tailor the playlist to the crowd. Sometimes people don’t immediately catch on however. “I think that when people don’t recognize something immediately they don’t know if it’s innovative or if it sucks‚ there’s not a frame of reference,” says Skintones drummer Tony Leskinen. If you listen to The Skintones album and don’t smile at least once, whether you like it or not, you’re probably dead.

The Pimps

The Goodyear Pimps formed in Rockford, IL in 1997 and after honing their chops in Midwestern clubs they gained a fanbase that made national labels take notice. They were signed by Disney subsidiary Hollywood Records in 2000 for a two album contract worth $1 million.

The Pimps were promised no censorship and full creative control, but when they delivered the first of the two contracted albums, More Songs
About Drugs With Curse Words, the suits at Disney balked at releasing it. The Pimps were dropped in 2001, but this major label tale has an oddly happy ending that allowed the Pimps to walk away from the label with $600,000 of their contract.

Beyond that the Pimps has other claims to fame, or at very least infamy, including having songs on major movie soundtracks for Mission Impossible 2 and Crazy Beautiful as well as having a song featured on the long running NBC drama Third Watch. Also noteworthy was the series of cease and desist letters from the Goodyear corporation that forced the band to change their name from the more imaginative and less misogynistic moniker of the Goodyear Pimps.

Despite their positive and negative brushes with the corporate world, the Pimps have remained independent. They spent their $600,000 payment from Hollywood Records to buy their own apartment building in Rockford that serves as living quarters for all the band members as well as housing the Pimps’ office and recording studio. They have achieved the noble goal of completely avoiding day jobs by investing their money wisely and keeping up a schedule of 160 shows a year during the entire decade mainly playing 2 or 3 day strings of weekend shows to fans throughout the Midwest.