Rome’s Jérôme Reuter sees Oi! past (The Skinflicks) reissued on Trisol
Rome’s Jérôme Reuter previously recorded music under the name Reggie Fain, which was influenced by Tom Waits, and he was also part of a post-punk band called Mack Murphy and the Inmates, where he performed under the name Mack Murphy. But, he was also a member of an Oi! band called the Skinflicks. And it’s that band from which the Trisol label will re-release material.
The Skinflicks were a legendary Oi! band from Luxembourg, formed in 1997. It consisted of Jérome Reuter (of Rome fame) and 3 more. They disbanded in the early 2000s.
For those who don’t know what Oi! is, Oi! is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads, and other disaffected working-class youth. The movement was partly a response to the perception that many participants in the early punk rock scene were, in the words of The Business guitarist Steve Kent, “trendy university people using long words, trying to be artistic…and losing touch.” Musically fused the sounds of early punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Clash, and the Jam with influences from 1960s British rock bands such as the Small Faces and the Who, football chants, pub rock bands such as Dr. Feelgood, Eddie and the Hot Rods and The 101ers, and glam rock bands such as Slade and Sweet. Some fans of Oi! were involved in white nationalist organisations such as the National Front (NF) and the British Movement (BM), while others were involved in neo-communism movements. Les extrêmes se touchent… But most were actually non-political like The Skinflicks.
A series of Limited Vinyl re-releases from their backcatalogue (starting from 2018) resulted in a re-discovery and ever increasing interest for the band. This finally lead to a re-union in 2021 and the release of an all new album last year.
Trisol now re-releases 4 albums on March 31st.
First there is “The Early Days”. These recordings were done in early 1998, only months after the formation of the band, and showcase the original versions of later released tracks. It would take another few months and some changes in personnel until the band wrote Oi-history with their “Steel-Toe Anthems”.
The second is the previously unreleased (officially that is) “Steel-Toe Anthems”. In March 2000, after a few changes in their line-up and a few years of playing small bar shows in and around Luxembourg, The Skinflicks recorded their now legendary demo “Steel-Toe Anthems”. The recordings were done at a long since defunct studio in Schifflange, southern Luxembourg. The studio engineer whose name escapes those involved, was a last minute replacement and the poor guy didn’t really know how to work the desk alone – it was his first day at that particular studio, as far as can be remembered. To make things worse, Jerome came down with a feverish cold the day before and would have prefered to stay in bed, as his throat was still quite a mess when he showed up at the studio. So the tape turned out to be a very raw recording. The band only handmade about 300 CDR copies at the time. This is the first time these tracks have been officially released in their entirety.
Next is “Lies, damned Lies and Skinhead Stories”, originally released in 2000. This debut album appeared after two roaring demo releases (the early “Cider Lane 77” and the rough “Steel-Toe Anthems”). The album holds 16 tracks.
The 4th release is “Beyond Good and Evil”, their second album, which borrowed Nietzsche’s slogan for the title. This release is a collection of mostly up-tempo tracks including “Brugge Skins”, for the Flemish football supporters reading this you know what it means.
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