An Interview with Dead Skin Remedy – How They Met & What They’re About + Their Future Plans
The scene had been and will always be there. People get past their metal/rock phase and walk away claiming the scene is dead. The scene will forever be there. No matter how many people leave, more will come. The scene was there in 2001, and it was there in 2013. It’s alive today and it will be in 2025.
I met Ico and Zorth in 2016 at club sevens. During Edygrim’s gig, in 2017 they reached out to me when They were looking for a drummer and guitarist. Unfortunately I couldn’t help much since I had just moved to Mombasa. I am glad these guys decided to learn how to play the instruments while also managing to get another guitarist. Within a short period of time they had released an E.P. I really wanted to do a video interview but since Corona won’t go away I just sent few question to the band.
Dead Skin Remedy, commonly known as DSR is a grunge/garage rock band formed in 2018, the meaning of the name is pretty direct – “the beauty of scars”. Scars remind you of where you come from and what you’ve been through, palpation is indeed a great teacher.
Ico
Deadskin Remedy is made up of three members.
- Frank Komora aka “Ico” (vocals and bass)
- Brian Saibore aka “Saibo” (Lead guitar)
- Trieste Franco aka “Zorth” (Rhythm Guitar)
Zorth and I attended the same high school. We’ve always had the idea of starting a band even when still in school. We met Brian in 2019 while performing at the Blues Restaurant. We got acquainted and (I was) impressed with his vibe. We requested him to join the band and that’s how we became what we are and to be honest, I’m really proud to be working with him and my buddy Zorth
Frank Ico
Let’s talk about your E.P (which is a good one by the way).
Last Night In Arakru was recorded over a course of two weeks, two weekends really. The songs were written over a period of close to two months. They are written from different points emotionally but there is a constant theme. It’s like four travellers who have met in a new town andare telling stories of their adventures. It created a sense of the finality of something.You know, let’s take in this moment since tomorrow we won’t be here, we will be far gone and we will never see this town again. And that imaginary town was Arakru, the abyss all artists have to go through. Where the only thing keeping you going is the uncertainty of tomorrow.
Muiruri P.I(Petrika) did the recording over at E.M Studios. There you get top notch gear at an unbelievably affordable price. And Frank did the album cover that is based on a portrait of one of us.
What are your future plans?
Our future plans are simple, and they are determined by a network of belief systems. First we determine what we want to accomplish. Which at the moment is to complete our first full length album – Paralysis. Second we ensure that the set target is the priority of every member of band. From there we just play, grip and adhere to the currents of the great machine in the sky. There is nothing more we can do. We insinuate and the universe provides in its own fvcked up ways.
Brian Saibore
As one of the new bands in the scene, what are/will you do differently from what other bands are doing?
Here in Kenya bands are so different that you can’t pinpoint a general trend that you would like to deviate from. Bands have different philosophies and are driven by different motives in their
song-writing, presentation and ethic. In that sense we are naturally as different as any other band out there is to us. But in general, we just want to be part of the Kenyan bands. We just want to be somewhere in that list with Murfys Flaw, Koinange Street Avengers, Dove Slimme and all the rest.
We just want to make some sense out of everything.
Brian Saibore
Your take on the Kenyan Rock scene? Any changes you would like to see?
The scene had been and will always be there. People get past their metal/rock phase and walk away claiming the scene is dead. The scene will forever be there. No matter how many people leave, more will come. The scene was there in 2001, and it was there in 2013. It’s alive today and it will be in 2025.
Brian Saibore
Your band hasn’t given us a quarantine dose of anything, whether a guitar play through, acoustic, drum cover etc., should we expect anything?
well we have been really caught up in the recording of our first album, we’re almost done and hope to release it very soon, probably before the year ends but we’ll try and put up some demos and live sessions, so do stay tuned.
Frank Ico
