This past March Bay Area metal band Skinlab released a preview clip of their music video for the song "In for the Kill" off their upcoming album, The Scars Between Us, featuring UFC fighter Nate Quarry and Sportfight's Greg Thompson.
Since the release of the 43-second promo, the band has finished recording the entire album and has recently released the full-length video for the song in preparation for their upcoming US tour to start in September.
MMAInsider caught up with Skinlab frontman Steev Esquivel, who had this to say of the finished video featuring Nate Quarry, "It's out there and we're getting an overwhelmingly (positive) response.
"I would say, for having not been out there for a while, it's a pretty good vehicle to get us back out there to our fans, and the kids like it, so we're stoked."
The video, directed by up and comer Jordan McClure, features the band performing the song inside a giant cage, interwoven with shots of Quarry and Thompson fighting.
"When you go in to do a video you have your own visual of how it would come out, and Jordan kind of took it to a whole other level," stated Esquivel. "It's tighter than I thought it would be, and the overall picture in high definition is really cool."
The release of the full-length video was put on hold as delays in the recording of the band's upcoming fourth album, The Scars Between Us, mounted. Thankfully the album is finally done and Esquivel thinks it will appeal to MMA fans who like hard-hitting, aggressive music.
"I think we've come into our own," said Esquivel. "This record is by far the most extreme thing we've done. As far as dynamics and different moods, it's just amazing."
Esquivel likens it to a recent performance by one of his favorite fighters, Urijah Faber at WEC 41 in June.
"Wasn't that sick," exclaimed Steev. "It was amazing with those elbows all the way until the end. The kid's got heart and it's definitely very inspiring."
Skinlab's new album is set for release on Stand and Deliver Records on September 15, to be followed by a mini tour of California before the band stars their full scale U.S. tour shortly thereafter.
For more information on Skinlab and their upcoming activities visit the band at www.myspace.com/skinlab or www.standanddeliverrecords.com.
If you were to ask people to pick a style of music that most fits MMA, metal would be one of the top responses.
The hard driving rhythms and aggression of metal seem to suit the hard-hitting action of MMA effortlessly. So it is no surprise that when re-emerging San Francisco metal act Skinlab were choosing a visual style to go along with the promo video for lead single for their upcoming album they picked MMA.
Last May when the band decided to shoot the video for the song "In for the Kill" off their first new album of original material in over six years, they invited Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight contender Nate Quarry and Sportfight veteran Greg Thompson to the Bay Area to beat up on each other in a cage to add intensity to the band's already frenetic live performance.
"The song kind of suggests our return and not taking no for an answer and going straight for the throat, so we decided to utilize MMA parts in the video," explained Skinlab vocalist/bassist Steev Esquivel.
"We set up a cage for them -- it was a really cool set -- and made a nice couple days of it. They're really cool to work with, and they came down and threw some blows in the crazy-ass medieval cage we made. It was an awesome experience."
As for how Quarry ended up in the video, the credit can go to its up and coming director.
"He was a friend of our director, Jourdan McClure, and it just made sense," said Esquivel. "It proved to be (the right decision); the guy's just a top class dude, both him and Greg."
The video shoot was not the first time Skinlab and Esquivel in particular have run across the MMA world.
"Our songs were featured in a documentary produced by Bobby Razak," he told MMAWeekly.com. "He actually used a few of our songs in his first documentary, Rite of Passage, and I was actually in a movie he did called Pitfight Redux."
The band, which is rounded out by drummer Paul Hopkins and guitarists Glen Telford and Steve "Snake" Green, is known for their no frills heavy-hitting style, to which Esquivel equates to one of the original bad boys of the sport.
"My kids would kill me, because we're a huge Urijah Faber family -- we just love him and what he does for the sport -- but I'd have to say Tank Abbott (is most like Skinlab)," he said. "We're the Tank Abbott of metal."
After taking a few years off to focus on other projects and deal with legal issues surrounding a former record company, the band is currently in the recording studio putting finishing touches on their upcoming album, The Scars Between Us, to be released by Stand and Deliver Records in July.
"All I can say, this is the heaviest record we've every written without compromising for anything," exclaimed Equivel. "We've kept true to what Skinlab is known for, dirty metal with a groove.
"No selling out, no metalcore, we're going straight for the throat. ‘In for the Kill' will definitely give you an idea where we're going without giving away too much."
After performing their record release show as part of the Rockstar Mayhem Fest on July 10 at the Sleep Train Amphitheater in Sacramento with headliners Slayer and a dozen other acts, Skinlab will follow up with a full scale tour in support of the new album.
"Skinlab is not a shoe-gazing band; we definitely like to bring a lot of ruckus to the stage," stated Esquivel. "Not too many bands can match our live stage show -- just pure energy, breaking bones if we have to, shedding blood if we have to, whatever."
In closing, he wanted to send the band's heartfelt wishes out for the recent passing of one of MMA's most unique and recognizable personalities, Charles "Mask" Lewis Jr. of Tapout.
"I want to give our sincere condolences to the Tapout crew, Mask's family and the MMA community," said Esquivel. "I had the chance to work with him while we were filming Pitfight Redux and he's definitely a guy who is going to be missed. See you on the other side, buddy."
Believe it or not, a company that primarily specializes in basketball related shoes and apparel is sponsoring Nate Quarry, beginning with his UFC 91 fight on Nov. 15 against Demian Maia.
Say what?
Yes, it's true. According to a report by Mike Chiappetta on NBC Sports, And1 has decided to sponsor Quarry even though he can't even where the shoes in the Octagon.
"On paper it almost makes no sense whatsoever. I can't wear basketball shoes into the octagon," Quarry told Chiappetta with a laugh. "But And1 believes it's great exposure for their overall brand."
"Certainly, this is a basketball brand, but we have to be willing to throw traditional logic out the door and capitalize on opportunities,” said Rod Keller of And1. “More and more athletes like Steve Blake train with MMA training methods. It's a phenomenal workout. So is there a correlation to basketball? Yes. Is it logical? No."
Keller indicated that they are a small company that likes to work with "unique" and upstanding individuals, and felt that Quarry fit the mold. And1 is wants to reach the MMA crowd and they're going to use Quarry and his exposure in the UFC to make their breach into the market.
About a month ago, Nate Quarry was minding his own business when he got a call on his cell with an unusual area code for him. "Hmm," he must have thought. "I don't know anybody from there."
"Hi, it's Tito Ortiz, and I'd like to ask you about your back," the voice said.
If you're Nate Quarry, it's not a call you'd expect to get. But he didn't miss a beat.
"You know, the way my life is, nothing really surprises me too much anymore," Quarry told MMA Insider Blog.
Ortiz opened up to Quarry about his longstanding back problems.
"He said 'hey, I've got some degenerated discs and I'm looking at their surgery where they want to cut my abdominals open and snake through the organs and get to the lower back,'" Quarry recalls. "And I said, Tito, man, take my word for it, you don't want to do that. So I introduced him to the people at NuVasive."
Ortiz took a tour of the facility, and ended up getting the surgery done, as he writes on MMAWeekly.com.
At least Ortiz could say he injured himself in a cool way, like fighting. Two months prior, Quarry fractured his left orbital floor at a picnic with friends. Someone had arranged a game involving a golf club, a whiffle ball, and... well, the game really didn't have a name. Quarry was stepping up to take his crack at the ball and walked right into the backswing of a woman on the opposing team. The club weighed five pounds.
"It dropped me to my knees," Quarry said. "I was seeing double for three weeks."
Quarry's old teammate, Randy Couture, suffered the same injury, but in a fight against Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 39.
"There's about a million cool ways to get that injury, and I chose the un-cool one," he said.
So, a consultation with Tito Ortiz wasn't a big deal after all.
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