Manhattan Madness: Backstage Photos of Skaters
New York City band Skaters celebrated the release of their debut, Manhattan, with a hometown gig at the Bowery Ballroom on February 24th and offered Rolling Stone an exclusive peek behind the scenes. Michael Ian Cummings, Josh Hubbard, Noah Rubin and Dan Burke even agreed to write the following captions.
"How many Skaters does it take to put a decal on a kick drum? Apparently three. This is a new decal we made for the Bowery show. It's a picture from the insert of our record. Day of show is always filled with this sort of last-minute stuff. These are the little things that occupy a band's time."
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Banner Day
"This banner showed up at the venue day of show. We ordered it on the Internet and didn't really know what to expect until it arrived. Turns out it's huge, 20 feet wide, and actually a pretty comfy bed."
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Mission Accomplished
"Finally got the banner up and needed a moment to reflect on our hard work."
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Kick, Push
"Here's Noah finding new ways to entertain himself. Can't remember what kind of trick was being pulled here. Some kind of 360? This is also a demonstration of how drummers break their arms like in That Thing You Do."
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Low Tech
"Here's our guitar tech making sure that everything is just right. . .oh wait! Nope, that Josh, right, we don't have guitar techs."
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Brooklyn Brotherhood
"Just talking shop with the So So Glos boys. The conversation went something like, 'Sweet ax, man!' 'Oh! Why thank you!'"
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Trash Talk
"Found this road case in the trash. Trash case is the new home of our banner and sometimes our singer."
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Pizza Underground
"A video of our pizza crawl from Eater.com, where we traveled around New York City eating a bunch of famous slices and pies. As you can see, Dan cracked his phone in a fit of rage."
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The Glamorous Life
"This is what backstage looks like 80 percent of the time: changing strings, folding zines, checking NBA.com and making guest lists. Very surprised that there are no pizza boxes in this photo."
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Zine Scene
"This is a picture of Josh pasting DMT perfume packets into our zine Yonks. The second edition smelled amazing, exactly like the mind bending drug DMT. There are still a few copies left out there."
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Hackers
"Dan and Noah are clearly writing a new installation of their memoirs. Or maybe they are drawing dicks and on NBA.com. I forget."
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Close Quarters
"Here's the Skaters family checking out a great chicken tikka masala recipe online. Everyone looks very interested."
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Danger Zone
"Josh in all white painting with a red pen. Living on the edge. Just his style. . .real dangerous."
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Multitasking
"Hey Noah, hey Noah, look up, Noah, look at me, hey Noah, Noah."
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High Strung
"Mic changing the strings on Josh's guitar with help from manager Nick Bobetsky (guitar string wizard). That guitar was custom made by Jimmy Cobra from Caveman for the band."
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New View
"Here is Noah gaining a new perspective on backstage: 'Why's everyone sideways man?'"
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Fresh Blood
"This Myles' first show with Skaters. Don't fuck up, Myles (He didn't)."
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Fitting Room
"New merch arrived before the show, just in time for us to try it all on and vandalize it."
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Woodstock Vibes
"Mic playing guitar like Richie Havens. 'Freedom! Freedom!'"
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First Love
"Work on the zine is never done. It's a labor of love. . . sometimes."
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The New Style
"Our new hoodie for sale now! Featuring our whopping Fitchpork review."
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Schemers
"Just singing a casual 'Hppy Birthday' to Michael's mom up in the rafters. Josh is wearing overalls."