Jun 7, 2026 · 34 min · 10 segments
In his work with Sons of Kemet, and then in The Smile with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and as a sought after jazz and session drummer, Tom Skinner is very much a known quantity in music circles in…
Tom SkinnerGuest
Matt ByarsHost
Lee GardnerHost
So I guess for me this kind of represents my kind of way into my ongoing kind of love affair and obsession with jazz and improvised music.
So when I was at school, at primary school, as it's known in the UK, at the age of eight, one of my friends, one of my school friends, his father was like the bodyguard for John Bon Jovi.
So basically his dad was the sort of security guard, like personal security guard for John Bon Jovi, which we all thought was incredibly cool.
And that was, I guess, my first kind of music thatI kind of got into of my own kind of discovery, I guess, you know.
Um, so we, you know, he, this friend of mine, he took us to see Bon Jovi at Wembley Arena, and I met them and stuff like that.
And, and that was like the reason why I started playing the drums in the first place, um, 'cause we all thought this was, was really cool.
And we-- so we said to ourselves, "Oh yeah, let's start a band." We were like eight years old.
And I was like, "I'm gonna play the drums." I don't really know why I said that, but I think actually Grant, my friend whose, whose dad was the, the bodyguard, he had a drum kit at his house, a red pearl kit.
And so I think maybe that was my very first time sort of sit- sitting at a drum kit and playing it.
So we decided we were gonna form a band, and I, I said, "Yeah, I'm gonna play the drums," um, and started having lessons.
So that was, like, the reason why I started playing drums 'cause we were gonna form this band, which obviously never happened.
Um, but then I, you know, off the back of that, I kinda got into sort of rock music more broadly, you know, listening to Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and sort of Metallica, Slayer.
My, my tastes got kind of heavier and heavier to the point where when I was sort of eleven, twelve years old, I was, like, listening to, like, really heavy death metal.
But, um, and yeah, so I was, I was into, uh, um, yeah, I was into bands like Napalm Death and Carcass and, um... [lips smack] But I was, yeah, no, I was also into Faith No More.
And from listening to them, I then discovered, uh, Mr. Bungle, which was Mike Patton's sort of original project even before he joined Faith No More.
You know, I'd listen to everything on my, on my headphones on my, my cassette Walkman.
Um, I'd lo- I'd love that record, and I-- and just sort of being the sort of music nerd that I already was at that, at that time, I was, you know, looking at the sleeve and reading all the information, and I noticed that it was produced by someone called John Zorn.
So I guess for me this kind of represents my kind of way into my ongoing kind of love affair and obsession with jazz and improvised music.
So when I was at school, at primary school, as it's known in the UK, at the age of eight, one of my friends, one of my school friends, his father was like the bodyguard for John Bon Jovi.
So basically his dad was the sort of security guard, like personal security guard for John Bon Jovi, which we all thought was incredibly cool.
And that was, I guess, my first kind of music thatI kind of got into of my own kind of discovery, I guess, you know.
Um, so we, you know, he, this friend of mine, he took us to see Bon Jovi at Wembley Arena, and I met them and stuff like that.
And, and that was like the reason why I started playing the drums in the first place, um, 'cause we all thought this was, was really cool.
And we-- so we said to ourselves, "Oh yeah, let's start a band." We were like eight years old.
And I was like, "I'm gonna play the drums." I don't really know why I said that, but I think actually Grant, my friend whose, whose dad was the, the bodyguard, he had a drum kit at his house, a red pearl kit.
And so I think maybe that was my very first time sort of sit- sitting at a drum kit and playing it.
So we decided we were gonna form a band, and I, I said, "Yeah, I'm gonna play the drums," um, and started having lessons.
So that was, like, the reason why I started playing drums 'cause we were gonna form this band, which obviously never happened.
Um, but then I, you know, off the back of that, I kinda got into sort of rock music more broadly, you know, listening to Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and sort of Metallica, Slayer.
My, my tastes got kind of heavier and heavier to the point where when I was sort of eleven, twelve years old, I was, like, listening to, like, really heavy death metal.
But, um, and yeah, so I was, I was into, uh, um, yeah, I was into bands like Napalm Death and Carcass and, um... [lips smack] But I was, yeah, no, I was also into Faith No More.
And from listening to them, I then discovered, uh, Mr. Bungle, which was Mike Patton's sort of original project even before he joined Faith No More.
You know, I'd listen to everything on my, on my headphones on my, my cassette Walkman.
Um, I'd lo- I'd love that record, and I-- and just sort of being the sort of music nerd that I already was at that, at that time, I was, you know, looking at the sleeve and reading all the information, and I noticed that it was produced by someone called John Zorn.
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