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Born
Matthew Thomas Skiba,
Matt Skiba was born in Chicago but his family relocated to a suburb when he was three years old.
Skiba began playing drums at an early age, and his first concert was
Public Image Ltd.; shows by
Social Distortion also heavily influenced the musician. An original member of
Alkaline Trio,
Skiba cited
Joey Ramone as a huge musical influence. While known mostly for his work with the aforementioned punk rock trio,
Skiba had been part of various punk bands including
Jerkwater, Blunt, and
the Traitors. A brief time spent at art college ended with
Skiba dropping out, and while working as a bike messenger in Chicago, he became involved in the music scene. Starting in 1996,
Skiba's involvement in
Alkaline Trio (playing guitar and splitting vocals with Dan Andriano) resulted in several full-length releases and numerous tours in North America and Europe.
In 2002, after taking a break from his main priority,
Skiba recorded a split acoustic EP with
Kevin Seconds (of
7 Seconds fame). The EP, titled
Split, was released on Asian Man Records. He has also contributed to albums released by Hubcap and
the Atari Star. In 2005, still between commitments with
the Trio and after relocating to Los Angeles,
Skiba hooked up with
Josiah Steinbrick of
F-Minus to begin work on another side project,
Heavens, in which he sang and
Steinbrick wrote the music. Their album,
Patent Pending, appeared in fall 2006 on Epitaph. By 2009,
Skiba was once again back with
Alkaline Trio for the group's sixth studio album,
Agony & Irony. The following year,
Alkaline Trio returned with
This Addiction, the group's first album released on its own Heart & Skull imprint.
On the heels of
This Addiction,
Skiba released his debut solo album, Demos, which featured demo recordings made on his home computer. Two years later, he delivered the full-length Babylon, which showcased his backing band
the Sekrets, featuring
AFI bassist
Hunter Burgan and
My Chemical Romance touring drummer
Jarrod Alexander. He then returned to
Alkaline Trio for 2013's
My Shame Is True. In 2015,
Matt Skiba & the Sekrets released their second studio effort,
KUTS, featuring the single "Krazy." ~ Jason MacNeil