It's the part of Skindred’s live shows that has gone down in legend. We all know it’s coming and we all bloody love it. At some point - most likely at the end of the set - fans will hold their shirts aloft and whirl them around like the world’s most cost- effective method of air conditioning. But the band’s iconic Newport Helicopter didn’t come into being until a decade into their career – and, hard as it is to imagine, they faced an uphill battle even getting audiences moving when they first started out.
“It was like pulling teeth!” admits frontman Benji Webbe. “Like, ‘For fuck’s sake, put your hands in the air!’ Now every time we turn up somewhere, they treat us like it’s our hometown.” In 2011, the band were well on the way to cementing their reputation as metal’s most reliable party-starters. Although their 2002 debut, Babylon, did not chart domestically, it enjoyed success in the US when it topped the Billboard Top Reggae Albums Chart, while the singles Nobody and Pressure both earned Top 50 spots on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
