Skaters

2014 looks to be a big year for New York quartet Skaters who released their debut album 'Manhattan' last month and are performing as part of several showcase events at SXSW this week.

SXSW festival brings some incredible artists to Texas this year and Skaters are no exception. They'll be hitting stages in Austin from March 12th where they'll be kicking off their SXSW stretch with a show at Holy Mountain as part of the Splendour In The Grass and Falls Festival showcase. Their most anticipated show of the week will be the Eventbrite and Governors Ball Lawn Party, also taking place on the 12th, over at the Empire Control Room and Garage. The Governors Ball selection came after they were announced to be playing the festival at Randall's Park on June 6th; an event that sees Outkast, Jack White, Vampire Weekend and The Strokes headlining.

Watch Skaters get ready for SXSW:

Skaters got together in 2011 when vocalist Michael Ian Cummings met up with his overseas collaborator and London guitarist Josh Hubbard, whose previous bands include Dirty Pretty Things. It was in the middle of drummer Noah Rubin's birthday party when Josh arrived in the US, and pretty soon they enlisted bassist Dan Burke to perform a string of Manhattan shows and record the EP Michael, Josh and Noah had been working on entitled 'Schemers'. 

Watch Skaters perform 'Schemers' here:

It was a free download that was soon followed by the release of their debut album 'Manhattan' in February 2014 via Warner Bros. Records. Recorded by John Hill at Electric Lady Studios, the album details their own experiences of life in New York. 'We were all bartenders, so the songs are tales of experiences we had or saw, and other people who were characters in our life during the first year we were in this band', Michael explained.

Skaters 2014 Promo

So the band have already kicked the year off to an awesome start with their 'Manhattan' release and they have just come off a UK tour with fellow New Yorkers Drowners which saw them play some ultra-cool venues such as London's Electric Ballroom and Nottingham's Rock City Basement. And when you add that to their previous shows supporting Deap Vally in November 2013 and their past festival slots at the likes of Reading, Leeds and Bestival, we can strongly assume that they'll be catapulted further into mainstream attention with what they have coming up this year. After all, they've already been strongly praised for their brilliant singles 'I Wanna Dance (But I Don't Know How)' and 'Deadbolt' which just ooze NY punk through the infectious pop melodies.

Watch Skaters perform 'I Wanna Dance (But I Don't Know How)' here:

Skaters have a string of March and April North American dates coming up following their SXSW appearances, and if that goes well we can be sure to see several more added for later months. They also have yet another festival date coming up for the CD 102.5 Day Side A Festival held at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio on March 29th. Wherever you see them, Skaters are definitely one band you should not miss this year.

Listen to 'Deadbolt' here: