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Dead Skin Remedy is an alternative rock band formed by the duo Frank Ico and Zorth who hail from the Shauri ya Moyo area of Nairobi. Recently they recorded their first independent EP with the help of Dennis Muiruri (producer and drummer of Petrika). The band has risen from relative obscurity into underground distinction partly due to members that have joined the young band since 2019, and also to the band’s supposed preoccupation with morbidity and violence. Brian Saibore lead singer and guitarist of Petrika seems to have become an integral part to the band's sound - though mostly as the lead guitarist - only moonlighting with his signature rasp heard here on the song "Vows". The band was bolstered by the addition of Mordecai and Lawrence, the heavy machinery behind Post-Black Metal outfit The Seed of Datura, for this very recording - playing bass and drums respectively. Despite their sometimes violent themes, Dead Skin Remedy, is of course not a heavy nor aggressive band. Their style is more melancholic along the lines of bands like Seether or Alice in Chains, 2 prominent influences Frank cites.
LAST NIGHT IN ARAKRU
"Bait" (song 5) is about playing god, engaging in harsh criticism without knowing or understanding the person's reason for doing what they did, and that negative energy fed to the victim drives most of them to the edge...The society for example plays god,I've been through such a situation where people isolate you because of your music preferences and beliefs, if I would've fallen victim to whatever they fed me, i would be dead by now.
"Maggots for All" (song 1) is also along the same line but it's more about hypocrisy, where you very well know that the person who claims to be helping is slowly killing you but you choose to stick to his ways for you know no other......... You're used to being taken advantage of and it has become your religion.....
"Poison" (song 3) is about how religion pollutes our state of mind, how the whole gospel bullshit is nothing but a brain washing mechanism set by a particular group to confuse and fool us to believing that what's wrong is actually right and vice versa.
"Vows" (song 4) is a story about a relationship between a man and a prostitute, shows how both can get what they want from each other without sharing any special bond, period 😅
Think Vincent van Gogh and you'll get the meaning behind "The Sailor dies Alone" (song 2).........whoever sails and drifts further into his mind and allows himself to dream is indeed great and will discover the treasures that lie there, the only price paid is that he'll never be understood much less appreciated.
Background
Frank grew up along the Tana river on the Kenyan coast. Some of his earliest memories are of unspeakable violence. In 2001 clashes between the Pokomo and Orma peoples left many dead and injured. As a young boy Frank says he witnessed people being killed and he remembers seeing dead bodies floating down the river into the Ocean. Frank has spent the greater part of his life living in Shauri Ya Moyo, one of Nairobi’s many informal settlements, or “slums” as they are known. Frank and Zorth met at Shauri Ya Moyo high school with a love of the more emo and gothic side of rock and with aspirations to form a band. The duo rehearsed without instruments simply by singing karaoke versions of their favourite songs through an old church PA. When their vocal talents became recognised Zorth made the recommendation to Frank to sell his Playstation in order to purchase a guitar. Frank says that was a hard decision but one he is grateful for making because since then the tenor vocalist and principle songwriter has been working consistently churning out songs at a massive rate for DSR and for his side projects Time Phrase and Chovu.
The band’s preoccupation with morbidity and violence are not surprising in that it is part of the fabric of the world that surrounds them. Police in the area are known to commit regular extrajudicial killings. The number of shoes hanging from power lines in the neighbourhood possibly attests to this. Although they call themselves a grunge band their demeanour harkens back to an earlier era of post-punk along the lines of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds because essentially DSR are singing us ballads of despair. Whether or not there is hope in that despair is up to you to determine.
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