A few years ago, while they were playing a UA homecoming gig near campus, it dawned on the members of Tucson pop-reggae band Skitn that they had become a go-to homecoming party band.
Since forming in 2002 while they were students at the University of Arizona they had played all but one or two homecomings.
“It means so much to us because we are all UA alumni. All our friends who have graduated come into town and it turns into a big party that we’re throwing,” said bass player Scott Hilkemeyer, who at 29 is the baby of the band. The other members are all in their 30s.
When they started in 2002, Skitn played punk rock. They were really loud.
“We weren’t good enough to play at venues and we had our own crappy PA system. My buddy Aaron said why don’t you just play at our house party? Why not? That’s where we practiced anyways,” recalled founding member and frontman Earl Rosales. “We played two or three songs and the police came and told us to shut down. We played too loud.”
Before long, the band was hustling up regular gigs. With the departure of a couple members, Rosales switched the band’s focus to reggae.
“My heart was always in reggae music,” he said.
With its current lineup — Hilkemeyer, Rosales, guitarist Chris Calvo, drummer Kelley Velasquez and keyboardist Fernando Hinojosa — Skitn had regular near weekly gigs at clubs around town, including O’Malley’s and the Hut on North Fourth Avenue. They played Club Congress and once headlined Club Crawl downtown. In 2006, they opened for Sublime offshoot Long Beach Shortbus at City Limits.
In 2009, they put out their only CD, heralding its arrival with a party at the Hut, and briefly contemplated a bigger-than-Tucson rock-and-roll dream.
“We were sort of pushing at first to see where it was going. We were all in college or post-college. We didn’t have a ton of responsibilities,” said Tucson native Hilkemeyer, who earned his degree in music management. “But as everyone moved or got married or got a big boy job, we transitioned to playing more like once a month.”
The members’ day jobs include social work, finance and architecture; Hilkemeyer teaches bass and guitar and works at a drug treatment center and Rosales is a social work program coordinator.
Their once-a-month gigs are mostly at the Hut, playing on the outdoor stage in front of North Fourth Avenue passersby. They also pick up the occasional party gig, including homecoming.
“Homecoming is a way for us to reunite with a lot of our friends that graduated from the UA. It means a lot,” said Rosales, 36. “It has a lot to do with how we got started. We never would have formed this band if we hadn’t all gone to the University of Arizona. That in itself makes it more meaningful for us. We all graduated from the UA and we formed at the UA and we are still playing. Not a lot of bands can say that.”
