Three years on from Matt Skiba’s first solo album, 2012’s Babylon, there are many more tales yet to tell…

While Babylon – a super-solid record in its own right – bore some resemblance to Matt’s “day job” Alkaline Trio, the conception, construction and execution of KUTS found the mainman working in an area that felt distinctly different from his past work. Essentially, Matt Skiba and the Sekrets now has its own individual sound, something Matt himself was happy to explore as the material came together.

“The last Sekrets record wasn’t too much of a departure from Alkaline Trio,” Matt says, “and it wasn’t really intended to be. I had a small handful of electro-based rock songs that ended up sounding different than the Trio but mostly because I did it without my Trio bandmates. With KUTS, I wanted to work with a producer that was mostly unfamiliar with Alkaline Trio and who was into making something completely different. I think that the writing style and the entire approach to this new one was a stronger desire to do something fairly different from my other band. We used sounds hugely influenced by early David Bowie stuff and took more chances.”

These changes were encouraged by producer Rob Schnapf (who lists Elliott Smith, Beck, and The Vines amongst the artists on his resume). According to Matt, “I went in with really open and stark ideas, knowing that Rob would breathe life into the very vague ideas I had. I had written progressions and lyrics as well as some leads and key parts, but knew that what I was going to come out of that studio with would be completely different than what I walked in with. Also, working with Jarrod [Alexander, drums] and Hunter [Burgan, guitar] again, I knew that their playing would bring entirely new elements to the songs that would help shape them in a very huge way and influence ideas that I would never have thought of on my own. I’m blessed to have those guys in my corner. They did great stuff for the last record but had even more freedom on this one. It really shaped the way this record sounds, completely.”

The shape of KUTS is decidedly ALL Sekrets, a band that now boasts their own sound. With cuts (or kuts!) such as the soaring, keyboard-laced “Krashing,” the punchy belligerence of “She Said,” and the contemplative “Vienna,” the enthusiasm of the band and producer for this diverse ten-song blaze of glory comes clear. As for the curious album title, Matt says that “there was a time when musicians and radio DJs called songs ‘cuts.’ It’s a play on that, as well as a statement about coming out of something scraped or cut up. I used the Germanic ‘K’ spelling for various song titles for the same reason I use it in the band name.” And that reason? It’s a sekret, naturally.