Bone Meats Skin is a group of California teens who came together at Amplify Sleepaway Camp in the summer of 2021 to make alternative, post-punk music! Marie (16) leads on vocals, Fig (16) rocks it on lead guitar, Robin (16) grooves on bass, and Ciel (14) jams on the drums. Bone Meets Skins is a fully trans/gender-expansive youth band the first of its kind! As they continue to write music, they hope to inspire their peers, express themselves, and spread joy. Keep an eye on this up-and-coming group!
In this Q&A, the band talks about their origins, inspirations, challenges, and goals.
What is the inspiration behind the name?
Fig: It was originally a joke we made and then we decided it sounded pretty cool! So ta-da!
Robin: Ciel tells it in depth, but we were trying to write our song, and Fig was writing out the structure of the song. They wrote “Bones” to label it instead of Structure, and it kind of went from there.
Marie: Ciel has to tell the story.
Ciel: It’s a great story! We were trying really hard to write a song at one of our first practices when our band coach suggested that instead of focusing on the lyrics, we focus on the sound of the song, the guitar, the bass, the melody, the “meat instead of the bones,” as she put it. I laughed and thought of a different kind of meat, the kind when you meet someone. I think I’m a punny person, but I’m also a very clumsy person. So, when I thought of a bone meeting something, the first thing I thought of was skin, a broken bone. In the 4 seconds I was thinking of this, I was laughing and smiling like an idiot to myself. Everyone was wondering what I found so humorous, so I asked them.
“What happens when you break a bone?”
They replied, “What?”
I laughed again and said, “Bone Meats Skin!!”
I recall getting a small chuckle out of them. But it was then that I realized, “Bone Meats Skin was a dope band name! I jokingly sang the phrase “Bone Meats Skin” to the melody we were working on for the song, and it fit, and that’s how Bone Meats Skin came to be!
Describe your style of music to those who haven’t listened.
Marie: It probably varies depending on the song, like we have a country-ish song and some unfinished songs that are mostly rapped because no melody really fits, but mostly we play guitar rock. I think between us, we have a lot of influences, from classic rock to punk to indie.
Robin: I’m not super great at defining genres, but I think our music falls into a punk rock-ish genre, maybe pop-punk or post-punk, or something like that. It’s kind of alternative as well.
Fig: Our style of music is somewhere between punk and emo. We also have elements of satire in the lyrics, relating anywhere from political issues to experiences.
Ciel: I think we mix and match different genres and styles. It really depends on the song and how we feel when writing that song. As a band, we don’t limit ourselves to any styles or genres.
What was your first band practice like?
Robin: Our first band practice was kind of confusing, I wasn’t really sure of everyone’s names or who exactly was in the band. After that was sorted, it was mostly boring for me. Fig and Marie had to figure out the direction we wanted to take our first song, which Ciel and I couldn’t help much with because we needed to know what the guitar was going to sound like before we could figure out what we were going to play. Ciel and I mostly played hangman and various forms of Rock Paper Scissors (my personal favorite being Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard). We played when we could of course but we were mostly just goofing off.
Fig: Our first band practice was a little stressful. As we were trying to figure out our sound and how to play with one another, it got a little overwhelming. In the end, we turned out pretty cool!
Marie: To be honest, I was freaking out a bit because I was really into MCR and dark music at the time and the band was coming up with like classic rock riffs and suggesting we do a Weezer cover, which was difficult for me to agree to, being the person who had to sing everything. I kind of felt out of place, but I liked everyone there, and that helped once we finally had a breakthrough and wrote Boney Theme a couple of days later. After that, we all got on the same track and it was really fun coming up with more songs. We were even thinking about doing a cover of Teenagers by MCR and we tried practicing it later in the week.
Ciel: I remember our first band practice to be stressful. We were trying to get to know each other while trying to define what we wanted to play. As the drummer, there wasn’t much I could do except suggest different beats and give my opinion on lyrics. Like Robin mentioned earlier, we played a lot of time passing games together.
Tell us about your songs!
Robin: Our best song is Boney Theme. It’s pretty catchy and, like most of our songs, the lyrics are kind of surreal. Our other songs are unfinished, but they have a similar vibe in the lyrics to Boney Theme.
Fig: Our main song is about our session at Amplify. There were a lot of people getting sunburnt and a surprising number being sent to the ER, so we thought it would help lighten the mood to create a song about it.
Ciel: Our first ever fully written song is called “Bone Meats Skin/Boney Theme.” It’s basically our theme song, for a while we were debating finding a new name for the song and only naming the band “Bone Meats Skin”. We realized it didn’t have to be one or the other, it could be both! We’ve written lyrics to other songs, including a country parody song, a political commentary, and a song about taking your medication.
Marie: We wrote like three other unfinished songs besides Boney Theme which may never see the light of day. It’s mostly about improvising and seeing what comes out. Ciel comes up with most of the lyrics, but we all just sit together at the whiteboard shouting out things. When it comes to the music, Fig is the actual backbone of the band who comes up with the guitar riffs.
Who are you inspired by?
Fig: We are inspired by bands such as Green Day, Against Me, and No Doubt.
Ciel: Musically, Bone Meats Skin is inspired by Green Day, Paramore, No Doubt, as well as our peers and Amplify staff members.
Robin: I listen to a lot of new wave, post-punk, alt-rock type stuff because that’s the music my parents introduced me to, and what our members listen to influences our music style a lot, as well as who we are as people. Our band dynamic plays a big role in how we write songs too. A lot of our song ideas started out as jokes within the band that inspired actual music.
Marie: I mean, the whole time I was at camp practicing with the band, I was just inspired the most by the three of them. Ciel’s lyrics especially brought out more bravery to sing in a different way than I usually do, and perform in that way too. Maybe the bands that inspired me, like Paramore and MCR, show more in the performance than they do in the music. As for the lyrics, even though I usually have a smaller role, I like bands with lyrics that sometimes don’t make any sense, like Pavement or The Pixies. So as soon as the band name was Bone Meats Skin and we had a song about sunburns, there was a suddenly clear creative path.
Your band is trans and gender-expansive. How does this influence your art, performance, or dynamic as a band?
Marie: I think right now as a band we’re pretty genderless, just because we don’t really emphasize being one thing or another. In the future, we might write more things that discuss gender.
Ciel: I don’t think being trans and gender-expansive really affects our music. For me, it’s more important to help other minorities know that it’s possible to become a band, to create music, and to find a community that will help you.
Robin: I think being a trans guy affects who I am as a person, so it affects our dynamic and work indirectly, but I’m not sure it directly influences our work as a band.
Fig: Well obviously identity affects all art someone does, so I think this reflects in our lyrics in the way we present ourselves as a whole. I think our band is more drawn to topics of gender expression and identity so in the future we hope to write more about it!
When your members are located in different cities, how do you create & communicate? Does that present any challenges?
Marie: We haven’t been able to get together in person because of that, which is difficult, but I think we have such a solid thing going that it’s able to be picked up again at any time. In the time that we haven’t been able to play together, Robin came up with merch for us and we’ve got an Instagram, so it’s just waiting to come together again.
Robin: It can definitely be challenging to live in different cities. We aren’t making as much music as I would like right now, but we make it work. We text a lot, and we have a pretty solid dynamic which helps us communicate and stick together.
Fig: To keep in touch we often text and share our musical ideas.
Ciel: We usually communicate through a group chat. I find that we connected so much during the time we had together, that if we were to meet at this moment, we could probably write another song. We’re all in high school and we’re all doing some amazing things, so it’s been difficult to meet in person. We’re all in California, so I know if we tried to plan a specific date to meet somewhere in LA or a midway point, we could probably manage it. It’s fun because we’re friends outside the band, so we don’t only talk about music.
What are your goals for Bone Meat Skin?
Marie: What we really want at this point is to record our songs and put them up on Spotify so they can be shared. It’s a bit too difficult to work out anything in person until the summer, but I think it would be cool for everyone to be able to share the music with their friends.
Robin: I want to keep making music with some people that I like. We have a lot more songs to be written as a band, and I want to keep working on that. It would also be cool if we could publish our music on Spotify so that we could share it with people.
Fig: I think our goal is to just make some awesome music and have fun while doing it! Hopefully, someday it will be able to reach others and have an impact on them.
Ciel: Our goal is to continue as a band and make music that we love. To learn how to get our songs on streaming services and get together to make music!
What are you listening to right now?
Robin: I’ve been listening to Will Wood quite a bit lately, as well as the Replacements, particularly the Let It Be album. I also really like bands like The Cure, DEVO, LCD Soundsystem, X, Måneskin, Queen, They Might Be Giants, Buzzcocks and stuff like that.
Fig: Right now I am listening to a lot of the Front Bottoms, McCafferty, Daisy and the scouts, and Metallica.
Marie: Kind of embarrassing. I’ve been listening to The Cure and Sonic Youth a lot, and then a bunch of emo bands. I’m also always listening to Elliott Smith and Lana Del Rey.
Ciel: Recently, I’ve been listening to Maisie Peters, Panic! At The Disco, Halsey, Waterparks, NF, Backseat Vagabond, Lil Nas X, and Issac Dunbar.
Art by Deanna Pham