Taking Meds
By Sean Maldjian, Contributor
Photo provided by, Taking Meds
Meet Taking Meds
A self-portrait by, Skylar Sarkis of Taking Meds
Would you rather…
take every first date to Chuckie E. Cheese or have your wedding and funeral at Dave and Busters?
I'm cool with both of these things.
Some questions with Skylar Sarkis of Taking Meds
Hello, thanks for coming on to our blog. Can you introduce your project? Who is Taking Meds?
Taking Meds is Skylar (me), Ben, James, and Noah.
What's your favorite fruit?
Probably mango.
How do you view your relationship with NYC?
I love NYC. I moved back to my hometown of Rochester in December 2021 and I miss NYC very much. It's probably my favorite place.
What does your family think of your music?
I don't know. They say they like it. They are probably lying so I will put them in my will. They are supportive which is more than enough.
Your 2021 release ‘Terrible News From Wonderful Men’ featured an audio sample from ‘Robin Hood Men in Tights’. What was the inspiration that brought this on?
He says the words "terrible news" in it.
What was the creative process between all of you working on your 2021 release ‘Terrible News From Wonderful Men’?
Ben and I are the principal songwriters. Typically we will write together in a room; I will play guitar and Ben will play drums. Occasionally we write full song skeletons on our own. For most of our work up through this record, Jon would then write his bass parts, and whoever was playing drums would expand on the drum parts. More recently, including this record, we would all get together and do this in a pre-production session. The music in Citgo was written by Jon and we all kind of fleshed it out together. I write the lyrics and typically do the vocals on my own, although sometimes Ben will specify melodies that he wants.
What is your favorite venue to play in NYC? Why?
ough question. Probably Trans Pecos, even though we've only played there once. It has a perfect balance between a professional venue and a DIY spot, it's a small room, and it always feels very live and intimate.
Do you have anything coming up that you are excited about?
Tour with Webbed Wing starting October 7th, tour with the Flatliners starting November 16th, FEST (halloween weekend), and we're playing Carpool's EP release show in Rochester on November 5th. We're also recording a new LP with Kurt Ballou in January 2023.
What is your alarm clock song right now?
For many years it was a horrific noise that Apple puts on their phones as a default alarm sound. I recently upgraded to a new iPhone which is probably the most shameful thing I did all year. The plus side is that the default alarm is just a regular noise now. It sort of twinkles. I can't imagine feeling any sort of way about it.
Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)
Right now I am in the studio working on the next Growing Stone LP. That's my solo project which I will one day trick some journalist into writing about because I decided to make a record in the woods after somebody died. I am keeping very busy and I am sorry it took me so long to do this interview. James is going on tour with Perspective this fall around Fest, look out for that. Noah plays in another band, Champagne Colored Cars, who are awesome. Ben and I have a band called Who Decides and we've been playing some hardcore shows in western and central New York. I'm booking a small hardcore festival in Rochester to celebrate the Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester hardcore scenes. That's on November 12th at the Bug Jar. My friend George and I do a band called Highway Sniper, that band has a show in Cleveland on October 21st (with Spaced from Buffalo). Highway Sniper put out an EP this year. Who Decides has an EP coming out this fall on Head2Wall. Shoutout Smartpunk. Shoutout Salvaged Records. Shoutout Dropping Bombs. Shoutout Syracuse Hardcore. Shoutout Atlanta. Shoutout Ben for writing the best riffs. Shoutout Anheuser-Busch, number one competitor of beer criminals Heineken.