'In ten years I'm gonna be cruising the coast. Drinking my pop. I'm gonna be kissing all the girls; I'm gonna be singing all the rock.' This swaggering prediction came from ten year old Travis Roberts, aka 'The Human Skab,' at the height of his early music career. Little could he know that in ten years he would actually be on the front lines of the War on Terror, and that it would be twenty-three years before he would be able to fulfill his dream. Part punk rockumentary, part band ethnography, part war veteran story, this film portrays the saga of Travis as he and several other characters embark on a reunion tour, reclaiming the musical phenomenon that was so popular in its original inception.—Anonymous
'Human Skab,' the brainchild of Travis Roberts, is a proto-grunge, psychotic, post-apocalyptic, hardcore, punk-rock blues band based in the Pacific Northwest. This film tells the poignant story of this band and its front man who led the group as a young child since 1986, accompanied by his siblings, friends, and cousin Frankie. The music that they created and recorded in the late 1980s as a result of the boy's adventures and creative explorations gathered a dedicated following in the cassette underground. After two years of making music, life caught up to young Travis. He finished school, grew up, and joined the army, serving as a soldier and contractor in Egypt, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.
'I'm not doin' this for the money, I'm on a mission,' Travis once said in a 1987 interview with SPIN magazine. 'I have a message for the world. It's not just playin' guitars good that is important. It's all the things that you do.' Rife with amazing synchronicities, Travis's music, both old and new, not only provides a powerful creative vision of American society, but offers a wealth of insight to present politics, 'outsider music,' life as a war veteran, and personal healing.
