Interviews

Michael Jagmin - A Skylit Drive ‘This Is A True Love For Me’

Tyler Lubke

Metalcore and deathcore fan that truly believes home is where the barrier is.

Aug 19, 2025

8 min read

A Skylit Drive are making their first trip to Australia since 2013, supporting Scary Kids Scaring Kids on a November tour. Join us as we catch up with Michael Jagmin for a chat about passion, touring, and what it means to front A Skylit Drive.

In the peak of the 2010s post-hardcore wave, A Skylit Drive carved out a sound that defined a generation of alt kids. Today the name still sparks nostalgia and passion. With a long-awaited return to Australia alongside Scary Kids Scaring Kids, we are catching up with Michael Jackman at Wall of Sound to talk legacy, resilience, and what's next for A Skylight Drive. Thanks for joining us, mate.

Thank You.

Before we get into things I want to get into the nitty gritty and touch on the elephant in the room. Back in 2022 the original lineup of A Skylight Drive reappeared after years of silence, and it caused a little bit of confusion. Suddenly there were two versions of the band out there. Meanwhile, you've kept pushing forward and flying the flag for A Skylight Drive throughout. What was that time like for you personally, and how did you stay grounded and motivated to keep carrying the band's name with integrity?

It definitely wasn't an easy time. It's never fun being thrust into a bunch of turmoil and everything; that really felt unnecessary. This has really been a true baby of mine.

My wife's always told me my first love is A Skylit Drive. I wake up and I breathe A Skylit Drive ever since 2008. I wake up and I make sure that all of the responsibilities are being handled. Most people think you just go on tour and you play your shows and it's not just that. You're a small business owner. Every day there's something. Somebody's looking to get paid for something, something's got to get set up. Otherwise, things are getting shut off. Agents are hitting you up about shows. There's always something that’s moving every single day. So, I always just kind of kept moving with things just as I always did.

Even when the band was extremely inactive for a few years, I still did the same things every day just to keep things moving. Like getting royalty payouts in place because for the longest time

we came up in an age where bands were so young and so impressionable, and bands didn't know how to make the best decisions for themselves.

There's certain albums that we didn't even see royalties until two years ago, and that was a lot of hair pulling. It's hard when all this other turmoil's going on. It's almost like you're running your own corner shop and all the cashiers and that work there coming and they're all mad at you.

I'm like "Alright, I'm just trying to get your paycheque here” and then just kind of moving along. It's always been like such a passion for me that; I really didn't see any other way to go about it other than kind of keep seeing it through and keep kind of marching with that flag.

I'm glad we've got that outta the way. I just wanna mention how you've been consistently keeping A Skylit Drive alive while others have moved on. Looking back on the ups, downs and everything in between, what have you learned from it all and how have you stayed motivated to keep the legacy of this band intact throughout it all?

I've always been such a private person. I've always kind of kept my circle small and close. That's kind of how I was able to always kind of move through things. I don't really (provide) a lot of opportunity to be let down by someone. I guess I was let down so many times when I was younger that shoulder a lot of responsibilities for things that I want and things that I believe in. A lot of that just kind of stayed the same. Of course, in the early days I didn't have the turmoil and everything, and that's of course what makes some of those things hard and trying. You wake up and some days you're like “Shit, why am I doing this?” And then by the end of it, I remind myself how long I've been doing this and how long I've cared about it and also how long it's given back to me. All the fans who have stuck through it and all of the supportive messages over the years, it's been such a long time of this being a part of my life. I couldn't imagine not being there. And of course, so much of it is also on the receiving end. I know that we're kind of giving a service in a sense, but the same way I'm also getting that back. I do thrive on seeing other people enjoying that passion; other people enjoying the art that's in front of them. There's almost no better feeling, and it doesn't have to be on stage. It can be messages or comments or VIPs, where we get to meet people one-on-one. We get to hear their stories and everything. All of that really makes all of it full circle (and) worthwhile.

It's really good that you mentioned the fans because I want to touch on where do you see A Skylit Drive fitting in today's post-hardcore scene? The last few singles since 2022 have had some mixed reactions. Are you looking to recapture the vibe of the early days with whatever's next? And what can you tell us about the direction of any new music you have in the works?

We've just been kind of trying to have fun with it. Not kind of stick ourselves into any specific hole. There's not really a goal of “Hey we should try to do something like this record or like this song.” That's one of those mistakes that me and the guys learned from back in the day. If you just continue to chase something that's not naturally coming out of you, it comes across as unnatural. You want to be honest; you want to be real. That's what's going to resonate the most, doing what you know matters to you. What makes your passion yours. In saying that there's not anything specific that we're trying to target. We're just trying to do what's the truest to us and just have fun with it. I know that we've mostly focused on singles, where we do have much more material now than we did at this point last year, or even the year before. The focus is definitely to do something more than a single, I would like to put out a full album. That's a big goal right now – to really focus on our new music. This next venture of A Skylight Drive, putting a new face on it. Because I understand more than just about anyone that some of these songs I've been doing for a very long time. It's time to put a new face in. There's a whole group of great guys who are very talented, who are doing this along with me who all have great minds. They're all very passionate as well. I want to make sure that everybody has their opportunity to put the passion to the paper and let's see what happens.

I'm keen to see what you guys have in the works. What I'm really looking forward to is; it's been over a decade since Australian fans saw you live. That was back in 2013 when you guys supported Dream on Dreamer here. Do you have any standout memories from that last visit and what can fans expect from this long overdue return with Scary Kids Scaring Kids?

It's funny, I got the year right in the last interview. I just kind of guessed on a whim. I was like, “I think it was 2013”, so I'm glad I was right.

I remember you had a headline run scheduled in 2015, but there were some circumstances and that couldn't happen.

I actually remember that. The funny story was that all got announced and we hadn't actually approved it. Half the band had conflicting schedules, and it was all like “why did this get announced? Why'd that happen?” That was a huge bummer. Because we saw it and I was like “Oh cool.”

I don't think I've ever seen a tour pop up where we weren't told that it was happening. Then I saw where it was, and then I saw the dates and I was like, “Oh no.” Sure enough half the band have flights already, family trips and everything. That's what happens when you book a tour and don't talk to the people playing the tour.

That was a big bummer. I was talking about how I loved how every city has its kind of its own vibe. One might feel very Americanised while the next one, it does have more of like a European feel. The food was always awesome. The people were always great. I remember 1 of the shows it was really random, we walked almost like a mile to go get like Pad Thai from this little Thai place. I don't even remember where we were, but it was super random, and we were in the middle of nowhere. We played almost in a tent type thing. There was a lot of moments, like venturing out and just trying different things. I was talking about this burger place that I was obsessed with, actually all of us. I probably ate it half the time I was there. I'm going to have to look back and see if I took a picture or something like that, because it was one of those things where, “oh what food's around here? Is that burger place here? Oh crap, it's not here. All right, I'll try something else.”

Of course, the animals, everybody's got to go hold a koala and go see kangaroos. So that's always fun. We definitely did our fair amount of sightseeing which generally in the states doesn't happen a lot. There's just so many moving parts. It's funny, just the other day was the first time that ever I ever actually went to the White House. I've been to Washington D.C. tons of times, and I was like “You know what? I've never actually gone there. I've been to Washington DC like a handful of times, and I've never actually gone to the White House” and I was like “let's go do tourist stuff. Let's go take a picture.”

As I get older, just trying to take advantage of more things like that and take in the all the surroundings, which I'll definitely not take any of that for granted when I come later this year and go see as much as I can while I'm there.

You had such a broad experience when you were last here and I hope you and the guys can make some cool new memories when you come back in November. I want to talk a little bit about Dave Shapiro. He really helped shape the scene and played a really big role in your career very early on. What did you take from working with him and what do you think his legacy means to today's bands?

Probably the saddest part about it is it's such a behind the scenes thing. Growing up being a fan of all of these bands and going to these shows. I would bet my bottom dollar that nobody could put their finger on who's the reason for all of it. When we were all so young and impressionable and it was like this management company managed like this 30 group of bands and then this management company did like that 30 group of bands and things were just so just crammed together.

Looking back the only true, honest, almost like camp counsellor was Dave Shapiro.

I was even going back through after everything, just looking through my text messages with him and this guy was just the best person. I can't think of anybody else in the business who is a more true, genuine, good-hearted person. I haven't even been one of his bands for a long time. We actually parted from Dave's agency, I'd say back in like 2012 or so. But even since then, I probably talked to him even more than our own agent after that. Just him as a person, I would hit him up.

On one of our last runs, when we were doing the Adelphia shows last year, I hit him up a few times. I was like, “hey man, if you've got any support bands that you maybe wanna shoot our way to maybe take him out on one of these runs just let me know.” He was like “yeah let me talk to the rest of the agency.” None of it ended up panning out, but just the fact that I could text him and within five minutes he would get back to me. Seeing this outcry of how many other people had that experience.

Somehow the busiest man in the world had that kind of time to not only reply to you, but make you feel heard. He had a true knack to just be the kindest, most giving person by giving you time.

As I've gotten older, I look at how valuable one's time is, the same 24 hours in the day, however you want to use it. I can't think of anybody else in the business who would give up as much of their time as Dave did.

With the immense heartfelt support towards Dave's family and everyone else involved in the accident. It really makes you think as you said, when you think about time; you like to think that he made a lot of use of the shorter time he had on this earth. Helping and touching so many people in so many ways. I think it's important to remember those people, even if they are behind the scenes as you said. It shouldn't take a tragic event to have those efforts come to light. Thanks for having a little chat about him there. I want to wrap things up with a change up in pace. If your journey so far has been A Skylit Drive, what's been the wildest detour and where's the road taking you next?

The fact that it's been going as long as it has. This is a true love for me. It's something that I fell in love with a long time ago and I almost didn't know what that real passion was, this journey with A Skylit Drive. I was of course passionate before, but it ignited something completely different for me. It's really been at the forefront of my mind ever since then. That's longer than I can say with really anything else in my life currently. It would take a lot to find something – of course outside of my wife and my kids, which is completely different – but all that other headspace of mine is really reserved for my passions, which is all-encompassing around A Skylit Drive.

Great moments – a lot of things do kind of come to mind that are international. There are of course a lot of great moments in the States, but playing certain places, seeing certain things. I guess the first thing that comes to mind is like going to places like South America, like playing places like Chile are just a completely bone-chilling in a good way. It's a completely different satisfaction type – maybe I'm not doing too bad at this whole life thing. And Southeast Asia, of course playing places like the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand – whether it's the show, the food, the experience, the culture, the cities, the sightseeing. It's really hard to pinpoint one specific thing, but that was me kind of throwing my change in the barrel and seeing which memory it hits.

Well thank you so much for chatting with us mate. We are looking forward to your return down under with Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and we appreciate you stopping by Wall of Sound

Thank you so much Tyler. I appreciate it.

Interview by Tyler Lubke.

A Skylit Drive hit Australia with Scary Kids Scaring Kids in November.

Tix via https://thephoenix.au