23 Skidoo are a British electric music band.

Formed in 1979 by Fritz Catlin, Johnny Turnbull and Sam Mills, and later augmented by Alex Turnbull and Tom Heslop, 23 Skidoo had interests in martial arts, Burundi and Kodo drumming, Fela Kuti, The Last Poets, William S. Burroughs, as well as the emerging confluence of industrial, post-punk and funk, heard in artists such as A Certain Ratio, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, The Pop Group and This Heat.

Their first 7", "Ethics", was released in 1980, followed by "The Gospel Comes To New Guinea" & "Last Words" 12" single which was co-produced by Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson from Cabaret Voltaire at their studio, The Western Works in Sheffield. A Peel Session was recorded on 16 September 1981. Their début album, Seven Songs, was released in 1982 and is said to evoke the claustrophobic humidity of an African forest. The album went straight to number 1 in the Independent charts. Seven Songs, which was recorded and mixed in three days, was co-produced by Tony, Terry and David, aka Genesis P-Orridge, and Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV and engineer Ken Thomas. A hastily executed EP, Tearing Up The Plans, was produced in the absence of the Turnbull brothers, who were travelling in Indonesia. The personality clashes that arose from this experiment resulted in guitarist Sam Mills and vocalist Tom Heslop leaving the band soon after. The band performed for the first time as a three piece, joined onstage by David Tibet of Current 93, at the first WOMAD festival. This live performance would go on to become the first side of the band's most challenging release, The Culling Is Coming, which also features Skidoo's exploration into gamelan on side two. The album resulted in the band being criticised for being 'too abstract'.

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