SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo has once again shot down the possibility of a reunion with Sebastian Bach, saying that "it's not going to happen."
Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY.
In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of original bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarists Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger.
SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I.
During a brand new interview with Tigman of the Albany, New York radio station Q103, Sabo said that it was "frustrating" to be constantly asked about a reunion with Bach when it's been "over 20 years already" since the singer was dismissed from SKID ROW.
"People get married and people get divorced," he said. "Some people — very few — but some people end up going back with their ex-wives. I've got no desire to go back with my ex-wife. I'm very happy with my current relationship.
"Look, I understand it — I do," he continued. "And from a fan perspective, I get it. For me personally, for a myriad of reasons that are private, this is where I wanna be… this is where we all wanna be right here, right now.
"I don't do this for money; money was never the issue with us. And so, yeah, if it was for a moneygrab, whatever — someone else could do it. Not that I'm allergic to money, I'm really, really happy where I'm at. And it's no disrespect to anybody — I wish everybody all the best. But for right now in my life, this works best for all of us.
"People are wanting what once was — I do understand it; of course I do. But it's not going to happen. And we've been saying that for a pretty long time."
According to Sabo, things are going extremely well with Theart, and there are no plans for SKID ROW to slow down.
"We just got back from doing a month tour in the U.K. for the first time in a long time," he said. "We haven't done that many shows in the U.K. since… I don't know… the early '90s. And it was really pretty amazing — a bunch of sold-out shows and people were extremely responsive to it. And that was sort of the litmus test, man: 'How are we doing? Are we doing okay?' And the response was great. So we just wanna keep playing and bringing this thing on the road and presenting ourselves the way we are now."
He continued: "There's always gonna be naysayers and there's always gonna be people who are going to, no matter what you do, no matter how great it is, they're attached to one thing and one thing only. And there's nothing you could do about that. We go out there and we play to the best of our ability and we have fun and we give everything that we've got in order to make sure that people have a great time."
Sabo was also full of praise for his newest bandmate, saying: "One of the things that I was really impressed with was, early on, you could see [ZP] just had a really strong work ethic. The guy was not just prepared, he was beyond prepared. And he also wasn't about trying, or attempting to change the history of the band, but more pay tribute to the history — how the songs are, doing them justice and being respectful of the records that we have made when he's sitting there performing those songs. So it became really, really obvious from early on that this guy was a team player — it was not about self-aggrandizement or anything like that. He was all about, 'I wanna be a part of SKID ROW, and how do we propel SKID ROW forward?' It wasn't about, 'How do I, ZP, make a name for myself?' It was really cool to see.
"We all have egos, but the thing is that his ego is so in check, it's crazy," he said. "He's just a team guy, and it's all about 'we,' not about 'me.' And so that was really inspiring. And he's an extremely positive person, and that will always be infectious.
"When you keep spending time with somebody, which we've done, and he's been with us now for officially over a year, but about two years, and so you come to find out that your guard might be up, but playing with this guy has been a really great eye-opening experience into the possibilities of what we can be moving forward as a band. There's no lack of hard work, and he just has a great outlook and perspective on things that I think is just his nature."
As previously reported, SKID ROW has collaborated with several other artists, including members of SLIPKNOT and HALESTORM, on the songwriting process for the final installment of the band's "United World Rebellion" trilogy. The follow-up to 2014's "Rise Of The Damnation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter Two" and 2013's "United World Rebellion: Chapter One" will mark the band's first release with Theart.
SKID ROW's upcoming release will see the band reunited with famed rock/metal producer Michael Wagener, who worked on SKID ROW's first two albums, 1989's "Skid Row" and 1991's "Slave To The Grind", as well as 2006's "Revolutions Per Minute".
Despite having played sporadic shows with SKID ROW since early 2016, Theart wasn't officially announced as the band's new frontman until January 2017.
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Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY.
In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of original bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarists Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger.
SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I.
During a brand new interview with Tigman of the Albany, New York radio station Q103, Sabo said that it was "frustrating" to be constantly asked about a reunion with Bach when it's been "over 20 years already" since the singer was dismissed from SKID ROW.
"People get married and people get divorced," he said. "Some people — very few — but some people end up going back with their ex-wives. I've got no desire to go back with my ex-wife. I'm very happy with my current relationship.
"Look, I understand it — I do," he continued. "And from a fan perspective, I get it. For me personally, for a myriad of reasons that are private, this is where I wanna be… this is where we all wanna be right here, right now.
"I don't do this for money; money was never the issue with us. And so, yeah, if it was for a moneygrab, whatever — someone else could do it. Not that I'm allergic to money, I'm really, really happy where I'm at. And it's no disrespect to anybody — I wish everybody all the best. But for right now in my life, this works best for all of us.
"People are wanting what once was — I do understand it; of course I do. But it's not going to happen. And we've been saying that for a pretty long time."
According to Sabo, things are going extremely well with Theart, and there are no plans for SKID ROW to slow down.
"We just got back from doing a month tour in the U.K. for the first time in a long time," he said. "We haven't done that many shows in the U.K. since… I don't know… the early '90s. And it was really pretty amazing — a bunch of sold-out shows and people were extremely responsive to it. And that was sort of the litmus test, man: 'How are we doing? Are we doing okay?' And the response was great. So we just wanna keep playing and bringing this thing on the road and presenting ourselves the way we are now."
He continued: "There's always gonna be naysayers and there's always gonna be people who are going to, no matter what you do, no matter how great it is, they're attached to one thing and one thing only. And there's nothing you could do about that. We go out there and we play to the best of our ability and we have fun and we give everything that we've got in order to make sure that people have a great time."
Sabo was also full of praise for his newest bandmate, saying: "One of the things that I was really impressed with was, early on, you could see [ZP] just had a really strong work ethic. The guy was not just prepared, he was beyond prepared. And he also wasn't about trying, or attempting to change the history of the band, but more pay tribute to the history — how the songs are, doing them justice and being respectful of the records that we have made when he's sitting there performing those songs. So it became really, really obvious from early on that this guy was a team player — it was not about self-aggrandizement or anything like that. He was all about, 'I wanna be a part of SKID ROW, and how do we propel SKID ROW forward?' It wasn't about, 'How do I, ZP, make a name for myself?' It was really cool to see.
"We all have egos, but the thing is that his ego is so in check, it's crazy," he said. "He's just a team guy, and it's all about 'we,' not about 'me.' And so that was really inspiring. And he's an extremely positive person, and that will always be infectious.
"When you keep spending time with somebody, which we've done, and he's been with us now for officially over a year, but about two years, and so you come to find out that your guard might be up, but playing with this guy has been a really great eye-opening experience into the possibilities of what we can be moving forward as a band. There's no lack of hard work, and he just has a great outlook and perspective on things that I think is just his nature."
As previously reported, SKID ROW has collaborated with several other artists, including members of SLIPKNOT and HALESTORM, on the songwriting process for the final installment of the band's "United World Rebellion" trilogy. The follow-up to 2014's "Rise Of The Damnation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter Two" and 2013's "United World Rebellion: Chapter One" will mark the band's first release with Theart.
SKID ROW's upcoming release will see the band reunited with famed rock/metal producer Michael Wagener, who worked on SKID ROW's first two albums, 1989's "Skid Row" and 1991's "Slave To The Grind", as well as 2006's "Revolutions Per Minute".
Despite having played sporadic shows with SKID ROW since early 2016, Theart wasn't officially announced as the band's new frontman until January 2017.
Continue reading...
