Matt Wardlaw of Ultimate Classic Rock spoke with Sebastian Bach, portions of the interview appear below.
UCR: People have spent plenty of time talking smack about Sebastian Bach over the years. Historically, you’ve often been able to punch back with your own music. This time, the answer comes in the form of your latest album.
Sebastian Bach: It’s just so funny when I read, “Can he still sing? I’m like, “Nobody punched me in the throat! [Laughs] I have the same muscles. I understand that some guys — basically, Jon Bon Jovi — cannot sing anymore, but I don’t have that issue. There’s no problem for me singing. So the answer is yes, [I can still sing]…When I play almost 100 gigs in a row, I mean, physically and mentally, that’s like going to war. You can ask any singer that tried to replace me and failed, it’s really kind of a one-of-a-kind thing…
UCR:…Do you write [music] on a regular basis?
Sebastian Bach: I write all of the time, but I don’t ever write. [Laughs] Let me explain what I mean. I’ve always been a guy who collects things. I collect riffs, I collect lyrics and I collect titles. But mainly riffs. I can make a riff into a song. A riff is a riff. I know [Bach chuckles] what a good riff is…it’s so confusing to people. They say, “You didn’t write [Skid Row‘s] I Remember You…
If I’m going down this logic, “You didn’t write that.” Then I should go in there and say, “Okay, I’m going to change this just to get my f–kin’ name on it, because I’m a prick! [Laughs] I don’t work like that. A lot of people do. Names that I won’t say..I care about the riff of Monkey Business, which I wrote with Snake, even though my name’s not on there. I crafted that riff with him. I’m into metal. I’m into heavy metal. Some fans say, “Why do Sebastian’s albums sound more like the early Skid Row records than Skid Row?” Which they do. I’m not bragging — they do…
..The reason for that, is that I was the guy in the studio for Slave to the Grind, with Michael Wagener, sitting next to him, picking the amp sounds, driving around town choosing Marshall amps that we liked. It was me, not anyone else. It was me and Michael Wagener, because we were fans of metal…Some of the guys in that band are into [Bruce] Springsteen and Southside Johnny and that’s what their scene is. Some guys are into the Ramones and punk. I brought the me-tal…
UCR: How did you approach your craft as a singer after the work you did on Broadway? Because I’d imagine that would change your thought process?
Sebastian Bach: Wow, well, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due here. Back when I first joined Skid Row in 1987, you know, I was just a little kid. I was f–kin’ wild as they come. [Bach pauses and exhales] I wasn’t a great singer then. I had a good sounding voice, but as far as doing a two hour show, I was so young that I didn’t really have the muscles for that. When I joined Skid Row, we’d rehearse all day, every day. My voice wasn’t ready [for that]. It was like a learning crash course of singing. Jon Bon Jovi just said, “Forget about everything in the world except the lyrics.” He said, “Just tell the story of what the lyrics are saying.” That was a completely different way of [thinking]. I was trying to be Rob Halford or James Neal, of Malice. I was trying to sing as high as I could. [Laughs]…But [Jon] goes, “Just tell the story of the lyrics.” That changed my way of looking at being a singer…in a Broadway way, as you’re saying, even though I didn’t do that until years later. I just totally shifted my focus from trying to shatter glass, which I did once, in Baltimore. I shifted it from that to telling the story of the words and that’s been the way it’s been ever since. I get into telling the story.
UCR: But Broadway probably gave you some new tools, right?
Sebastian Bach: Well, yes…good singing and what I mean by that is clean singing. Not shouting and yelling and screaming and dirty singing. Clean tones.
Read more at Ultimate Classic Rock.
One Response
I watched as much live 2024 video as I could because I loved this guy’s voice , and he still sounds decent , I think he knows how to sing and get the most out of his voice – I wish him nothing but success –