Scotti Hill of Skid Row joined the August 7th episode of Another FN Podcast to tell stories about his youth, learning to play guitar, how Skid Row got together, Dimebag Darrell, the KISS Farewell Tour, and more, but eventually the elephant in the room made itself known, and the topic of Sebastian Bach, came up.
It had been rumored for years that the reason Bach was relieved of his duties fronting the band had to do with the fact that Skid Row turned down the KISS Reunion Tour in 1996. Hill confirmed this with a story that he doesn’t think had ever been told.
“That caused a giant uproar is what it did, and he did something to Snake Sabo, that was unacceptable. He called Snake on Thanksgiving and said some horrible things into his answering machine and Snake said ‘you know what? I’m not going to be in a band with you anymore.’ It’s as simple as that.”
Replacing a guy with the talents of Sebastian Bach was not easy. He remembers, when that came up after a long vacation from Skid Row, and remembers thinking about how the fans would freak out. Additionally, the road back, would not be an easy one.
“We did that KISS (Farewell) tour and that was a 140 something shows, of all of which I watched, and after that, it was a battle to get to where we’re at now” he said.
For the past couple of years rumors have been circulating of a possible reunion with their former front man, but once and for all, any chance of that happening has been laid to rest.
“That door is closed. There was talk about it, the two camps went back and forth, and it was not to happen. So, that door is now shut” Hill said.
When asked if that meant forever, and that was the last nail in the coffin of any Skid Row/Sebastian Bach reunion? He responded, “Yeah. I believe so. I tell you what, our singer, ZP Theart…just call him ZP. He’s a brother. He’s a great f–king singer, he’s a great front man, he’s a guy I look forward to seeing, a guy I look forward to hanging out with. We trust him with the band that we’ve been in all this time and that is precious to us. We can go out and play and enjoy ourselves.”
Of course it is something the fans want to see? Fans wax nostalgic about the originals that created the magic being on stage together, but as we all know in this crazy rock n’ roll world isn’t always the fairy tale that we wish it could be. How did Hill respond about doing it for the fans?
“Not at the expense of my happiness, no. I’m sorry. It ain’t fucking happening.
We appreciate fans, we do. We’re probably the most fan friendly band you will every meet. We will go out in the cold, we’ll hang out with them, but what we won’t do is put ourselves in a volatile situation and be unhappy and destroy what we have now.”
While shutting down any hope the fans may have of a reunion ever happening, he did have this to say about Bach, “He’s not a rockstar, he’s a superstar. He’s great. I’ll speak for myself. He is a guy who will cut his own throat to do a good show. He puts it all out there. He’s a great singer and a great front man; one of the all time greats, but we’re not working together. To replace a guy like that? You realize what you’re up against. The records he did with Skid Row were great and he was a huge part of that.
Everybody is like ‘Oh, we’re on Skid Row’s side’ or ‘we’re on Sebastian’s side.’ No, you gotta be on the side of rock n’ roll. When Sebastian plays in your town, go see him, because he’s great. When Skid Row plays in your town, go see em, because I’m great (laughs), no because we will f–king blow your ass away”.
Skid Row are currently in the process of writing and demoing new songs for an upcoming record featuring ZP Theart on vocals. No time frame has been given for the release.
Listen to the interview below
13 Responses
I agree, Keith. If you love what you do for a living, then you never have to work. Why let a prima donna like Bach, and his drama, back in the business of Skid Row? I love their first two albums, too, but i hope the boys stick to their convictions and don’t reunite with Bach simply for a paycheck.
Jeez, regarding a reunion with Bach, how many times do we have to hear “Get The F-ck Out?!” 😉
It seems like the only time I hear about Skid Row is when they are denying Sebastian will be back. I would have no problem with a one-off tour to celebrate their past for the fans, because they did make some great music together. If Sebastian could keep his ego in check, agree that it is a one time tour, and everyone was respectful of the fans who put them on the map, it could be pulled off, and then everyone could continue with their business (as they’re asked 10,000 times if there’s new music in the works 😉
I think that you have identified the problem, T. Even if they could agree among themselves that it would only be a one time thing, every time they spoke to the music press, the questions would come up about a possible permanent reunion or new music. And everyone would compare the original band to both Bach’s and Skid Row’s current bands. How can that be a good thing? The best thing both sides can do is make a clean break, if they cannot reunite the right way. The whole “one time thing” is a joke! Look at how the Dokken thing worked out! At least they all admitted it was done for the money! They didn’t even try to say they were doing it for the fans. And, guess what, it showed in the way they performed!
Just to keep it real, but how big would a Skid Row reunion really be? I dig the band, but they were never selling out multi arenas or stadiums on their own in their biggest years. I would like to see the guys play again, but we’re not talking about a hundreds of millions of dollars reunion like Gn’R or even a successful tour like Motley in 05 or Kiss in 96. They’d be playing theaters and ballrooms. Bach himself is playing bars, clubs and fairs, and I don’t think the original members touring with him would make that much of a difference. The die hard fans would love it, but all the work and tension probably wouldn’t be worth it.
I think the tour would be much more successful on the East Coast, since the band is from New Jersey.