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Sebastian Bach Interview

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SEBASTIAN BACH INTERVIEW

“I THANK GOD FOR AXL ROSE FOR BRINGING ME ON TOUR!”

If glam metal has a Renaissance man, there's no doubt it's Sebastian Bach. As the frontman for the '90s hair-metal act Skid Row, he sold over twenty million records (and probably went through just as many cans of hairspray). However, when his peers cut their hair short and bought flannel shirts to try to remain relevant, Bach reinvented himself as a Broadway performer, television personality and, most recently, honorary Gilmore Girl. We caught up with Bach in Toronto while he was on tour with Guns N' Roses — although his St. Louis date is a solo show — and talked with him about his past, his future and what he's most thankful for this Turkey day. (Hint: It has cornrows.)

Jonah Bayer: First off, I wanted to tell you that my first show ever was seeing Skid Row open for Guns N' Roses on the "Use Your Illusion" tour.

Sebastian Bach: Yeah! [Laughs] Now we're coming again to rock you, dude.

Do you remember that tour pretty well?

Yup, I sure do. I just can't believe that I'm on the road with Axl again fifteen years later. That's really crazy.

How is it different this time around?

It actually feels a lot more the same. There's a lot more similarities to talk about than differences, because there's nothing like music that transports you to where you were when you first heard it. So when I'm in a big arena like I was last night in Baltimore, and there's thousands of people in front of me, and I'm singing "18 & Life," the only difference is that in 1991 people held up lighters and in 2006 they hold up cell phones.

How do you think the music industry has changed in the past fifteen years?

Well, the Internet has obviously been the biggest change. Back in '91 the first Skid Row album sold over ten million copies worldwide, and with Slave to the Grind we sold over seven million worldwide — and nobody now sells that many records. How people get their music now is completely different; people don't go into a store and buy CDs anymore. I've got a brand-new song called "Body Inside" that I started doing when we started playing with GNR in Europe, and it's got over 40,000 plays and it's not even out on any record. So people already know my new songs that are on my forthcoming album because of the Internet.

I heard you're also doing "My Michelle" with GNR on this tour. Is that fun for you?

It is fun, but it's also challenging vocally to do my whole set and then wait through Papa Roach and then come out at the end and scream at the top of my lungs again. [Laughs. ]

Obviously, you've been very involved in theater in the past decade. What's the biggest difference between performing at a rock show and a Broadway show?

Well, in rock & roll I am in control of my stage, and in Broadway the director or the producer have control. Like when I'm doing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, it's Andrew Lloyd Webber's thing, it's not Sebastian Bach's thing, you know? So that got kind of old for me, because I'm used to being in control. I love rock & roll. I love theater, too, but I've just had my fill of that for right now.

What's starring on Gilmore Girls like? I'd imagine that a lot of the younger viewers probably have never heard of Skid Row.

Yeah, well, I get noticed a lot for the Gilmore Girls. Walking down the street, little girls will say, "Are you that guy?" And I'm thinking they're saying, "Are you the guy from Skid Row?" and they're not — they're saying, "Are you that guy from the Gilmore Girls?" I think I get noticed more now because of that show.

Honestly, between Supergroup and all your other appearances, it's really difficult to keep track of everything you've been up to in the past few years.

[Laughs] Yeah, that's good. I like that. Well, dude, all that TV and acting stuff I do enjoy, but rock & roll is my first love by far, so right now I'm concentrating on that. I'll definitely do more TV in the future — I'm doing another episode of the Gilmore Girls next week, actually — but rock & roll is where my heart is.

You have a solo record coming out next year. Was it hard to find the time to record that will your schedule?

Yeah, we actually recorded it when we were on the European Guns N' Roses tour, and then we went to LA for three weeks and recorded, and then we went right back on tour. It's not totally finished yet, musically it is and vocally it's probably at about 95 percent. I just have a little more work to do on it.

How would you describe the way it sounds?

It sounds new. I always try to make something that sounds different, but I also want you to be able to put it in your iPod and have it make sense with all the other stuff I've put out — except for the Last Hard Men [bach's supergroup featuring members of the Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins and the Frogs], because that doesn't make sense at all. [Laughs.]

Is your set on this tour mostly hits from Skid Row, or are you doing a lot of solo stuff?

Yes and yes. [it's weird] when people ask me if I'm doing Skid Row songs, because it's almost like people are saying you're the first person to do your own songs. Ozzy Osbourne plays "Paranoid" every night and nobody ever says, "Are you going to do 'Paranoid?'" Yeah, he is. Well, Sebastian Bach does "Youth Gone Wild"; that's how he works.

Do you still like playing those old Skid Row songs live?

Yeah, I sold twenty million records; I'm not going to not do those songs. [Laughs] What the fuck would that be? That would suck.

I guess it just seems a little strange because the other members of Skid Row are out there playing those songs right now, too.

But you're acting like this is the first time this has happened in music. Every single band you can think of has gone through this. David Lee Roth plays "Running with the Devil" and so does Eddie Van Halen; Tony Iommi plays Black Sabbath songs and so does Ozzy. I'm not the first guy in rock to have a solo career.

Understood. Well, Thanksgiving's right around the corner: What is Sebastian Bach most thankful for this year?

I thank God for Axl Rose for bringing me on tour. Welcome to the jungle of the youth gone wild; we're gonna tear it up. Rock & roll is back, mother trucker — that's what I want to say.

Article at: http://music.riverfronttimes.com/issues/20...ic/music_1.html

Another Sebastian interview: VELVET REVOLVER Can't Do 'Welcome To The Jungle' Because WEILAND Can't Sing It

Ross Raihala of TwinCities.com recently conducted an interview with former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach. A few excerpts from the chat follows:

On what it's like to be back playing arenas:

"It was the most amazing thing for Axl to ask my band to join the tour. It's something I've waited for for a long time. I get offers to do those package tours, the nostalgia-oriented ones, but I always say no. But GUNS N' ROSES, that one I'll do. I'm very, very lucky. There's a lot of firsts on this tour for me. We got to play a sold-out Madison Square Garden. There have been a lot of places I've never played before, and for an old guy like me, it's great."

On what Axl's like behind the scenes:

"He likes to laugh. He likes to joke around, like, a lot. And he's got the most unique voice I've ever heard. His speaking voice is this low baritone, Clint Eastwood kind of a voice. And then when he laughs, it's like a boy soprano's highest note that comes out. You know, he's singing better than ever now, and that's a fact. That's one thing about Axl people forget. He is one of the best rock 'n' roll singers that ever lived."

On the sometimes long wait from his solo set to "My Michelle":

"Well, I've been on the road since June. And, you know, that whole 'My Michelle' thing is great. I sing my own stuff, then wait two or three hours and jump up there and scream even harder. I've been doing that every day. It's good work if you can get it. The one thing I've learned about myself — and I learned this when I did 'Jesus Christ Superstar' — is that my voice is probably the strongest part about me. It's the rest of me that gets tired. My legs and my eyeballs and my arms and my brain. But my pipes are fine."

On his appearance on "SuperGroup":

"My favorite part of it was when I tell the powers that be to f— off. I just love that. And when they brought that stylist in, I'm, like, 'No, I'm not cutting my hair.' They tell me she cut Jennifer Lopez's hair. Dude, Sebastian Bach has cooler hair than Jennifer Lopez. I look at music as a form of self-expression. I don't need a stylist. Why doesn't she have her own band if she's such an expert? Whatever. My father was a famous painter, and as a little boy, I watched him wake up every day, get his paintbrush and paint all day. He did that 'til the day he died. My microphone is my paintbrush. That's what I do."

On getting the call to star in "Jekyll and Hyde" on Broadway:

"I was, like, 'Do you have the right phone number? Why are you calling me?' They sent the script, and I was on the road with my solo band playing some f——— dump. I was looking around at this club and thinking, hmmm, Broadway or this place? Honestly, though, I didn't think I could do it. The script is so thick, it's like 300 pages or some s—. It's all in old English, and there were these words I'd never heard before in my life. There's 17 songs, and I'm in every scene. But I had a lot of encouragement from people. And I loved doing it. It really was the highlight of my life."

On those who say the 2006 version of GUNS N' ROSES isn't the real thing:

"You know, you've got Slash and Duff doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs with Weiland (in VELVET REVOLVER). They can't do 'Welcome to the Jungle' because he can't sing it. Let's be honest. Then, you've got Axl doing 'Sweet Child o' Mine' and 'Rocket Queen' with some other dudes. I'd rather see Axl singing GUNS N' ROSES songs than Slash doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs. Nobody can sing 'Paradise City' like Axl Rose."

Story at: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/16123665.htm

Edited by Rainman
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Gallagher Rose SUPER GOD

Gallagher Rose

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On those who say the 2006 version of GUNS N' ROSES isn't the real thing:

"You know, you've got Slash and Duff doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs with Weiland (in VELVET REVOLVER). They can't do 'Welcome to the Jungle' because he can't sing it. Let's be honest. Then, you've got Axl doing 'Sweet Child o' Mine' and 'Rocket Queen' with some other dudes. I'd rather see Axl singing GUNS N' ROSES songs than Slash doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs. Nobody can sing 'Paradise City' like Axl Rose."

Amen to that..Fuckin' Amen!!

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.Seal GOD

.Seal

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On those who say the 2006 version of GUNS N' ROSES isn't the real thing:

"You know, you've got Slash and Duff doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs with Weiland (in VELVET REVOLVER). They can't do 'Welcome to the Jungle' because he can't sing it. Let's be honest. Then, you've got Axl doing 'Sweet Child o' Mine' and 'Rocket Queen' with some other dudes. I'd rather see Axl singing GUNS N' ROSES songs than Slash doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs. Nobody can sing 'Paradise City' like Axl Rose."

Amen to that..Fuckin' Amen!!

Indeed :shades:

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Negative_Creep Junior

Negative_Creep

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I always thought Bach to be a bit of a dumbass but that was the cleverest thing ive heard him say:-

"You know, you've got Slash and Duff doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs with Weiland (in VELVET REVOLVER). They can't do 'Welcome to the Jungle' because he can't sing it. Let's be honest. Then, you've got Axl doing 'Sweet Child o' Mine' and 'Rocket Queen' with some other dudes. I'd rather see Axl singing GUNS N' ROSES songs than Slash doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs. Nobody can sing 'Paradise City' like Axl Rose."

If you notice he doesnt actually answer the question to whether he thinks the 2006 line up is the real thing, he just prefers it to velvet revolver

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Guest Matt13

Guest Matt13

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LOL, what is he going to say?! He owes Axl SO MUCH right now, I really doubt he would have said he'd rather hear Slash and Duff play than Axl sing! :rofl-lol: I bet if he did, he'd be where EODM are right now.

Even if he didn't owe Axl anything, about 99% of GNR fans would agree with that statement. You're the 1% that probably doesn't. So don't create excuses for the man, he speaks the truth.

Sad, but true.

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kannon21 GOD

kannon21

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On those who say the 2006 version of GUNS N' ROSES isn't the real thing:

"You know, you've got Slash and Duff doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs with Weiland (in VELVET REVOLVER). They can't do 'Welcome to the Jungle' because he can't sing it. Let's be honest. Then, you've got Axl doing 'Sweet Child o' Mine' and 'Rocket Queen' with some other dudes. I'd rather see Axl singing GUNS N' ROSES songs than Slash doing STONE TEMPLE PILOTS songs. Nobody can sing 'Paradise City' like Axl Rose."

Amen to that..Fuckin' Amen!!

Indeed :shades:

Totally! rock3

Kannon.

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Patience 4 Axl LEGEND

Patience 4 Axl

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LOL, what is he going to say?! He owes Axl SO MUCH right now, I really doubt he would have said he'd rather hear Slash and Duff play than Axl sing! :rofl-lol: I bet if he did, he'd be where EODM are right now.

Even if he didn't owe Axl anything, about 99% of GNR fans would agree with that statement. You're the 1% that probably doesn't. So don't create excuses for the man, he speaks the truth.

Sad, but true.

99%? Based on what scientific or factual evidence? Sorry but numbers spurting out of your ass like diarrhea don't count.

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Dave10 Senior

Dave10

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Bach's awesome man, and I guarentee you that if there was a pole conducted, more people would want to see Guns N' Roses after they heard Axl sing, than Slash playing his guitar with no lead vocalist that could keep up with Axl on any song.

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Allen8R SUPER GOD

Allen8R

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Uch, Bach seriously needs to get his tongue out of Axl's ass, with every new interview he comes off as an even bigger tool.

Uch, you seriously need to get your head out of your big ass, with every post you make you come off as an even bigger tool

A8R

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bunbury_hmr

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Uch, Bach seriously needs to get his tongue out of Axl's ass

Well if Merck isnt around, than there are other idiots to kiss his ass after he finishes taking a shit.

I always wanted to see front row after Axl died to see where he goes (heaven or hell). Because too much bullshit eventually lands you somewhere. Hahaha.

Probably V.R. are laughing right now that they are lucky to have not hired Sebastian as a vocalist. This guy can turn into such a hypocrite once he gets offered other jobs. Its like his ego (oh that and his screechy ass voice) that ruined the idea of liking him. He was a nice guy, though lately his comments are just shit upon shit.

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3rd Wheel GOD

3rd Wheel

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not trying to be mean

but Bach always finds a way to upset me...not because of what he believes, I completely agree with the statement about how this is GNR. But the way he says it irks me. Nice guy probably, but he upsets me for some reason

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