RIP-November 1989

So many times you see a picture, read an interview or watch a video and form conclusions based on these tidbits of information. Often the information is filtered, reshaped to twist and contort the story being told.

But Skid Row do things their way or no way at all. Their self-titled debut is in Billboard’s Top 20 and shows no signs of weakening. Their opening slot on the Bon Jovi tour has exposed them to hundreds of thousands of fans-fans who, after a taste, want much more. The demand for the Skids is so great that, at one point during the Jovi tour, they took ten days off to headline their own tour of Japan. Not too shabby for a band that’s less than two years old...

Skid Row are, and it’s emphasized by everyone in their organization, a band. A band that, through its collective effort, is on its way to the top. The four New Jersey homeboys-guitarists Dave “The Snake” Sabo and Scotti Hill, bassist Rachel Bolan, and drummer Rob Affuso-met Canadian-bred vocalist Sebastian Bach after scouting the country looking for the fifth and final piece of the machine. And things worked out just fine.

Or as fine as things get when you’re dealing with a character like Sebastian Bach. Bach, whose latest court appearance stems from a physical confrontation with a concert security officer, is, literally, a youth gone wild. He’s been arrested at least five times during the Bon Jovi tour alone, most often for onstage obscenities.

Are the arrests and reputation all hype? In this exclusive RIP interview, Bach pulls no punches, telling all like it is. He may possess baby faced, angelic looks, but there’s a glint of the devil hiding behind those hazel eyes...

RIP: Sebastian, I’ve heard some stories about you. Why don’t we start with your exhibitionist tendencies. Why don’t we begin with your pants. For a bunch of guys who stated on their record sleeve that they don’t apologize for anything, I understand, from a very reliable resource ( Scotti Hill, guitarist ), that the band made you apologize for exposing yourself to a crowd.

Sebastian: My thumbs were on my suspenders and they slipped...or so I told everyone. See, the whole thing about Skid Row is that we never had any money, and I still don’t have any money. I only have one pair of pants to wear onstage. I’ve had them for like six years. I wear them every night, and they keep ripping and ripping and getting repaired...occasionally. One of these days I’ll have to break down and buy a new pair of pants. It doesn’t seem to hurt me when they fall down. It didn’t hurt Jim Morrison.

RIP: Speaking of your pants and controversy, what is it about you guys that seems to draw trouble?

Sebastian: I don’t want to be taken as some cliché-fuck, bad-boy rock star. And any self-respecting, red-blooded American is going to defend himself in a fight, and I don’t want to be Mr. Tough Guy and all this shit I’ve read in rock magazines for some ten years. Any kid who grew up on Ted Nugent or Motley Crue or David Lee Roth, it’s bred into you not to take shit. That’s what rock n’ roll is all about. It’s about freedom and being young and living life the way you want to live it. It’s kind of a hedonistic thing for someone who needs to do it. That’s what music is for. The business isn’t for people who want to do it, but for people who need to do it. I need man, I need bad! It’s such a release sexually. It’s aggressive. It’s everything I wanted to do when I was going to school, when I carried a Kiss poster and sang “Dr. Love” on the school playground jungle gyms. I said to myself back then, “Someday, I’m going to be doing that too.” And here I am...

RIP: You mentioned the sorts of things you didn’t like reading about in magazines. If you had your druthers, what angle would you like to see taken with an article?

Sebastian: I would like it to be about five guys who are serious about their music and aren’t in it for a million girls or be the big fucking party dudes on the block. I love to party-I think any guy in any band does. It’s nothing new-but I would rather be respected for musical integrity with the band, not for how big the bulge in my pants is. That’s always fun in stories, but there’s no talent in that. I would like to be respected as a vocalist and a performer, not some guy who can blow all the coke on the table. Drugs are something you do or don’t do. There’s no talent in that. I’d rather be recognized for being a good vocalist, one that means every single lyric that he sings.

RIP: The album has been out for months now, and it’s doing phenomenally. It’s the fastest-selling debut record in Atlantic’s history since Led Zeppelin. Not only do you have great music to support the pre- and post-release media, but also you’re supporting and holding your own on the hottest ticket on the road right now [Bon Jovi]. Let’s face it, Skid Row is, by all definitions, a successful band and will continue to be so for some time. So what’s it like looking back to the past and all the people there?

Sebastian: I have so many people I grew up with that always just basically laughed at me for having long hair and wearing a Van Halen button or something while they were listening to Men At Work. I was the only kid in my class who had the balls to stand behind what I believed in.

Teachers would call up my parents and ask, “Do you realize that your son has a reputation of being a rocker?” My parents are going, “Great.”

I can remember being taunted by people, saying, “You’re doing nothing with your life.” I shot back to them, “Fuck you man, you just wait. One day, when you’re parents, your kids will be dying to come see one of my shows!” Now all of these same people who said those things are calling my mom and dad and asking, “Hey, I hear your son’s playing Madison Square Gardens. Any chance of passes?” My mom’s a nice lady. She’d call me up and say, “What about so and so...” I told her to call them right back and say, “Fuck you!”

I don’t forget-especially faces.

I can remember a policeman that really pissed me off. I was 16 in Toronto, and my favorite band was Hanoi Rocks with Mike Monroe. It was December, and it was their second to last gig before [drummer] Razzle got killed [in an ‘84 car accident with Vince Neil, vocalist of Motley Crue]. I can remember walking into The Yombo Combo with an armband on. This cop asked me to come over and show him my ticket. He then proceeded to rip it up right in front of my face. I was like, how could you do that to me because of the way I look? I just wanted....to...kill...him. I wanted to kill him so much. Some fucking has-been, who has nothing better to do than be some fucking short-haired asshole, tells me I can’t go see my favorite band that I worshipped. Then the next week the band disintegrates. Stuff like that really pisses me off.

Now I got cops working for me every night. It’s so funny. The security guards in front of me will be facing the crowd, and I’ll be behind them. I’m seeing the crowd. I can tell what’s going on. I can see when the guards are harassing them for something or another, and then all of a sudden I’ll kick them in the back of the head. I do this right in front of 20,000 people. The crowd starts screaming, “YEAHHHH!” I can’t believe I get to do that. It’s such a great feeling of power. Very intense.