Currently on tour, iconic metal vocalist Sebastian Bach brings his years of experience, talent, and fun-loving charisma to local stages throughout the summer. Realizing his days as the vocalist for Skid Row are behind him, Bach has maintained a steady presence in heavy metal circles as well as through new, exciting ways (Broadway, television, reality shows).
I’ll let you know, first off, that I don’t plan on asking you about Skid Row. That was then.
Wow! What a concept!
I’d imagine it’s something you and a lot of other musicians come up against a lot, being compared to something so far in the past.
It’s fucking annoying and it’s depressing. I don’t understand it, but I just have to face it; it’s not a perfect world. I can go on XM Radio with Eddie Trunk and I’ll put the phone down and say, ‘You know what? I fucking hate doing interviews!’ I mean, that’s what it makes me think. My buddy, Axl Rose, doesn’t do any and I understand why sometimes. It’s like, fuck this shit. People don’t understand that musicians are human beings.
I would just like to say to Eddie Trunk–hindsight’s always 20/20 and I get blindsided sometimes by interviewer’s questions–but I’d just like to say to Eddie Trunk: Dude, why don’t you hang out with the same four dudes that you hung out with in 1989? I mean, why? Why don’t you hang out with them? When are you guys getting back together? Like, I don’t understand why you don’t hang out with the same guys you hung out with in high school? (Laughs)
At some point you want to throw the phone at the wall! But that’s life. And I also don’t get the whole concept of basing what you do on what everybody else does. I mean, Eddie Trunk’s yelling at me, ‘David Lee Roth is in Van Halen!’ Well, if David Lee Roth jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge would I fucking jump off? I don’t base what I do on what David Lee Roth does. I live my own life and do my own thing and that’s the way it always will be.
Especially since you’ve gone on to do so many other, diverse things since then. Is it that some people don’t think of expanding their horizons and trying new things?
It’s just so weird. I mean, I look at a guy like Robert Plant who could easily join Led Zeppelin right now and make tons of money but instead, he chooses to tour with Alison Krauss and he’s still doing amazing. This is what you should expect from me. This is what I respect out of a musician, somebody that doesn’t just rely on easy stuff, somebody that challenges themselves and fans and band, and everybody around them.
I mean, like, what’s the next stop? Branson, Missouri? What, am I going to go out with the fucking Osmond’s? (Laughs) Not me, man!
