Inevitably if anyone associated with Skid Row past or present is interviewed, they’re going to be asked about a possible reunion with longtime singer Sebastian Bach. The band recently had to split with a very talented singer in Erik Gronwall due to the frontman’s health issues surrounding his recovery from cancer.
Halestorm guitarist/singer Lzzy Hale filled in for the band on a handful of dates, but is unable to commit to touring with the group full time due to her prior obligations.
Skid Row guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo recently appeared on “The Bad Decisions” podcast, and he shared an update on the band’s singer situation, and if he would ever consider bringing Bach back into the fold.
“Well, we’re on the lookout right now for our next singer,” Sabo said with a laugh. “Erik, our last singer, was great. We did a record with him, we toured with him a lot. A fantastic singer and a really good guy. But Erik was coming off of just dealing with leukemia and with that, like a cancer survivor, he had to get bone marrow transplants. And luckily it worked and he was able to beat the cancer. But with the bone marrow transplant, it’s like you’re instituting a brand new immune system to your body. So you essentially have the immune system of a young child. And with that comes a myriad of issues. What would be a cold to us could be the equivalent of pneumonia to him. So the thing was that he needed to be as close to his doctors as possible, and they’re based in Sweden, as he is.”
“… We weren’t able to come up with a solution that could make sure that he’s okay from a health perspective and yet still go out and make a living playing music as Skid Row.”
On auditioning new singers Sabo added: “We’ve been slowly taking our time, but we’ve been auditioning quite a few people. We’re still auditioning. I have a feeling that we’re pretty close, but we’re not jumping the gun real fast. We’re just gonna make sure that we are a hundred percent in agreement — not just with the guys in the band, but with the people that work around us as well. And so that’s where we’re at.”
When it comes to Bach, however, Sabo said that door remains closed.
“I’m not gonna go out there and do it and fake it for the blank check,” the guitarist said. “I’ve never been about that. Rachel’s never been about that, and Scotti’s never been about that. So we’re not gonna do it. And there’s been a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, just do it for the money.’ It’s, like, man. No. I’m just not built like that, man. And I’m smart enough — we all are smart enough to make sure that we’ve done okay with what we’ve made. And look, I don’t live lavishly by any stretch of the imagination, but I could take care of my family. I don’t worry about the future from a monetary standpoint. And so I’m really fortunate like that. And it’s because that’s been my viewpoint all along. It’s never been about, ‘We’ve gotta make a buck.’ It’s always been about, if we do things and we’re genuine and we stay true to our character, to our spirit — and this is gonna sound weird — and we are selfish songwriters. And what I mean by that is that we are writing for ourselves. We’re not writing for anybody else. And then you hope that the way that you translate how you feel through music and lyrics and melodies and performance will have a positive effect on people and thus they’ll wanna come see and hear this music. And that’s what we’ve always done.”
Sabo’s full interview can be viewed below.
