Sebastian Bach was sitting pretty high there for a while back in the late eighties. Rolling Stone actually dubbed the former SKID ROW vocalist "leader of the Heavy Metal nation." That nation crumbled as it was besieged by wave after wave of faceless alterna-rockers and mainstream rap until all that remains today are trace bits of musical nostalgia only occasionally exhumed on classic rock radio. It's almost sad, though there is plenty out there to keep Mom and Dad pulling hair out by the roots there was nothing as threatening as that whole Heavy Metal thing. I mean, how often do you hear of a "rap deprogramming camp?" Admittedly, Bach and SKID ROW represented the "pretty boy" side of the whole metal thing still, even the toughest guys in class somehow managed to hum along to what all the girls were screaming for songs like, "18 & Life," "Youth Gone Wild," and "I Remember You." How does all of this translate into early 2000? Remarkably well actually. Sebastian Bach retains every bit of the look and attitude of his eighties rocker persona yet he has managed to produce an album that masterfully bridges the gap between modern hard rock and what would otherwise be little more than a nostalgia trip. "BRING 'EM BACH ALIVE!" is Bach's first solo recording and showcases his new band both live, on classic SKID ROW material, as well as in the studio. There are seven new and ridiculously catchy hard rockers on the disc, in all, some of the best stuff that Bach has ever done. Audibly, the new material is easily identifiable as Sebastian Bach but the presentation is, well, it is a bit bizarre. The look of the new band is beyond strange even for heavy metal. A kind of a twisted VILLAGE PEOPLE. There are "The Indian," "The Drunk Monkey," "the Angel" (complete with seven foot wings!), the "Emperor of Rock" and Bach in his gold la-ma suit. Yeah, its weird but it still rocks and isn't that the point anyway? Bach and his troop of merry metal men will invade concert theatres across Europe, Asia and America in support of this new release and in anticipation of such things Sebastian rang the office to let us know how he plans to "save the world from lame rock and roll."

I can hear a lot of activity going on there at the Bach household.
Yeah. My band and about twelve road crew guys, it is like the GRATEFUL DEAD here, it's crazy! I got the whole band set up in the basement and we are jamming. That is where we did 'SLAVE TO THE GRIND" too.
Are you getting ready to gig tonight?
We are getting ready to gig but not tonight.
You will obviously be bringing the show back to the Mid-West then?
Yeah but now we have got a record out! The CD is called "BRING 'EM BACH ALIVE" and it came out November 2nd and is doing really good on the radio.
This has been years in coming, what was the holdup?
I had to get out of my record deal that I signed with my previous band and get a full solo record deal going so, with all of the paperwork that, that entails it did take a while.
Right. I think that the last time that I had a chance to see youp lay live was with that THUNDERFEST band that you were doing one offs with. . .
Yeah, that was a one off thing, that isn't my solo band. Yeah, that was weird(laughs).
It was a weird thing, in a hotel and all. The funniest thing about it was that you managed to shatter the crystal chandelier with your mic stand and it was like, "Oh here comes Bach with the flying glass again!"(laughs)
I know! It is always something! It is because I am so tall and lanky; shit just always gets busted with my hands flying all around.
You need to play the bigger halls so that less stuff gets broke.(laughs)
You won't be seeing me in too many hotels in the future, lets just put it that way.(laughs)
Not even Vegas?
Naw! But we will play other places in Vegas. When I am 75 I probably will be (playing hotels in Vegas) but I am only thirty-one so we got time yet!(laughs)
It's a long way from playing with MADAME X(Bach's pre SKID ROW band) in tiny little bars eh?
Yeah.
Well you have one of the guys from those days in the band with you now, right?
Wow, yeah Bam Bam. He is in my band now, Mark "Bam Bam" McConnell, he is on fire. When we toured in 98 with PANTERA, Vinnie Paul was like, "Man how many fuckin' pieces does your drummer have?" And for Vinnie Paul to say that. . . And Mark has always been a powerhouse. I am the luckiest guy in the world because I have Anton Fig from David Letterman's band on all of the studio tracks for "BRING 'EM BACH ALIVE" and Mark on all of the live stuff, two of the greatest drummers in the world.
There was talk of Anton playing with you in the live band as well, is that still a possibility?
It could happen. Last weekend we had both drummers set up in my rehearsal space and playing at the same time, it was insane! Totally unbelievable.
Sounds like an ALLMAN BROS gig or something.
Yeah, that's right! The heavy metal ALLMAN BROS(laughs). He might do that. Anton asked for a list of the dates and he is going to try and make it out and we will do a show or two with two drummers. That will definitely be one for the video because that is rare. We are going to try and make it happen, if he doesn't charge too much!(laughs)
Well, I don't know, he does have kind of an expensive gig to be taking time off from.
Yeah, right but he is worth it.
When you were putting the ideas together for this record did you originally intend for it to be partially live and partially studio material?
No, if it was up to me every record would be brand new studio material but Atlantic records asked me to put out a full live record because my tour really did do well last year. The reaction was really good from the crowd and they wanted to get that on tape but I asked them, told them, that I didn't want to put out "YOUTH GONE WILD" again because everybody has heard that and I need to put on some new songs and they were like, "Alright." So, it ended up being what you have there, seven songs brand new and ten live songs which is a good mix. I love putting on the live stuff because when I am stuck in traffic, I will put it on and I will here "Hello Tokyo!" and then I will hear the crowd go "Augghhh!!!" So, I can totally flip out while I am in traffic and just start laughing and nobody knows why!
Was it a bit surreal to play the song "Godzilla" in Tokyo?
Everybody asks that! You can hear how funny it is. When I say "There goes Tokyo" and the crowd goes wild, you feel like Godzilla!(laughs) Plus they are all kind of short over there and I am six foot five so when I walk down the street I look like Godzilla to them!(laughs) I have always loved that song.
As far as the SKID ROW material that made it, was it pretty much aforgone conclusion that it would all be the hits?
Some of it, definitely. When you are paying twenty bucks to come and see me at Harpo's you will definitely be wanting to hear "18 and Life"(laughs). It would kind of be like going to se KISS and they won't do "Rock and Roll All Night" that just shouldn't happen. The obvious ones are "Youth Gone Wild," "18 and Life," "I Remember You," "Monkey Business" and "Slave to the Grind" those are the ones that I have to do every show but on the record we had to whittle it down because we play for two hours. When they said a live record I thought it was going to be a two CD set and then they called up and said "No, it is going to be one CD" so, I had to chop out a lot more. On the new tour we are going to be doing some more obscure SKID ROW stuff like "Living on a Chain Gang" and some of the more heavy stuff from "SLAVE TO THE GRIND" that have never been played live. Of course we will be doing all of the new tracks. I don't know if you knew this but coming up on this tour my new guitar player with Ritchie Scarlet will be Paul Crook from ANTHRAX and he really shreds and that will make it a lot heavier. You should hear him play "Slave to the Grind" and "Monkey Business" he has got a really sick guitar sound.
That will be great to hear. What ever happened to THE LAST HARD MEN?
Basically, that is being argued about right now in legal circles. We did a song for the movie "SCREAM," Alice Cooper's "Schools Out" for the soundtrack and we also did, like, twenty-three songs that Atlantic paid for. It is me, Jimmy Chamberlain, from THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, Kelly Deal and Jimmy Flemion. It will come out someday but who owns it has to be figured out. People are fighting over it but can I tell you something? My new CD is better!(laughs) To be honest with you, it really is. I wouldn't want to confuse anybody.
That phase of music has passed anyway, don't you think?
The alternative phase? Yeah, definitely. Now it is RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and Kid Rock, I mean, you can't get more similar to me than Kid Rock, it is like I am the same dude!(laughs) I can't rap though! Rock is coming back anyway.
We have gone through a period where rock isn't the force that it had always been in music, do you really see it coming back or is that just John Kalodner's wet dream?
He is not really in the picture, he is all about retro, that guy. I am still putting out new music and he thinks that POISON going on tour is bringing back rock, that is not bringing back rock. You have got to make new music, that is the way that I look at it anyway. Nobody wants to hear 1987 songs, it is, "What have you done for me lately?" I don't think that it has come back to the point of being bigger than Rap, not even close but I do think that MTV has so much to do with what kids wear and when they play Brittany Spears and THE BACKSTREET BOYS all day, that is what is big and if they are going to play RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and LIMP BIZKIT then that is what is big but if they play SKID ROW all day that is what is big, that is just the way that it is. With Jesse, even though he is not there anymore, he really brought a lot of rock and roll back to MTV. Maybe if they start playing new rock bands videos, then maybe but there is no point in a guy like me spending 250 grand for a video that no one is ever going to see. THE BACKSTREET BOYS are flying around in space and shit like that, those are million dollar videos and that has a lot to do with it.
When you are talking about live music those groups that you mentioned don't have much to offer other than dancing in front of a pre-recorded track, do you think that those guys will ever be able to have any lasting connection with an audience like rock bands always have? I mean, there is a certain amount of infallibility to rock and roll that Rap and Pop could never have, do you agree?
Absolutely. I feel sorry for those kids who never got to see an early VAN HALEN or KISS or Ted Nugent any real rock music. There is no singing anymore, everything is yelling and shouting and rapping and that is real boring to a guy like me. I mean, I love the energy and stuff but it would be nice if there was a good singer that would come along and really captivate everybody. That is the path that I am on, when I am long dead you will be able to say, "Well, he could sing at least!" When I see LIMP BIZKIT live at Woodstock I love the power of the guitars and drums but the singing is really just so easy and simple. I could do that line lying on my back, I come from a completely different thing with Bon Scott and Rob Halford, those are the singers that I look up to and that is hard to find these days. If you thought that VANILLA ICE was a bad white rapper, you don't want to hear Sebastian Bach ever rap!(laughs)
No, I definitely wouldn't.
Yeah, it is rock. Rock riffs and rock drums and kick ass rock!(laughs)
I listen to music for emotion and I get zero emotion from rap. When I listen to Rob Halford sing "Beyond the Realms of Death" or Janis Joplin sing a song, if I am in the right mood, it can reduce me to tears. The sound of the voice and the guitars, it is like Jimi Hendrix did "Little Wing" and it is so emotional and I don't get that same thing from, "My name is what? My name is what? My name is what?" It is a complete fucking joke and is so far removed from "Take another little piece of my heart" it is just something else. I don't know, I listen to music to emotionally escape from the day to day world that we live in and if I can't get into the music, then what the fuck good is it?
That is why I love RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, they are so heavy and cool and you can turn it up and it rocks the whole world, I really love that.
What they are doing is so organic too, no loops and samples or producers behind the scenes making the music that the vocalist raps over.
Yeah, it is rock. Rock riffs and rock drums and kick assrock!(laughs)
None more rock!(laughs)
That is it!(laughs) That is it and it is heavy.
Alright. I have to ask you about some of this incredible liner artwork in the CD, your pop did that, didn't he?
That's right. My dad, David Bjerk, he did the cover of "SLAVE TO THE GRIND" and the inside cover of "SUBHUMAN RACE" and now he did the paintings that you see there in "BRING EM' BACH ALIVE." He didn't do the comic book though.
Do you have the original of this painting in your house or something?
The Christ painting?
Yeah.
Not the original, I think that is in an art gallery in New York or something. That painting is just so totally beautiful.
You seem to have a great relationship with your dad and you both have worked in the art field so when the time comes are you going to steer your two sons towards or away from the arts?
I will let them make that decision. Everybody is individually different. They have had such a crazy life living with me as their dad. Not crazy but different from their friends. My kids have been on the road with PANTERA and VAN HALEN and sleeping in tour busses, so it is not exactly normal. When I asked my oldest son what he wanted to do when he grew up he said that he wanted to work in a convenience store!(laughs) I am like "Right on Dude!" Because he wants to do something different than me. I am like "There is nothing wrong with that!" I did say "Dude, don't just work there, own the fuckin' thing!" Well, I didn't say "fuckin'"(laughs).
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