SKID ROW Guitarist Says Reunion With SEBASTIAN BACH Would Not Be A 'Pleasurable' Experience

SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo says that a reunion with singer Sebastian Bach would not be a "pleasurable" experience.

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY.

In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger.

SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I.

Asked in a brand new interview with SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" how close SKID ROW came to reuniting with Bach after Harnell's exit from the band, Sabo said: "Pretty close… You know what? I said 'pretty close,' and that's actually not true. Because we didn't get beyond text messaging each other, to be quite honest. The same old stuff just seemed to exist where there was this confrontational sort of demeanor going back and forth between myself and Sebastian.

"I'm so proud of what we were able to create throughout the entire history of this band, and that will never change," he continued. "But some things just don't work anymore and people go their separate ways and you can't get that back together. And I'm fine with that.

"I play music to be happy," Sabo added. "I don't play music for a paycheck. It's great to get paid to do what you love. But I've never done it for the money. It's always been about my love of music, and that's what it still is. At my old crusty age, it's still because I love the guitar and I love creating. And I love the response. I love being able to connect in some way with an audience. That's why I started playing music — because I didn't know how to communicate, so it came out through music, through songs.

"Playing with [ZP] in the band has brought a real joyousness back to our lives. You can see it — it's not faked or phony. You can see it when we play. And that's what I live for — I live for those moments of just absolute joy.

"A reunion [with Sebastian] would have been great for a lot of other people who have wanted to see that happen," Snake said. "But for us, it would not have been pleasurable, to be quite honest."

**Update**: After this article was first posted on BLABBERMOUTH.NET earlier today, Sebastian took to his Twitter to respond. He wrote: "Blabbermouth.net Makes Rock n' Roll Not a 'Pleasurable' Experience . Nice try on the character assassination guys. Keep dreaming of 26 years ago"

He added in a separate tweet: "Wow holy slow news day. I am actually accusing Blabbermouth of this shit daily. I have not been in a room with SKID ROW since 1996. There is no possible way any one of the members of SKID ROW could know what any 'experience' with me is like 23 years after being in a room with me."

This past December, Bach slammed his former bandmates, telling Ultimate Classic Rock in an interview: "God bless 'em, starting your 'new' band in your fuckin' late 50s — way to go. You're starting your new band in your late 50s. Most musicians, in their late 50s, are fucking playing to the fans that put them there, giving the people what they want. I didn't invent that phrase.

"The reason I get pissed off is because we still get the royalty checks and I get a tremendous sense of guilt when I get these checks because I know the fans want a fuckin' deluxe edition, just like GUNS N' ROSES," Bach said. "I can't even complete a group text with these guys. I don't understand it, because we don't even have to like each other to put out an old record. I don't get it. It's like banging your head against the wall."

Bach went on to say that he was once "very, very close" with his SKID ROW bandmates and he took issue with the widespread belief that he is hard to work with. "You've had seven fucking singers — maybe you're hard to work with," the singer said. "My [solo] band's been the same for 10 years or 15 years; same band. No problem in four Broadway shows and a cast of 70 people, 'Gilmore Girls'… they don't think I'm hard to work with. Netflix loves working with me. 'Trailer Park Boys', fucking eight seasons — they don't think I'm hard to work with. Maybe those guys are fucking hard to work with."

Bach added: "It's just a shame because our fans would like it, and there's no reason why not to."

Bach joined SKID ROW in 1988 as the replacement for the band's original lead singer Matt Fallon, who sang on demo versions of songs that were eventually re-recorded for SKID ROW's first LP.

SKID ROW's 1989 multi-platinum, self-titled effort featured the Top 10 hits "18 And Life" and "I Remember You" and was supported by a six-month tour with BON JOVI.

Following his departure from SKID ROW, Bach started performing in Broadway shows like "Jekyll & Hyde" and "The Rocky Horror Show", and appeared on television shows, including "Gilmore Girls" and VH1 reality show "SuperGroup". He also pursued a solo musical career, most recently releasing the 2014 album "Give 'Em Hell".

Thanks: Bob Suehs of Rock N Roll Experience