SKID ROW's DAVE 'SNAKE' SABO Picks KISS's PAUL STANLEY As His 'Rock God'

SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was the featured guest on BBC's "The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker" during the "Rock God" segment. Snake picked KISS frontman Paul Stanley and stated about his choice (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "My first concert ever was KISS at Madison Square Garden December 16th, 1977. I was traveling with my buddy Jon Bon Jovi, and we went into that concert and I walked out a completely changed person. It actually altered my life. And I've been obsessed with KISS ever since.

"In the year 2000, SKID ROW had the opportunity to tour the United States with KISS, and it was the culmination of a lifelong dream.

"Paul Stanley wrote the book on what a rock god should be."

As previously reported, SKID ROW will support KISS on select European tour dates this spring and summer. SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station about the opportunity: "When we got these new KISS dates, the 12-year-old me was kind of freaking out pretty hard — again. I think we're one of, or probably the only band that could say we're playing both their farewell tours. [Laughs] But it's so exciting to go out with the band, especially just zeroing in on Gene Simmons. He's the reason I even picked up a bass in the first place; he's the reason why I learned what a bass was. I had no idea. It's a pretty great feeling to be asked to do something like this. Now that they're down to their final 50 shows and to know we will be doing a decent amount of 'em, a big chunk of 'em, it's hard to kind of process. It's really cool."

Snake added that seeing KISS at Madison Square Garden in 1977 "was the most insane experience of my life. Especially being 13 years old, to sit there and to be able to experience something like that, the enormity of it, how bombastic it was, it was incomprehensible," he explained. "And so when I got home, I knew that I was going to do something in the music business. I didn't know what it was gonna be — I didn't play an instrument; I had no clue — but a year later I picked up the guitar and nothing's changed since then. I knew exactly what I wanted to do from the seventh grade in high school."

Four years ago, Bolan said that he was not convinced KISS's "End Of The Road" tour will actually mark retirement for the 1970s theatrical rock behemoths.

The New Jersey rockers go back a long way with KISS, with a dispute over whether to tour with the New York icons said to have played a part in the departure of classic-era SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach in 1996.

At the time "End Of The Road" was first announced, KISS claimed each show on the tour would be the band's final visit to that city.

"Man, I have the feeling it's not gonna be their farewell tour," Bolan told the "White Line Fever" podcast in a 2019 interview. "If you remember, in 2000, we played [KISS's first] farewell tour. We opened up for them on the farewell tour, and we were out with them for about nine months. So I have a feeling, as long as they can keep doing it… Maybe it'll take a break, maybe it'll be a decent hiatus, but I have a feeling we're not gonna see the last of KISS."

Offering his feelings upon learning that the band was planning to stop touring, Bolan said: "Being such a huge KISS fan, it's sad in a way, but they've been doing it a long time."

SKID ROW released its sixth studio album, "The Gang's All Here", in October 2022. Helmed by Grammy Award-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz, the album reached Top 20 chart positions in nine countries worldwide. The band also completed a tour of Europe this fall, as well as a Las Vegas residency with rock icons SCORPIONS last spring.

"The Gang's All Here" marked the introduction of SKID ROW's latest addition, Swedish-born singer Erik Grönwall, who famously went from auditioning for the competition show "Swedish Idol" back in 2009 by singing a cover of SKID ROW's "18 And Life" to now fronting the band.

Grönwall joined SKID ROW as the replacement for ZP Theart, who had been in the group for more than six years.