SKID ROW's SNAKE: No One Has The Ability Anymore To Sit Down For An Hour And Listen To Full-Length Album

Rock 'N' Load conducted an interview with SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo on October 24 at Warehouse 23 in Wakefield, England. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about how commercial rock music has been affected by television singing competition shows like "American Idol" and "The X Factor", Sabo said: "Those shows have diluted what songwriting and music is about. On one level, it shows great songs being played, but I think what the audience gets out of it more is not that great songs are being sung, but the idea that a person can just go out and sing and become a pop star and not really realizing that writing a great song is an art form. And that's not to say that being a great singer isn't… it is. But there's more to it, and it can't be cookie cutter. And that's kind of what those shows have succeeded in diluting the power of writing great music, in a sense. I wish that the songs that they sang in those shows, that they showcased the songwriters as well, that they made mention of that, so people would realize that there's people behind these familiar songs that they're singing."

He continued: "I don't think that those things are realistic anymore in the world of music. First of all, everything is going to streaming services and stuff, so the idea of a No. 1-selling rock record is, I think, a thing of the past. I mean, the way people deliver music and the way it's monetized and distributed, it's completely different. And so the gauges are completely different."

Sabo added: "Johnny [Solinger, SKID ROW] had brought something up yesterday that this year not one artist has had a million-selling record in the United States. COLDPLAY came the closest, apparently. The only thing that sold over a million records is the soundtrack to the movie 'Frozen'. And so that's just a clear indication that we are in a different time. And that's okay — we don't lament the past. You have to adapt and navigate through what's thrown at you, and that's what we're doing. That's the reason why we're releasing EPs — you don't wanna overinundate people with too much music, 'cause they just don't have the time. We don't have the luxury of time. No one has the ability anymore to sit down for an hour with their headphones on and experience a new record. And that sucks. But that's life. People are working three times as hard for a third of the money these days. It's just a different economic landscape and people just don't have the luxury. Plus we're being just bombarded with information from every angle."

"Rise Of The Damnation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter Two", the latest EP from the current lineup of SKID ROW — Johnny Solinger (vocals),Scotti Hill (guitar),Rachel Bolan (bass),Dave "Snake" Sabo (guitar) and Rob Hammersmith (drums) — sold around 1,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD, which came out on August 5 via Megaforce Records, contains covers of QUEEN and AEROSMITH classics as bonus tracks.