John Parks of Legendary Rock Interviews recently conducted an interview with SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Legendary Rock Interviews: I literally just listened to the [new SKID ROW EP, “United World Rebellion – Chapter One”] a couple hours ago for the first time and I am diggin it. It doesn’t sound like a dated production but it almost feels like it picks up where “Slave To The Grind” left off.
Rachel: That’s awesome.
Legendary Rock Interviews: Was it on your mind that you wanted it to have that spirit but have the feel of the 2013 band?
Rachel: You know, I’d like to say that we are that smart and we could think of that [laughs], but I think we knew we should go back to our roots. Our last record (2006’s “Revolutions Per Minute”) was so experimental. People thought it was weird. We did too, but it’s just a thing where every now and then in your career you’ve gotta make a weird record. When Snake [SKID ROW guitarist] and I were writing for this first EP, we purposely didn’t listen to the radio and instead we listened to the stuff that influenced us growing up, the stuff that, basically, helped us write the first two records. That’s how we did it this time around, and this is what came out of it, and the more stuff we write, the more it feels like we’re back in the groove of things. It’s weird, man — when you have a career that spans a long time, it becomes really easy to get far away from your roots. If you make a conscious effort to try and pay attention to what your musical roots were, it seems like stuff starts coming out. I’m really glad to hear you say that about “Slave”, because as we were recording that, we all kept saying that like “Man, this is kinda like ‘Slave To The Grind’.” We are stoked.
Legendary Rock Interviews: I haven’t talked to you guys since I spoke with Johnny Solinger [SKID ROW singer] and was subsequently banned from all future events involving your former lead singer [Sebastian Bach] …who couldn’t remember your name.
Rachel: [laughs] Right……
Legendary Rock Interviews: Do you think at this point that whole lead singer conversation is sort of a dead issue? Johnny has been on enough albums and played enough live shows that I would hope people have gotten the point.
Rachel: I agree. Johnny‘s been in the band for almost 14 years; I believe people understand that he’s the lead singer of SKID ROW. It’s pretty obvious. These EPs will be the third album, so to speak, that we’ve put out with Johnny. Granted, there has been a lot of time between each one, but, really, it was like that with the first two albums as well. That’s just how we work and that’s part of the reason we’ve decided to release a series of EPs instead of one full-length record. Johnny is here to stay, and if people aren’t getting it by now, they are probably never gonna get it. I mean, I know people who still won’t listen to AC/DC because Bon Scott isn’t singing [laughs], which is just absolutely ridiculous but… true.
Legendary Rock Interviews: I heard Snake on Eddie Trunk [radio show] a few days back clarify a few of the reunion rumors that were kind of floated out there last year, which was nice because one of the things that is consistently mentioned by bystanders is that you were the lone holdout of the reunion and everyone else is on board. Obviously, you can give me a “no comment” and I totally understand, but I st
ill want to ask you directly for those fans who continue to claim this. Is there any truth to the sentiment that there is some exclusive beef that is is strictly between you and [Sebastian]?
Rachel: I’d really rather not talk about him, but I can say I think everybody has a beef with him, honestly. I know what it’s like from this side, meaning Snake, Scotti [Hill, SKID ROW guitarist] and myself, and I know all of our feelings towards that, but we just choose to ignore his comments, because it really doesn’t matter.
Read the entire interview from Legendary Rock Interviews.
Source: www.blabbermouth.net