SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan has shot down the rumor that he was the lone holdout on a proposed reunion with singer Sebastian Bach more than a decade ago. Speaking to Tulsa Music Stream, Bolan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s not just me. The three of us [me and guitarists Dave ‘Snake’ Sabo and Scotti Hill] all felt the same. But there’s plenty of rock and roll to go around for everyone. It’s just not something we wanna do.
“A lot of people say, ‘You can make so much more money’ [by reuniting with Sebastian] — well, not a lot of people, but a few people — and it’s not that much more. It’s really not that much more.
“I’m not gonna talk garbage about anyone,” Rachel continued. “[The split with Sebastian] just happened.
“We are so happy now, and we’re just moving in a forward direction non-stop. And it’s great. It’s so fun to be doing a career for as long as we have.”
When interviewer Scott Patterson pointed out that some of the other 1980s rock bands have been able to play stadiums in recent years, Bach concurred, saying: “Absolutely. POISON and Joan Jett, MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD… Yeah.”
Asked “what is wrong” with the SKID ROW guys that they won’t agree to reunite with Bach, Sebastian said: “Well, I have a manager named Rick Sales, and he protects my interests. So they’ve gotta deal with the business side of things, and they would rather maybe not deal with that, as far as I can tell — just not deal with that. But there’s always a number. I mean, we’re all still alive.”
“I am really, really happy where we are,” Snake continued. “I’m very proud of our past, and all due credit to everybody who’s been involved in every aspect of our career, whoever that may be, ’cause it all led to where we are now.
“I’ve been asked a thousand times: ‘What about the payday [of a reunion with Sebastian]?’ And that’s all well and good, but if that’s why I did this — if that’s why we did this; I can speak for everybody — we probably wouldn’t be doing it,” Sabo explained. “I wanna be happy, and I am very, very happy. And so are the guys; everybody’s really happy.
In 2021, Bach told Florida’s 98.7 The Gater radio station that “there’s no reason” for the classic SKID ROW not to reunite. “When those guys [in SKID ROW] try to say [about me], ‘He’s difficult to work with,’ let me just say this one more time. We have not been in the same room together since the year 1996,” he said. “Shut the eff up about you thinking you know what I’m like. You don’t know anything about what I’m like. And the ‘Gilmore Girls’ think I’m okay to work with; Broadway thinks I’m okay to work with; the ‘Trailer Park Boys’ think I’m okay; GUNS N’ ROSES think I’m pretty cool. We’re not getting any younger.”
Sebastian went on to say that a SKID ROW reunion “should” happen “for the fans. And we are absolutely running out of bands — bands that can play in sheds,” he said. “The fact that we are all still alive and we are all in our 50s — some closer to 60 than others — but that, to me, is selfish that we’re not together.
Three years ago, Bolan also confirmed that he and his bandmates “were entertaining the idea” of reuniting with Bach following Harnell‘s departure. But Rachel shot down the possibility of a rekindling of his friendship with Sebastian, explaining: “Well… Here’s the soundbite for Blabbermouth. I wouldn’t say we were friends [when we were in a band together]. We were bandmates. You know what I mean? We’re two very different people.” Bolan added that he hadn’t seen Bach “in years.”
Four years ago, Bach was asked by Rolling Stone what it would take for SKID ROW to be reunited. He responded: “It would take those guys to realize that I have a lifetime manager. His name is Rick Sales. I’ve been with him since 2006. They don’t want to deal with a guy like that. They want to give some singer who doesn’t have a manager $700 to $800 bucks a week. I’ve got a team that’s worked with me and don’t allow me to get fucked around. I didn’t have that team when I was 19 years old.”
Sebastian went on to say that SKID ROW was “close to reuniting, but then it didn’t happen. The fact that it didn’t happen obviously makes me somewhat bitter, because life is only getting shorter, as the song says,” he added.
“I wouldn’t say ‘came close,'” Bolan told Rolling Stone in an e-mail response to Bach‘s account of the reunion talks. “We entertained the idea. Snake and I went as far as talking with agents and promoters about money. But we quickly learned after a few text conversations, why we fired him in the first place. Nothing is worth your happiness and peace of mind.”
In 2021, Bach completed a U.S. tour during which he celebrated the 30th anniversary of SKID ROW‘s sophomore album, “Slave To The Grind”.