SKID ROW's RACHEL BOLAN Gets A Little Help From Friends On Punk-Oriented First Solo Album, 'Gargoyle Of The Garden State'

By David E. Gehlke

It's probably not a bad time for bassist Rachel Bolan to release a solo album while SKID ROW is still sorting through applicants for their open singer position. The revolving door of SKID ROW lead singers (note: Lzzy Hale would have been perfect for the spot) and recurrent calls for Sebastian Bach's return have sometimes taken away from a discography that still holds up and more recently includes 2022's well-oiled "The Gang's All Here", the lone LP to feature Erik Grönwall. Whatever the case, SKID ROW remains in a state of inactivity not seen since Bach was fired in 1996, leading the band to rebrand themselves as OZONE MONDAY, before returning to the SKID ROW moniker with Bach's replacement, Johnny Solinger, in 1999.

Bolan's new "Gargoyle Of The Garden State" LP marks his first venture as a solo artist after over 40 years in the business, and it's stocked with some friendly faces in the form of all of his current SKID ROW bandmates, SLIPKNOT's Corey Taylor, EXTREME's Nuno Bettencourt, Danko Jones and Steve Conte, not to forget a production job by the in-demand Nick Raskulinecz. The collective adds some muscle and diversity to an otherwise straight-ahead, rock-oriented affair that shows Bolan (who handles the bulk of the lead vocals) can still bust out a catchy tune (see: "At War With Myself", "Bridges" and "Big Stick") with a clear punk edge, owing plenty to MISFITS, THE CLASH and RAMONES. Punk and songwriting are in Bolan's blood, which were just a few of the topics when he caught up with BLABBERMOUTH.NET.

Blabbermouth: Can you speak to the importance of punk and what it's meant to your career and musical development?

Rachel: "It's a huge influence on me. I'm the fourth out of four kids. Everyone had their niche. My oldest sister was into all the British bands, like the BEATLES and HERMAN's HERMITS, which I grew to love hearing from her room. My brother was into Miles Davis, CHICAGO and [Jimi] Hendrix and stuff like that. My other sister was into singer/songwriters like Melanie, James Taylor, Carly Simon and that ilk. I loved all of it. Then, I heard punk rock after I was already a KISS fan and an Alice Cooper fan. I heard THE RAMONES for the first time when I got a little older. I was like, 'Wow. It really called to me. Then, friends would turn me on to THE DAMNED and SEX PISTOLS and DEAD KENNEDYS and THE CLASH. It was an energy that I connected with. Ever since I was a kid, I loved all music, but punk rock is literally my jam."

Blabbermouth: Punk, here and there, has seeped into SKID ROW. What made now the right time to do a punk solo album?

Rachel: "The punk influence is definitely in there, as is a metal influence and pop influence, for what it's worth. [SKID ROW's Dave] 'Snake' [Sabo] and I are the main songwriters, and both our influences are there. Then, when the guys get a hold of the songs, their influences come in. This was just me. It's going to be whatever comes out of me and my brain. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on there. [Laughs] That's what's coming out musically. I didn't sit down — punk is an influence, and it's not like I'm purposely trying to write like this. It's what's coming out. For people to view it as punk, that's great. I love it. To me, it's a badge of honor. It's cool. I hear a lot more in there than just punk, but if people call it punk, I'm down with that."

Blabbermouth: You handle most of the lead vocals here. Is it something you've done to this extent before?

Rachel: "I had a band called the QUAZIMOTORS when I lived in Atlanta. The guitar player and I would sing, so it's not anything brand new. I put out an album with another band I had, where I was the singer, PRUNELLA SCALES, but that was a band-band. I played a lot of the instruments myself on this record, the rhythm guitars and bass, and did most of the singing. These songs are pretty tailored to the way I can sing. I sit down and write them with myself in mind. So, it's really cool that people even ask the question and are recognizing me as a vocalist. Me? I always say I'm not a vocalist. I'm more of a stylist. [Laughs] It's not something I sit around thinking about. This is just raw, whatever comes out, comes out."

Blabbermouth: Do you like it?

Rachel: "I do. It's a lot of fun. It's another form of expression. I've been used to only expressing myself through my bass; now I get to do it through my face. [Laughs]"

Blabbermouth: Are you the type of bass player that plays a lot of guitar?

Rachel: "It's weird. It's whatever is in the stand closest to me when the idea hits. That's how I write a song. I have a bass on a stand in one room, an acoustic guitar on a stand in another, and then I have them all over the place in my studio. It's a mess. [Laughs] I have them all over the house. Whenever an idea hits, I have something to play it on. Now, that said, I will hear a bass line in my head and obviously go straight for the bass to see if I can work it out. The same goes for the guitar. When an idea hits, it hits. I don't have a formula or set way to write."

Blabbermouth: You've talked about working in Nashville and some of the songwriting parameters they have. What did you learn? Was any of it applied to your solo album?

Rachel: "The few times I got together, when it wasn't to write, when it wasn't with friends, it was a little odd."

Blabbermouth: That's what you were saying, like "We don't use these chords."

Rachel: "Someone would say, 'Okay, this is what's cool to say now. This is like the catchphrase or the 'it' topic.' I was like, 'Okay…' If I learned anything, it was to work a little more quickly and trust my ideas. Now, translating that — the one thing that I have to say is that I wasn't crazy about trying to write country music and not saying that it's a bad form or expression or anything. I write in metaphors. The most difficult part for me was being literal. However, it was a good exercise to be clever because, if anything else, country music lyrics are clever. They'll take a catchphrase and turn it into a kind of double entendre. I'm like, 'That was brilliant.' Some of the guys down there can do that all day long, like all day long, and you know who could do that? Steven Tyler [AEROSMITH]. He was really good at doing that: 'Here's looking up your old address.' There's an example right there. 'Don't give me no lip, I got enough of my own.' [Laughs] It's clever. It's very clever. I learned about the delicate balance between cleverness and metaphor, and just seeing people trust their own judgment was really cool, too. Not to overthink things, but related to how to do it, to how I'm creative. That was my biggest takeaway from writing in those circles."

Blabbermouth: I have "Big Stick" highlighted not only because of Corey Taylor, but also because of its message, which feels political. Can you go into it?

Rachel: "You could say 'political.' I say 'moral.' It seems like morals are being thinly veiled as politics in my opinion. When I wrote that song, demoed it, and we were getting ready to do it — I knew I was going to ask friends to contribute to the album. I was lucky enough that they all said yes, which goes to prove I have the coolest fucking friends. I was like, 'Corey's the guy. Suppose anyone could get this point across. It's Corey, and I would love for him to sing this song.' I heard his voice. You know, you have those creative moments where you hear everything, and it's produced, and it's done. I called him, and he's like, 'Yeah, man. Let's do it.' I was like, 'Do you want to hear the song?' He goes, 'Nope! Let's do it.' I sent him the song and the lyrics. I went out to Vegas. He crushed it, of course, in the way Corey Taylor does. I had the hard drive in my backpack, and I was carrying it like human organs, like, 'Don't touch it! Don't go near it.' When I got back, and I gave it to Nick to drop in the song, we were like, 'Man, it's amazing what he did.' We had so much fun."

Blabbermouth: "Bridges" with Steve Conte is another standout. It's a nice way to break up the album, since it's more of a slower, ballad-type song. Do you still think about those things, like song sequencing?

Rachel: "It gives you a breather to regroup. The album is very high energy. I wrote that with a John Waters movie in mind. I was like, 'It needs a soulful voice. I can sing it. It's going to be my version, but it wouldn't do the song justice.' Again, I called another friend: 'Dude. Do you want to do a song on my solo record?' 'Yes! Send me the song.' When it came back, I knew that soul and the feel Steve has when he sings; I knew he would nail it. He did that and beyond. Just his ad-libs coming out of the musical bridge section and just his approach to everything and the tone of his voice, I was like, 'It's perfect. It's absolutely perfect.'"

Blabbermouth: Before we get into your cover of "Rock And Roll Star", what was your reaction when OASIS took off in the mid-1990s?

Rachel: "I thought their songs were really well crafted. Whether you liked them or didn't, you couldn't get their songs out of your head. This is coming from a guy that didn't buy any OASIS records or anything like that. Every song I heard on the radio, I absolutely loved. Some of the interviews, I was like, 'Are these guys serious?' You didn't know if they were taking the piss out of the BEATLES, praising them or what. I was like, 'It doesn't matter.' You could hear the BEATLES influence on them. They admitted it. It's nothing to admit; that's the thing. Every time I heard them, I was like, 'They're amazing.' Then I saw the documentary [2016's 'Oasis: Supersonic'], I thought, 'These guys are so sarcastic and all that. I love it.' Noel Gallagher, still, to me, the HIGH FLYING BIRDS, they were great. He is probably the best songwriter of his generation."

Blabbermouth: Is that what led you to do the cover?

Rachel: "It's not what led me to it, because at the time they were broken up. I was just listening to the radio, and it came on. I had never heard the song before. Then, of course, once he started singing, I was like, 'Oh, this is OASIS.' Another song that I like! Then I started really tuning into the lyrics, and I was like, 'Oh, wow. This is really cool. This is a guy who is in a popular, well-known band, expected to be that guy 100 percent, 24/7, 365. He is expected to be that guy, and he just can't be.' I've been in that position where people got disappointed because I was wearing jeans and had my hair tied back. [Laughs] It's like, 'That's how you dress?' That's a true story. [Laughs] I came home and demoed the song. I sped it up to the way I felt comfortable singing it. It was a lot shorter, so I put a solo section in there, and I called [SKID ROW guitarist] Scotti Hill, and he played the solo on the demo. Then, fast-forward to doing the solo record. Now they're out on this humungous reunion tour. We're getting ready to record it, and I'm like, 'People are going to think I'm doing this to seize the opportunity.' That's how I felt. Nick and [SKID ROW drummer] Rob Hammersmith were like, 'Just do it! You're doing it your own way. You're making it your own. It feels really good.' Hammersmith said, 'When did you start giving a shit what people think of you?' I'm like, 'Good point!'"

Blabbermouth: At this point, how much is Nick Raskulinecz like an extra member of SKID ROW?

Rachel: "He's one of the greatest rock producers ever. He knows the band. When he gets into the studio with a band, it sounds like that band. He's not working from a template. Nick is a music fan and a creative force. For anyone he works with, he gets the sound of that band. Nick and I were friends long before this ever happened, this solo record and SKID ROW. We were friends; we lived down the street from each other in Tennessee. We're bros. I helped clean his swimming pool! [Laughs] We're buds. So we did the SKID ROW record with him, and it was such a great experience. He taught us so much about ourselves just by the way he works. He helped us retrace our steps. When it came to doing my solo record, most of the time it was just him and me in the studio. After Hammersmith finished his drums, there was really no one there until other friends came to do backing tracks, and Damon Johnson [BROTHER CANE] came to do a few solos. It was just him and me. It was really funny how we went from great buds to, as soon as we walked into the studio, being producer and artist. There was still the humor, the ball-busting, and all that stuff, but it was getting work done. When I work with Nick, I trust him fully with my songs, and his opinion means a lot to me. That's how we work. We work really well together."

Blabbermouth: Given the title of your solo album, are you forever identifying yourself as a Jerseyite?

Rachel: "I moved back about a year and a half or two years ago, actually. I was originally going to call the album, 'Gargoyle', just leave it at that. When I moved back, I changed it. It's slightly a tongue twister as well. I like that."

Blabbermouth: Does the solo album check off a box for you? You have done pretty much everything else up until this point.

Rachel: "I'm very glad I did it. Everyone likes to do their own thing now and then, and I think it's healthy for that person and whatever band they're in. I think it's really good to do stuff like that. Yeah, this isn't just a one-off thing. I plan to do more. It's not just a simple, 'Yeah, I'm going to do this and get it out my system.' It's like, 'This is my system. This is part of it, just like SKID ROW.' I plan to do more."

Photo credit: Anabel DFlux (courtesy of earMUSIC)