ROB AFFUSO 'Would Love' To See Reunion Of Classic SKID ROW Lineup

Former SKID ROW and current FOUR BY FATE drummer Rob Affuso was interviewed by rock journalist Mitch Lafon for a recent edition of the "One On One With Mitch Lafon" podcast (Facebook page). You can now listen to the chat using the Spreaker widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On why he chose to disappear from the rock scene for so many years after the breakup of the classic SKID ROW lineup:

Affuso: "I don't wanna sound like this disgruntled rock star, 'cause that's certainly not what it was about. But this is a bit of a story, so we'll take it back to, obviously, the early days of SKID ROW, and, man, people couldn't get enough of SKID ROW, and everybody loved us, and Ahmet Ertegun [co-founder and president of Atlantic Records] loved us. And everything was great, and we were great, and life was great. And then, as the music climate changed and we put out 'Subhuman Race', which I thought was a phenomenal album, and I'm really disappointed that the record company really had no clue what to do with it — partly because we had lost some of our support there; Doug Morris had moved over to Universal. And so all of these backroom things started to change in the record company. So the SKID ROW support… We were coming off the heels of 'Slave To The Grind', which, obviously, was amazing — first rock album in history to debut at No. 1. So we were coming off that. And the music climate had changed. NIRVANA comes out. The record company has internal changes. We put out 'Subhuman Race', which I thought was — and we all felt — that it was really a good rock and roll album in that niche, and kind of combining all of the worlds that we knew at that time. And I saw things just fall apart, and I saw the band start to fight, and things weren't going as they used to be. This well-oiled machine that I thought was never going to end started to lose nuts and bolts. And all of a sudden, the record company decides we're not important anymore and stops promoting us. We were out on tour for 'Subhuman Race' and there was no more marketing. We'd show up to half-full theaters etc. etc. And so that got me thinking, well, okay, we're doing our best here to write great music and put this stuff out, and there's this other entity that truly is controlling our fate. As much as we, as musicians, we get in the limelight and we have all this fame and we think we have this power and control of things, and actually we don't. And I really felt like, 'Wow, we truly are marionettes, and the business does control us.' And so, between that and then the falling… The guys in the band, who once…. Our slogans were 'five fingers make a fist,' and that was us, and we were really close for many, many years, and things just started falling apart. And I said, 'You know what? I've gotta get away from this.' I felt that a lot of people that I knew in the business were not true, they weren't real people, and I'm pretty true to my word and mean what I say. And I was just tired of being in it. And I didn't want to go on tour again in a van, really. I felt like I was above that in the sense that I just didn't wanna do it."

On whether he thinks all the members of the classic SKID ROW lineup can ever rekindle their friendship and reunite for a tour and possible new album:

Affuso: "Well… I mean, I am friendly with all four other guys. I've worked hard at it. I spent a third of my life with these guys and I felt that I shared an immeasurable amount of things with them and they will always be very, very dear and important to me. Human relationships are very important to me. Those relationships with these guys were very important, so I've tried to nurture the best I can with each of them some form of relationship, however it looks. As far as everybody… I'm really not in a position to talk about that. I think everybody has had their piece and their say, and I think that there's things that probably should have been said a long time ago and weren't. And, you know, I'm not sure if I'd ever… I'd never say never, but, you know, I mean… I would certainly love to see it, but we'll see what happens. I don't know."

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach recently said that he would be open to a reunion of the band's classic lineup. He explained: "I have no animosity towards anybody in SKID ROW, and the fact that we're all, five of us, still alive in this world is a pretty amazing feat. So I would someday definitely like to hear the five guys who made those records play live together again. Yes, I would. 'Cause I'm a fan too."

Singer Tony Harnell announced his departure from SKID ROW last December, eight months after he joined the band as the replacement for Johnny Solinger, who was the group's frontman for fifteen years.

SKID ROW has played several shows in recent months with the South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart (DRAGONFORCE, TANK, I AM I),but he has not been officially named as the permanent replacement for Harnell.

FOUR BY FATE's current lineup is completed by John Regan, Tod Howarth and Patrick James Gasperini.

The band's debut album, "Relentless", was released on June 3 via Amazing Record Co. in Europe and The End Records in America.