SEBASTIAN BACH Explains His Detroit Outburst, Says 'A**holes' Comment Was Directed At His Pre-SKID ROW Band MADAM X

June 5, 2024

Sebastian Bach says that his "assholes" comment during his concert in Detroit was directed at his former bandmates in his pre-SKID ROW group MADAM X and not the New Jersey band where he found fame three and a half decades ago.

The 56-year-old singer's outburst came during last night's (Tuesday, June 4) performance by his solo band at Saint Andrew's Hall. After Bach noticed somebody in the audience wearing a t-shirt of the singer's former group, he called out the fan, saying into the microphone: "Yeah, that's the band that kicked me out. Yeah, killer. Great. Fucking assholes."

Later in the show, Bach took issue with somebody in the crowd wearing a SKID ROW shirt from one of later eras of the band that did not include him. He pointed out the piece of merchandise from the stage and said into the microphone: "I'm fascinated by this shirt right here. This is SKID ROW with what number singer? Seven? Eight? Nine? What number is that guy? Huh? What number? Is that replacement number seven? Or number eight? Or number nine? And before you say, 'Well they don't have nine,' I can fucking name every fucking one of them. How do you even wear that? It's like, ridiculous. Is that the guys from DRAGONFORCE? Or fucking TNT? Or whatever the fuck. Fucking embarrassing."

Earlier today, Bach shared a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story about the Detroit show headlined "SEBASTIAN BACH Blasts SKID ROW, Says He Can 'Name Every F***ing One' Of Their 'Nine' Replacement Singers ", and he included the following message: "'BACH BLASTS MADAM X, Celebrates 35 Years of the 1st Album Skid Row' is the actual title of what happened that show. Instead of tripping over yourself to put words in my mouth that I mever said why dont u get the story straight for once"

He added: "Daily Horseshit. Hey Internet the horseshit never stops! Last night in Detroit I was confronted by a dude proudly wearing a MADAM X shirt. A band, whom, as you can read in my book, spit in my face & kicked me out when I was 16 years old. So I commented on that. Not mad at the guy for wearing it but not thrilled at staring at it either. Then there was some goof ball wearing a SKID FAUX shirt staring at his phone in the front row the whole show thinking somehow that would be appropriate. If you're gonna wear a SKID ROW shirt to my show, it would be appropriate to sport the Original SKID ROW. Not some other band that lasted 6 months or whatever. The music we celebrate at these shows has lasted the test of time for 35 years and will do so forever. That is what these shows are about. Come celebrate 35 years of the 1st Album 'Skid Row' with us. But realize this is a real rock show and you never know what's gonna happen".

Formed in 1981 by sisters Roxy and Maxine Petrucci, MADAM X recruited bassist Chris "Godzilla" Doliber and vocalist Bret Kaiser, who released their classic, Rick Derringer-produced Jet Records debut, "We Reserve The Right", in 1984, spawning the hit rock single "High In High School". Four years later, after Roxy departed to join future arena rock superstars VIXEN, and original vocalist Kaiser was briefly replaced by a then-unknown Canadian singer named Sebastian Bach, MADAM X disbanded, and would remain mostly inactive until 2014, when the original lineup reunited at the Sweden Rock Festival.

In a recent interview with Joe Rock of Long Island's rock station 102.3 WBAB, Bach, who recently released his first solo album in a decade, "Child Within The Man", was asked if he thinks a reunion of SKID ROW's classic lineup is ever going to actually happen. He responded:  "I do, but when I read myself talk about this, I kind of cringe 'cause it's not up to me. Those guys are currently on their eighth or ninth replacement for me. And there's been a miscommunication from my camp to theirs that I will attempt to clear up, but I am way too focused on what I'm doing in my career to even really even think about that right now, to be honest with you. I'm just not thinking about the old days right now. I'm thinking about the fact that I've got a new song on the radio. 'What Do I Got To Lose?' is on FM radio across the country. That video is almost two million views in 2024. And in my day, two million views was double platinum. [Laughs] So, I'm not thinking about 1989; I'm not thinking about 1991.'

He continued: "I am overjoyed to hear my voice on the radio in 2024. That is more important to me than thinking about what happened in '91. I just don't think about that, really. Not to say that I wouldn't get the band back together, but I'm just focused like a laser beam on what I'm doing right now. So that's gonna have to take a back seat, like for real. This is more interesting to me. My album, the way it sounds and the reaction that people are giving it is more exciting and interesting, and creating new music instead of just playing the same old songs over and over. I love having new songs to play, even though I haven't learned how to play them yet. [Laughs]"

Last month, SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo ruled out a reunion with Bach telling The Hook Rocks podcast: "It's not gonna happen. And I say the same thing every time. I'm thankful that people have such an interest in wanting to see that happen, but I also have to reiterate that this is about being happy in the situation that you're in. So I'll speak for myself personally.

"First of all, I do need to say something too, is that the reason that this isn't happening is because there's three of us — myself, Scotti [Hill, SKID ROW guitarist] and Rachel [Bolan, SKID ROW bassist] — who've had conversations about this, and we've all been on the same page that we don't wanna go down that road again. We just — we don't.

"Rachel has taken a beating over this through the years," Sabo continued. "He's the one who's been blamed for this. 'Oh, it's Rachel's ego.' 'It's this and that.' No, that's a load of bullshit. That is not true. And I feel bad because he's really, really had to shoulder that blame and has never said anything derogatory or anything like that. But you know what? The truth of the matter is that Rachel, Scotti and myself have continually felt the same way, that we enjoy being happy in this band and we're really happy.

"It's been such a great experience for the last however, 35 years, everything, all the ups, all the downs, everything, but we just don't wanna revisit that particular aspect of our history," he explained. "I love the songs, [I] love a lot of the memories, [I am] not fond of some of the memories, but just as individuals and as a collective, that's just how we feel. So this is not on Rachel. And this has nothing to do with anyone's ego or anything like that. So that's just gotta be clear. Again, for anyone to sit there and make assumptions that this is Rachel Bolan saying 'nope,' it's not. It's the three of us, and we've all collectively sat there and just said that we don't wanna do it. We just don't wanna do it. And we wish everybody all the best."

Snake added: "We've been just ripped apart by ex-members of the band and stuff — ripped apart. Some really shitty stuff [has been] said about all of us. And we just choose not to [respond]. It's not who I am. It's not who we are. We won't go down that road. We just wanna play music and be happy. This has really never been about a monetary aspect of things because it's known that we've been offered a good amount of money to do shows together and to reunite [with Sebastian] and whatever, but it's just never been about the money, man. I choose my happiness, my willingness to continue to be a really good friend to my best friends and a really good husband and a really good dad and bandmate and person. And I don't wanna endanger that in any way. So the people that we choose to play with, those choices are made in order to keep those particular things in line for all of us."

Three months ago, SKID ROW's latest frontman — former "Swedish Idol" contestant Erik Grönwall — quit the band to focus on his health.

Grönwall, who was SKID ROW's fourth frontman since Bach's departure, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021. As a result, he is immunocompromised, which made touring difficult.

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY. In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Dave "Snake" Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger. SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I. Theart was fired from SKID ROW in February 2022 and was replaced by Grönwall, who was previously a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.

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