SEBASTIAN BACH On Songwriting Split For 'Child Within The Man': 'I Believe In Giving Credit Where Credit's Due'

During a recent appearance on the "Rock Solid With Pat Francis" podcast, Sebastian Bach was asked about why he chose to list "melody" as a separate songwriting credit on various tracks on his latest solo album, "Child Within The Man". The former SKID ROW singer responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That's interesting, that you're asking that… That's a very interesting question. And man, I've gotta answer that. I believe in giving credit where credit's due — I really do. I'm not one of these guys that says, 'It's my band, so I'm gonna put my name on every song.' It just works out like that. It is my band, and so I want it to sound like me.

"But anyways… What an interesting question," he continued. "I've gotta answer you totally honestly. Sometimes I hear the melody on what to sing to a riff. If it doesn't say any other credit, like any song on there that doesn't have that, or it says 'melody by Sebastian'… Sometimes I do hear what to sing. Here's the challenge for me. My range of my voice, I can sing low, really low — in the mornings anyways — and I can sing super fucking high and I can sing in the middle and I can sing clean and I can sing dirty. So sometimes I'm, like, 'What do I do here?' And sometimes I need help. And so a song like '(Hold On) To The Dream', I heard that right away. 'About To Break', I heard it in my head, what to sing. But the song 'Freedom', [which was co-written by] John 5 [MÖTLEY CRÜE, ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON], I had that riff and that chorus for, like, two, three years, and I couldn't fucking think of… I thought of a bunch of melodies for that, and they all sucked. They all were terrible. [Laughs] And I couldn't fucking think of a fucking… Everything I thought of was not half as cool as the music. The music was so cool, I go, 'Oh my God. I've gotta think of something that's fucking as good as this.' And it just did not come to me. And when I got to Orlando [to record 'Child Within The Man' with producer Michael 'Elvis' Baskette]. We all loved that music, and we worked in the music, and Elvis Baskette took me into the bathroom where it had all these tiles. And I go, 'Dude, what do you hear?' And I put the demo on my boom box, and he goes, 'Okay.' And he just started [singing the chorus melody]. And he thought of that. And I go, 'You've gotta be fucking kidding me.' I go, 'Why couldn't I…? Why.' And it's perfect. And so doesn't he deserve credit for that? I think he does… The song would've been terrible without that."

"Child Within The Man" was released on May 10 via Reigning Phoenix Music. The LP was recorded in Orlando, Florida; produced and mixed by Baskette; engineered by Jef Moll, assistant engineered by Josh Saldate and mastered by Robert Ludwig of Gateway Mastering. Bach wrote or co-wrote all the album's 11 tracks and sang all lead and backing vocals.

"Child Within The Man" features guest appearances from John 5, Steve Stevens (BILLY IDOL) and Orianthi (ALICE COOPER, MICHAEL JACKSON) — who all co-wrote their respective tracks with Bach — and two tracks co-written with ALTER BRIDGE's Myles Kennedy ("What Do I Got to Lose?" and "To Live Again"). Devin Bronson (guitars),Todd Kerns (bass) and Jeremy Colson (drums) round out the players on the album.

In an interview with "Whiplash", the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, Sebastian spoke about the inspiration for the "Child Within The Man" title. He said: "Well, my wife calls me man-child. That's kind of been a theme for me my whole career. I bring a youthful energy to the stage when I get up there. People are smiling and excited and hooting and hollering. But the line 'child within the man' is a line of one of the songs on the record. And I scream it like bloody murder. And it kept haunting me. "

Sebastian also talked about the "Child Within The Man" artwork, which holds special meaning since it was designed by Bach's father, noted visual artist David Bierk.

"I have a lot of my dad's artwork," Bach said. "He's no longer alive. And we all, all of his kids, we got a lot of his art when he passed away. And I unrolled a roll of paintings that I knew had the SKID ROW 'Subhuman Race' painting in it, and I wanna take care of it and make sure it's preserved. But in that roll was this painting that I remember my dad doing of me when I was 10 in a field next to this beat-up old Cadillac car in the field and then behind the car, it's Jesus ascending into heaven, and I'm running next to the car. It looks like an album cover. And then he also did a painting of me from Circus magazine, the first centerfold of me on stage at Giants Stadium. He did a gigantic painting of that, like 12 feet high. And so the cover is gonna be me running as a child into me on stage as a man, and it's child within the man. And it just reminds me of the '70s, like child in time, and it just reminds me of a good '70s album cover. And the fact that I can bring back a painting from the year 1978 and make it into artwork in 2023, 2024, that's really mind-blowing to me."

Bach's "What Do I Got To Lose?" U.S. tour got underway May 10 in Jefferson, Louisiana and will wrap on June 29 in San Diego, California.

Prior to "Child Within The Man"'s arrival, Bach hadn't released a full-length disc since "Give 'Em Hell", which came out in March 2014.