SEBASTIAN BACH Vows To Never Use Artificial Intelligence To Make Music: 'I'm Giving You My Guarantee And My Word'

In a new interview with Adam Richmond of the "Surviving Rocklahoma" podcast, former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach weighed in on a debate about people using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) music generator as a tool to create melodies, harmonies and rhymes based on artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithms and machine learning (M.L.) models. Bach said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've gotta address this, especially in the last three months or so, we're entering this A.I. world, where musicians are getting very scared because now it seems like anybody can just say into an A.I. prompt, 'Give me a '70s rock song about partying and chicks,' and there you go; you get one. But all I can tell you is this, you've known me for almost 40 years, and I'm just giving you my guarantee and my word that I'll never do that. I will never give you any A.I. I won't even give you 'I', and I certainly won't give you 'A'. What I'm saying is I'd rather have a real human mistake than a perfect artificial intelligence. Fuck artificial, number one. How about real? That's what you're gonna get from me till the day that I stop doing this. And I don't know how to use that stuff, and I won't work with any producers that use that. You're just gonna get some knucklehead musicians in the studio making music, and that's what you're gonna get from me. Like Neil Young or Willie Nelson or Gregg Allman, that's what you're gonna get from me till the day I stop doing this. And so I don't have to worry about A.I., because if you believe what I'm telling you, then what you're gonna get from me is just me. Love it or leave it."

Asked if he feels like music is going away or is under threat of losing its soul, Sebastian said: "No. I can only speak for myself, and I did 91 cities last year — 91. So with travel days and days off, that's, like, 225 days that I'm gone playing rock and roll. So I get more than enough rock in my life. So I can only speak for me. I have such a schedule of concerts coming up that I am overwhelmed. And so I don't know how to answer that other than I'm gonna be playing all over America. We're going to Australia. We've got gigs booked into 2026 already. So it just keeps rolling. And I've gotta answer this by, when we lose a guy like Ozzy Osbourne, and so many of our heroes are leaving us — I mean, I look around and there's not many guys that do what I do. There's not."

Asked if he thinks musicians "have it easier today" than he did when he first started out nearly four decades ago, Bach said: "Well, yeah. One of the reasons — I remember when Neil Peart of RUSH passed on. It really hit me so hard, and I was like, 'Why?' Well, I knew, 'cause I'm a RUSH fanatic and I'm Canadian, number one, so it's part of my DNA, but really what it came down to, I think why I was so sad was because I don't think we're ever gonna see a drummer on that level ever again because none of them are gonna put in the time to practice that much as Neil Peart did, because he didn't have the benefit or the crutch of technology to rely upon, which all these kids are having click tracks and all this stuff in their head. And I don't think we're gonna see a drummer the level of Neil Peart from RUSH ever again. Maybe we will, but he didn't have any other choice in the '70s other than to lock himself in a room and pound the fuck out of those fucking drums. And he was the best."

Circling back to the use of artificial intelligence in music, Sebastian said: "Why did we, as humans, why did we invent this A.I. shit that has the potential to take us out? Why invent that? I guess it's good for medical purposes, maybe curing cancer or something, but we don't need them to write songs for us. That's stupid. We don't need to have a meme of Michael Jackson and Ozzy and Dimebag Darrell in heaven having a drink. Fuck all that weird shit. That just gives me the creeps when I see that. It's, like, 'Get that off the screen.' It's like from hell or something. [Laughs]"

Bach's current touring band includes his son Paris Bach on drums, "Bruiser" Brody DeRozie on guitar, and Fede Delfino on bass.

2024 was a remarkable year for the singer, songwriter, author, Broadway star and actor. "Child Within The Man" — his first album in more than 10 years — was well-received, with Associated Press saying "…it shows a fierce performer in prime fighting form…his vocals remain sharp and his songwriting talents as cunning as ever," while Ultimate Classic Rock noted: "Bach's voice has lost none of its rage or range, even in the highest registers…" In addition, the album's "(Hold On) To The Dream" track was included in Consequence's "30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Songs Of 2024" which described the song as "...a late-career masterpiece from the former SKID ROW singer. Baz hits some of the highest notes of his career on the sweeping ballad, an inspiring anthem about perseverance."

On the touring front, Sebastian performed a record 91 shows in 2024. The dates included two successful North American tours — one around the release of the album, followed by another leg of fall shows — and a series of overseas appearances just before the album's release.

In January, Sebastian was back on TV when he appeared on Food Network's "Worst Cooks In America Celebrity Edition: Heroes vs. Villains". In addition, last June Sebastian was the subject of an A&E "Biography: Rock Legends" special. This follows his 2023 appearance as "Tiki" on Fox's "The Masked Singer".

"Child Within The Man" has yielded the following singles/videos, all of which have impacted the rock charts: "Freedom", "What Do I Got To Lose?", "Everybody Bleeds" and "(Hold On) To The Dream" (along with the "(Hold On) To The Dream" alternate video),"Future Of Youth" and "To Live Again".

"Child Within The Man" was recorded in Orlando, Florida; produced and mixed by Michael "Elvis" 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 (MÖTLEY CRÜE, ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON),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.

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.