SKID ROW Bassist Says He Doesn't Support Ex-Drummer's 'Waking Up Dead' Movie

Sweden's Metalshrine recently conducted an interview with SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Metalshrine: So, what's it like working with [Michael Wagener] again? You worked with him on your first and second album.

Rachel: We've stayed close. Michael and I are very close friends and over the years we've been talking. He did some stuff with a side project of mine and we worked together on a few different things and we kept talking about doing this SKID ROW record together. We put out "Thickskin" and the timing for him to do it was just not there, so we couldn't really link up. When it came around to do "Revolutions..." we both had open time and said "Let's get up to Nashville and make some noise!" So that's what we did. We went out to his studio out on his farm outside of Nashville and just scared whatever neighbors could hear us. And when we met him we said we didn't wanna do any ballads, we just wanna make a rock and roll record and he was all for it.

Metalshrine: How much does a guy like Michael bring to the SKID ROW sound? Does he come up with ideas?

Rachel: He comes with a very good understanding of what we're trying to accomplish. Just like on the first two records. Michael wants the band to be the band and that's his specialty. He can take a good song and make it great and a great song and make it better. The other thing is his knowledge of being able to get sounds that are just unmatched by anyone. I just tell him "I want this type of sound!" and boom, boom, boom, turns a couple of knobs and it's there. He's definitely like a sixth member of this band.

Metalshrine: I was wondering...have you seen that movie "Waking Up Dead", the Phil Varone [ex-SKID ROW drummer] movie?

Rachel: No, I haven't and I don't support it at all. I haven't talked to Phil in a while.

Metalshrine: Do you know if it's been shown [in theaters] yet or...?

Rachel: I have no idea. I heard that he tried to get it released, but they decided that no one really knows who Phil Varone is (laughs).

Metalshrine: I've just seen the trailer for it and is that in any way true image of what touring is like? Because it seems like it was just drugs and girls.

Rachel: You know what, that's his world! I don't do drugs and the guys in the band don't do drugs. I don't endorse it. That's his world and he wanted to put our image in it and being the fact that the guy was only in the band for two years. The fact that he thinks he has the right to go out and use the SKID ROW name is preposterous. Yeah, that's his world, not ours!

Metalshrine: About your original drummer Rob [Affuso]? Do you know what he's up to?

Rachel: Yeah, we just talked to him the other day. He works for a marketing company, that´s what he went to college for, before he joined SKID ROW and he's doing well with that. He owns a horse farm in upstate New York and he's doing really well.

Metalshrine: I've only seen you guys live once and that was when you opened up for MÖTLEY CRÜE on the "Dr. Feelgood" tour. I saw you in Gothenburg and I remember thinking that you just blew the roof off the arena and I was thinking to myself "How the hell is MÖTLEY CRÜE gonna top this?" And they didn't! Do you have any memories from that first tour of Scandinavia and Sweden?

Rachel: Yeah, it was the first time that I had ever been overseas and it was just...you know, back in those days not everyone had a cell phone and I had to call home from a payphone and being that you were going from one country to another, it was like "How do I dial?" (laughs) It was just crazy and walking around...I honestly felt like I was on another planet. I didn't understand any of the language, but it was so cool. It was a really cool learning experience and it was an exploration of sorts. Like "I feel like I'm climbing the top of Mount Everest and I'm not even half way there!" And I remember how intense the fans were and they grabbed you. Like in the United States, when someone grabs you it's usually bad and there it's good and excitement. It was something I had to get used to. The intensity level was excellent.

Metalshrine: What was it like touring with the CRÜE?

Rachel: At that point they were clean, so we had to leave the venue half an hour before they were off stage. Not even like walk outside on to the bus. Our bus had to be out of the parking lot. They didn't want any temptations or anything. It was what it was and there were days off when we were both in the same hotel and they were as clean as they could be I guess. It was cool and thet was the second major band we toured with. The first was BON JOVI. We didn't know them. In BON JOVI we knew all the guys around town and we're friends with them and what-not, so there was a whole new frontier.

Read the entire interview at this location.