SKID ROW's DAVE 'SNAKE' SABO: 'I've Been Dealing With Mental Health And Mental Illness Issues Since My Early Teens'

SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo recently spoke to Kendall Toole, fitness influencer and ambassador for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about the importance of bringing issues surrounding mental illness to the forefront.

He said in part (see video below): "I started SKID ROW in 1986, but I've been dealing with mental health and mental illness issues since my early teens. And so throughout the ups and downs of my professional career and my personal life, it's been something that's been riding right next to me, on my shoulder, the whole time — and still does to this day; it's not something that just — boom! — goes away.

"I always felt that music was my purest form of expression, and now I'm happy to see that we're having more of a dialogue regarding mental health and mental illness," he continued. "So not only am I able to express myself through music, but I'm able to express what I go through and what I've gone through verbally. And hopefully it offers some — not only insight, but maybe some solace for people who are struggling with the same issues that we struggle with. And I'm just thankful that we're able to do something like this, because this didn't exist five, 10 years ago — this openness regarding mental health and mental illness."

Sabo added: "The perception of what mental illness was for so long, it terrified me to expose myself in any sort of public forum, because being in a band and being a quote-unquote public figure or whatever and being out there, the last thing I wanted to do was do anything that would diminish the popularity of the band or have the band looked at in a negative way because I was going through a depression, anxiety, panic attacks — all these things that were overwhelming. And so I put on a brave face and I hid it forever — up until my mid-30s."

SKID ROW is currently working on the final chapter of the band's "United World Rebellion" trilogy. The disc was tracked in part at a Nashville, Tennessee studio with producer Michael Wagener, who also helmed the group's 1989 self-titled debut and 1991's "Slave To The Grind".

SKID ROW's new LP will mark its first release with South African-born, British-based vocalist ZP Theart (DRAGONFORCE, TANK, I AM I),who joined the band in 2016 following the departure of Tony Harnell (TNT, STARBREAKER).

Photo credit: Kramer