SKID ROW's RACHEL BOLAN Is 'Blown Away By Some Of The Stuff' On Band's New Album

SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan spoke with Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3 about the band's upcoming final chapter of the "United World Rebellion" trilogy, which will tentatively be released later this year. The disc was recorded 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 disc 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).

Said Bolan (hear audio below): "We've been in the studio since the beginning of February, in between shows and all that. We've been recording with Michael Wagener, who did our first two records and also did our fifth. And it's just been great. It's the first record that ZP will be on, and just watching him do his thing is fascinating, 'cause we'd never worked with him in a recording situation before. And he has his way of doing things, which really is cohesive to the way we do things. The stuff that's coming out, I'm really proud of it. We're all really proud of it. I'm actually blown away by some of the stuff. We can't wait to get this out there."

Regarding the decision to make SKID ROW's next release a full-length effort, Bolan said: "We did the EP thing, and it was a lot less pressure, but we were, like, 'You know what? Let's put the pressure back on ourselves. Let's do a whole record. We have a new singer.' Well, he's not new anymore — he's been in the band four years. 'But let's just do this and just go balls out.' So that's exactly what we're doing."

As for a possible release date for SKID ROW's new LP, Bolan said: "We're hoping this year. The landscape of this business has changed so much, as you know, from when our first album came out that there's really no rush. The only rush is… people that listen to it, we wanna get it to them as soon as possible, but we also want it to be absolutely, one hundred percent what we want too. So that's where we're at right now."

SKID ROW's new album, which will be made available through Australia's Golden Robot Records, will feature collaborations with several outside songwriters, including Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT, STONE SOUR) and Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger of HALESTORM, a group that covered the title track of "Slave To The Grind" on its "ReAniMate: The CoVeRs eP" in 2011. SKID ROW also worked with songwriter-for-hire Marti Frederiksen, who has previously collaborated with AEROSMITH, DEF LEPPARD, Jonny Lang and Sheryl Crow.

SKID ROW will perform at a number of high-profile European festivals in 2019, including Germany's Bang Your Head!!!, the U.K.'s Download, Sweden Rock Festival and Norway Rock '19.

This past January, Rhino released a 30th-anniversary remastered digital reissue of SKID ROW's quintuple-platinum 1989 debut album, which featured the hits "Youth Gone Wild", "18 & Life" and "I Remember You". The reissue also includes "Forever", a b-side recorded during the sessions for the album that previously appeared on the 1998 greatest-hits compilation "40 Seasons: The Best Of Skid Row", and a 10-track live performance recorded on April 26, 1989 at the Marquee in Westminster, California.

SKID ROW 2019 is:

ZP Theart - vocals
Rachel Bolan - bass
Dave "Snake" Sabo - guitar
Scotti Hill - guitars
Rob Hammersmith - drums