SKID ROW's RACHEL BOLAN On Playing Small Clubs: 'It's Much Better Than A Day Off Sitting On A Bus'

Kaaos TV conducted an interview with SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo before the band's June 6 appearance at South Park festival in Tampere, Finland. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On playing big festivals one day and small clubs the next:

Snake: "I think that our attitude is, basically, we're just thankful that, 25 years after the fact, we could still play and people still wanna see us and we're able to release new music. So, to us, it doesn't matter, as long as people walk away feeling like they got more than they paid for, they got more for their money than what they paid and that they had a great time and they were able to escape for a few hours. And, for us, it's an incredibly humbling experience to be able to still be touring and going on the road and make music for a living, which is unbelievable."

Rachel: "Sometimes we'll take flak from people, saying, 'Oh, you're playing such small places.' Our whole view of it is, 'Why not?' You know what I mean? We'll go to a small town like Amityville, New York or Ipswich in the U.K. and play… I mean, the place held, what, 200 people — it was a club with a corner stage — but it was such a great show. And why shouldn't we play there? It's much better than a day off sitting on a bus. We just love to play, and sometimes people have a hard time [understanding why we do it]. 'Well, you guys play in front of 50,000 people one day and then in a small club the next day.' It's, like, 'Yeah. Exactly. Why not? We're musicians. This is what we do. This is what we love to do. So you're telling us not to do it.' But, like Snake said, we have a good time. We love what we do…. I'll tell you what, if KISS came and played the Star Bar in Atlanta, Georgia, I'd be there and it'd be the memory of a lifetime. You know what I mean? We go to these places 'cause we choose to. Whether we've been in the market [before] or not, let's go and play it. We can have three days off in a row or we could fill two of the days with gigs and make it special for people that have been following the band for 25 years and they could see us like this [put hand right in front of his face], with small stages and whatnot. This is what we do, and this is what we love to do, so we're gonna do it."

On SKID ROW's forthcoming EP, "Rise Of The Damnation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter Two", which is due in August:

Snake: "I've said this in every interview that we've done about the new EP… I've said that it's the most fun that I've personally had making a SKID ROW record in our history of the band… for a number of reasons. We're afforded a freedom that not many artists get to enjoy. So we do everything on our own schedule. And the writing process was so stripped down and fun. Rachel and I have been friends and started the band together 28 years ago, and so, after all that amount of time, 28 years later, to be able to sit in a room with this guy, and he with me, and actually have fun creating music, there's something special to be said about that. And so, that, combined with the fact that we just always seemed like we were on the same page throughout the whole process. [We had] a couple of little disagreements there, but nothing that was detrimental in any way; it was helpful. And every day, we would listen to the music and we'd have the same thoughts: 'It's close, but it's not there yet.' 'it's close, but it's not there.' 'OK, we're right there. We're at the door.' 'OK, it's done.' Everything was just right on the same page. That's the first time that's ever happened. And we just had a great experience the whole way through. Everybody really came to the table and loved the music and brought their 'A' game. I mean, we were in and done in a couple of weeks, which is amazing. And it wasn't like we were cutting corners or anything like that. Everyone just practiced the crap out of the music and the songs — we rehearsed really hard — and everyone loved the music so much that they made it their own, and thus, they performed that way. And it is. It's all of ours'. It's five guys."

On what the main differences are between last year's "United World Rebellion: Chapter One" EP and "Rise Of The Damnation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter Two":

Rachel: "Well, there's not many differences except in the recording process. We recorded in a few different places with the first EP, where we recorded the whole thing in the same studio with the second. But we took the same approach to writing and recording. The writing for the first one, I'd say, we labored a little more, because we were trying to go back to our roots, and I know that's a cliché saying for bands to say, but it was true. And after 25 years, it's really hard — harder than you would think — to retrace your steps to where you were when you were that 22-year-old kid jamming in front of a mirror and playing your first big gigs or whatever. So we really had to find our roots and rediscover what got us off in the first place, the guys that wrote the first two records, and I think we succeeded in it. That was the biggest difference — I think it was a little harder to write the songs [for the first EP] — but I think what we came out with, the final product, was well worth it."

Interview:

Performance footage: