SKID ROW's SCOTTI HILL On METALLICA: 'They're Our Generation's LED ZEPPELIN'

In a new interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", SKID ROW guitarist Scotti Hill was asked what he thought of METALLICA's performance at the Power Trip festival in Indio, California in early October. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I love METALLICA. I was excited to see them [at Power Trip]. I hadn't seen them in 20 years, probably — more than 20 years, maybe. But the first time I saw him was in 1983. A friend of mine called me up and says, 'There's a band called METALLICA from the Bay Area playing tonight. They're supposed to be really good. Let's go.' And we went to this club, underage, and there was 25 people there. There was nobody there. It was, like, an unknown band. And they started playing, and I was, like — I didn't even understand it. I was, like, 'What is this?' I had never heard anything like it. And to be honest with you, I didn't really like it, because I didn't understand it. It took me a while to pick up on what was happening because it was just something I never heard before. It was like seeing a color you've never seen before. It's, like, 'What is that? Do I like it or not?' So I had never heard anything that heavy before.

"But, yeah, Power Trip — they were great at Power Trip," Scotti continued. "I loved the set. The screens were great. Their interaction with the audience was great. They're our generation's LED ZEPPELIN."

Asked to pick a METALLICA song to play on "Wired In The Empire", Hill said: "Well, the first thing that always comes to mind would be, like, 'Sad But True'. I love 'For Whom The Bell Tolls'. Man, there's so many, but I'm gonna say 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' because that was probably the song that started lighting me up for them."

Last year, SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was asked by RadioactiveMike Z which of the METALLICA guitarists, James Hetfield or Kirk Hammett, had more of an influence on his playing. He responded: "Hetfield, without a doubt. And it's funny you should say that because I have a warm-up playlist that I go through before every show, and there's two METALLICA songs I put on there to work out my right hand. And the first one is 'That Was Just Your Life' off 'Death Magnetic', and the second one is 'Disposable Heroes' [off 'Master Of Puppets']. It's [James's] right hand. Because that was something I didn't really develop as I was developing as a guitar player; it was more about my left hand than my right hand. And then when I started hearing how just efficient and precise he was with his rhythms, I was, like, 'I've gotta develop that somehow.' And he's just the king of that — him and guys like Scott Ian [ANTHRAX], whom I think the world of, and Dave Mustaine [MEGADETH] as well, and Kerry King [SLAYER], without a doubt. They just have tremendous control over the synchronicity between their right and left hands, and their right hand in particular.

"[James's right hand is] insane. To me, he is one of the most underrated guitar players. 'Cause every guitar player will say that, but the general public doesn't have the full appreciation of how just unbelievably over-the-top talented he is as a rhythm guitar player… Kirk is amazing in his own right. James's right hand and the riffs that he writes utilizing that talent, it's pretty unbelievable."

SKID ROW's latest album, "The Gang's All Here", was released in October 2022 via earMUSIC. The band recorded most of the effort in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with FOO FIGHTERS, STONE SOUR, HALESTORM, EVANESCENCE, RUSH and ALICE IN CHAINS, among many others.

Swedish singer Erik Grönwall joined SKID ROW in January 2022 as the replacement for ZP Theart, who had been in the group for more than six years. Theart played his final gig with SKID ROW in February 2022 before being officially given the boot.