SKID ROW's SNAKE Once Again Rules Out Reunion With SEBASTIAN BACH: 'I'm Not Gonna Do It And Fake It For The Blank Check'

In a new interview with Scott Michael Nathan of "The Bad Decisions Podcast", SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was asked about the band's future plans. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, we're on the lookout right now for our next singer. [Laughs]. Erik [Grönwall], our last singer, was great. We did a record with him, we toured with him a lot. [He is] a fantastic singer and a really good guy. But Erik was coming off of just dealing with leukemia and with that, like a cancer survivor, he had to get bone marrow transplants. And luckily it worked and he was able to beat the cancer. But with the bone marrow transplant, it's like you're instituting a brand new immune system to your body. So you essentially have the immune system of a young child. And with that comes a myriad of issues. What would be a cold to us could be the equivalent of pneumonia to him. So the thing was that he needed to be as close to his doctors as possible, and they're based in Sweden, as he is. I think he felt that he might have been further along in his recovery than he was. And we tour a lot. But in the midst of that, because of his health, we would have to postpone or cancel legs of tours, and it was becoming a situation where we all had to address it. We can't keep booking stuff and then canceling it. And health and family are number one — that goes without saying. So in the attempt to make this work to see how we could make this work, again, his doctors and hospital being in Stockholm, us being in the States, we attempted to figure out a way of touring, come up with a touring cycle, if you will, or schedule that would benefit him, make him feel comfortable in that if he gets sick, he could be treated quickly and stuff like that, and still be able to go out and play shows on a fairly regular basis. And with the doctor's suggestion and what we could do as a band, it wouldn't have worked. And a lot of it has to do — again, as much as we love this, which we do, of course, you do this for a living, so you still have to figure out a way where you're not breaking — you've gotta pay the bills and you've got families and everyone does. So we weren't able to come up with a solution that could make sure that he's okay from a health perspective and yet still go out and make a living playing music as SKID ROW."

Regarding SKID ROW's ongoing vocalist search, Sabo said: "We've been slowly taking our time, but we've been auditioning quite a few people. We're still auditioning. I have a feeling that we're pretty close, but we're not jumping the gun real fast. We're just gonna make sure that we are a hundred percent in agreement — not just with the guys in the band, [but] with the people that work around us as well. And so that's where we're at. And we have some more people coming in in the next couple weeks to get in a room and jam, and we'll see what happens.

"Anybody listening to this, if they feel that they've got the goods, most certainly reach out," Snake added. "We're easy to find on social media. And just say, 'Hey, I'm your guy' — or a girl. Because it's wide open.

"When we did four shows with [guest singer] Lzzy Hale [of HALESTORM in May and June 2024] and she was so unbelievable, she completely opened up my eyes to what these songs could be from a different viewpoint than a different voice. And it was a great education. And she is just one of those talents that is undeniable. And I feel very, very fortunate that we were able to do a bunch of shows with her, 'cause she's just an absolute talent beyond what I ever could have thought."

On the topic of how he, bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarist Scotti Hill have managed to stay together for nearly four decades, Sabo said: "Rachel and I started this thing in late 1985, and Scotti joined in October of '86. And then from that point on it was several different changes, obviously, throughout the 35-, 36-year history, whatever it is. I think the thing that kept the three of us together is that we always had the same mindset, the same vision, the same goals, and the same way of kind of going about them. We felt that — again, this goes back to how we were raised, and the three of us were raised very similarly. And ironically, our first concerts were all within that same week that I saw KISS at Madison Square Garden. Scotti saw KISS at Nassau Coliseum that same week, and Rachel saw KISS at the Philadelphia Spectrum that same week. So we were connected already before we even knew it since we were age 13 — 13 or whatever they were; 13 [or] 14. But we always maintained the same sort of mantra and viewpoints with each other that when we started the band, it was always about because you love music. It was about because you wanted to express yourself. And that's what we were able to do by writing our own music. And we also knew that if we were writing for somebody else, like a certain segment of the population or whatever, and we weren't being genuine, what was the point of doing it? It's like we had to be, and we still are, true to ourselves as far as how we express ourselves and not trying to placate any sort of trend or genre or whatever. We always wrote and played what we loved, starting with KISS and then branching off from there."

Snake continued: "One of the things that we said at the very beginning was that if it's ever not fun, then either we'll stop doing it or we'll fix why it's not fun. And so when changes occur within the framework of the band, that's pretty much the reason why. I mean, there's been other instances — obviously, Erik's health; that was completely unavoidable due to his situation — but with a lot of the other situations, with certain people it wasn't fun and it became a miserable experience."

Apparently addressing constant calls for a SKID ROW reunion with the band's former singer Sebastian Bach, who sang on SKID ROW's most commercially successful releases, Snake added: "I'm not gonna go out there and do it and fake it for the blank check. I've never been about that. Rachel's never been about that, and Scotti's never been about that. So we're not gonna do it. And there's been a lot of people saying, 'Oh, just do it for the money.' It's, like, man. No. I'm just not built like that, man. And I'm smart enough — we all are smart enough to make sure that we've done okay with what we've made. And look, I don't live lavishly by any stretch of the imagination, but I could take care of my family. I don't worry about the future from a monetary standpoint. And so I'm really fortunate like that. And it's because that's been my viewpoint all along. It's never been about, 'We've gotta make a buck.' It's always been about, if we do things and we're genuine and we stay true to our character, to our spirit — and this is gonna sound weird — and we are selfish songwriters. And what I mean by that is that we are writing for ourselves. We're not writing for anybody else. And then you hope that the way that you translate how you feel through music and lyrics and melodies and performance will have a positive effect on people and thus they'll wanna come see and hear this music. And that's what we've always done."

Sabo previously ruled out a reunion with Bach last May, telling The Hook Rocks podcast: "It's not gonna happen. And I say the same thing every time. I'm thankful that people have such an interest in wanting to see that happen, but I also have to reiterate that this is about being happy in the situation that you're in. So I'll speak for myself personally.

"First of all, I do need to say something too, is that the reason that this isn't happening is because there's three of us — myself, Scotti and Rachel — who've had conversations about this, and we've all been on the same page that we don't wanna go down that road again. We just — we don't.

"Rachel has taken a beating over this through the years," Sabo continued. "He's the one who's been blamed for this. 'Oh, it's Rachel's ego.' 'It's this and that.' No, that's a load of bullshit. That is not true. And I feel bad because he's really, really had to shoulder that blame and has never said anything derogatory or anything like that. But you know what? The truth of the matter is that Rachel, Scotti and myself have continually felt the same way, that we enjoy being happy in this band and we're really happy.

"It's been such a great experience for the last however, 35 years, everything, all the ups, all the downs, everything, but we just don't wanna revisit that particular aspect of our history," he explained. "I love the songs, [I] love a lot of the memories, [I am] not fond of some of the memories, but just as individuals and as a collective, that's just how we feel. So this is not on Rachel. And this has nothing to do with anyone's ego or anything like that. So that's just gotta be clear. Again, for anyone to sit there and make assumptions that this is Rachel Bolan saying 'nope,' it's not. It's the three of us, and we've all collectively sat there and just said that we don't wanna do it. We just don't wanna do it. And we wish everybody all the best."

Snake added: "We've been just ripped apart by ex-members of the band and stuff — ripped apart. Some really shitty stuff [has been] said about all of us. And we just choose not to [respond]. It's not who I am. It's not who we are. We won't go down that road. We just wanna play music and be happy. This has really never been about a monetary aspect of things because it's known that we've been offered a good amount of money to do shows together and to reunite [with Sebastian] and whatever, but it's just never been about the money, man. I choose my happiness, my willingness to continue to be a really good friend to my best friends and a really good husband and a really good dad and bandmate and person. And I don't wanna endanger that in any way. So the people that we choose to play with, those choices are made in order to keep those particular things in line for all of us."

Bach fronted SKID ROW until 1996, when he was fired. Instead of throwing in the towel, the remaining members took a hiatus and went on to play briefly in a band called OZONE MONDAY. In 1999, SKID ROW reformed and, after a bit of shuffling over the years, featured a lineup consisting of bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Dave "Snake" Sabo and Scotti Hill, alongside drummer Rob Hammersmith and singer Johnny Solinger. SKID ROW fired Solinger over the phone in April 2015, a few hours before announcing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his replacement. Eight months later, Harnell exited the band and was replaced by South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, who previously fronted DRAGONFORCE, TANK and I AM I. Theart was fired from SKID ROW in February 2022 and was replaced by Grönwall, who was previously a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.

Five years ago, Bolan also confirmed that he and his bandmates "were entertaining the idea" of reuniting with Bach following Harnell's departure. But Rachel shot down the possibility of a rekindling of his friendship with Sebastian, explaining: "Well… Here's the soundbite for Blabbermouth. I wouldn't say we were friends [when we were in a band together]. We were bandmates. You know what I mean? We're two very different people." Bolan added that he hadn't seen Bach "in years."

Six years ago, Bach was asked by Rolling Stone what it would take for SKID ROW to be reunited. He responded: "It would take those guys to realize that I have a lifetime manager. His name is Rick Sales. I've been with him since 2006. They don't want to deal with a guy like that. They want to give some singer who doesn't have a manager $700 to $800 bucks a week. I've got a team that's worked with me and don't allow me to get fucked around. I didn't have that team when I was 19 years old."

In response to Bach's statements about the earnings of SKID ROW's singer, Sabo told Rolling Stone in an e-mail: "I guess fact-checking isn't in his skill set… The five of us go on that stage as a band and we all get paid equally. We're in this together. There's no egos."

Sebastian went on to say that SKID ROW was "close to reuniting, but then it didn't happen. The fact that it didn't happen obviously makes me somewhat bitter, because life is only getting shorter, as the song says," he added.

"I wouldn't say 'came close,'" Bolan told Rolling Stone in an e-mail response to Bach's account of the reunion talks. "We entertained the idea. Snake and I went as far as talking with agents and promoters about money. But we quickly learned after a few text conversations, why we fired him in the first place. Nothing is worth your happiness and peace of mind."