SKID ROW's SNAKE Says Former Drummer PHIL VARONE's 'Waking Up Dead' Documentary Was 'Gross'

SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo was interviewed on the latest edition of "The Classic Metal Show", which is heard live on Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. EST at TheClassicMetalShow.com. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

Asked about "Waking Up Dead", the 2007 documentary from former SKID ROW drummer Phil Varone which followed Phil through four years of drug abuse and wall-to-wall sex with groupies while drumming for the band, Sabo said: "I thought it was gross, man, to be quite honest with you. See, that's just a lifestyle I never cared for or partook in. I never did drugs. The worst thing I ever did was drink too much vodka and puke, and that's basically the extent of my shit. So to live that and to see that, I thought it was pretty gross and disgusting, to be honest with you. I don't have any empathy for that situation at all, because you have choices. You make choices in life, and that was the choice that he made. And I don't wanna be a part of that or a party to it. So, I guess the only thing I can say is that I thought it was pretty gross."

In a 2006 interview with Metalshrine, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan stated about "Waking Up Dead": "I haven't [seen it] and I don't support it at all… That's [Phil's] world. I don't do drugs and the guys in the band don't do drugs. I don't endorse it. That's his world and he wanted to put our image in it and being the fact that the guy was only in the band for two years... The fact that he thinks he has the right to go out and use the SKID ROW name is preposterous. Yeah, that's his world, not ours."

In 2010, Phil, who is currently a member of the reunited SAIGON KICK, responded to ex-SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach's claim that Varone's decision to pose nude for the cover of the December 2010 issue of Playgirl magazine is "further proof that the name 'SKID ROW' has completely lost all credibility, cool, accuracy and is now devoid of all meaning in every way." Varone told the New York Post, "I'm grateful and proud of my time in SKID ROW and sorry [Sebastian] feels that way." Playgirl representative Daniel Nardicio defended Varone: "This coming from a man [Bach] who preceded David Hasselhoff in 'Jekyll & Hyde' on Broadway? Now that's the epitome of uncool."

Varone joined SKID ROW in 2000 — about four years after Bach parted ways with the group.

"Rise Of The Damnation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter Two", the new EP from the current lineup of SKID ROW — Johnny Solinger (vocals),Scotti Hill (guitar),Rachel Bolan (bass),Dave "Snake" Sabo (guitar) and Rob Hammersmith (drums) — sold around 1,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD, which came out on August 5 via Megaforce Records, contains covers of QUEEN and AEROSMITH classics as bonus tracks.