“It’s really hard doing it as long as we’ve been doing it, and other bands and artists could back me up on this, [when] you’re doing it for this long, the hang becomes really necessary.”
— Rachel Bolan
SINGER WANTED — Skid Row are one of the 80’s most impactful bands, but like many of those bands from the era, the band are soldiering forward without their classic era voice.
In a recent interview the band’s co-founder, bassist and a chief song-writer in the group has spoken out on their on-going ‘singer-less’ situation and what they’re looking for.
Rachel Bolan spoke to Lisa Karkos of the Nashville On The Rocks podcast/show and the following was transcribed by Blabbermouth: “It’s kind of become a thing with SKID ROW, ’cause we’ve had quite a few [singers]. But we’re going to do something pretty big to find one, find the [right] person [to front the band].
“We have a certain criteria, and I think the main part, you have to have strong pipes,” Bolan explained. “You have to be able to tour a lot. And you have to be a good hang. I think that’s the main thing, is being a good hang.
“It’s really hard doing it as long as we’ve been doing it, and other bands and artists could back me up on this, [when] you’re doing it for this long, the hang becomes really necessary. When you get someone in there that is out for themselves and doesn’t care about anything that’s going on around them, it’s tough.
“So that’s where we’re at,” Rachel added. “We’re going to start up in hopefully October again. Because we’ve auditioned some people, and some people came in and they were great — they were really great. But you have four guys that are looking at someone, and it’s, like, one guy might think they’re perfect, another guy might think they’re almost perfect, another person might think, ‘Eh,’ wasn’t feeling it. So all four of us — Rob Hammersmith [SKID ROW drummer], Snake [SKID ROW guitarist Dave Sabo], Scotti Hill [SKID ROW guitarist] and myself — we need to be a hundred percent on board.”
Rachel went on to say that he and his SKID ROW bandmates are “not gonna rush anything” when it comes to selecting the group’s next vocalist. “We have the luxury of time on our side,” he explained. “Maybe not our ages [laughs], but we have the luxury of time. We don’t have any tours set up or anything like that, that we have to just like kind of get someone in place… Our booking agent says those shows are still gonna be there. If it takes two years, three years, whatever, those shows are gonna be there, dude. And it makes you feel good, because when you’re as close to it as I am, it’s, like, you don’t look at us, like, ‘You guys are fucking SKID ROW, man. You can do whatever the fuck you want.’ I look at it as, like, ‘We’re SKID ROW. What the fuck are we gonna do?’ We just told ourselves we’re not gonna stress. If it takes a long time, it takes a long time. And like I said, we’ve had people down that we’ve dug a lot. Something was there. Maybe there was pieces missing, an element missing, but it is what it is. And we’re meeting a lot of really cool people along the way — a lot of really cool people who I’m, like, ‘Wow.’ I’ll listen to some of their songs, and it’s, like, you look at someone and you’re, like, ‘Maybe we could work together on something else or write songs together.'”
Skid Row have had 4 replacement singers since Bach‘s firing in 1996.
Johnny Solinger was the first to fill the empty shoes from 1999 until April of 2015 when the Texas local was let go.
The band then hired Tony Harnell to replace Solinger who lasted roughly 8 months (April – December 2015) before they parted-ways.
Sadly former frontman Solinger died on June 26, 2021, one month after revealing that he was suffering from liver failure.
The band brought in Dragonforce frontman ZP Theart to replace Harnell and the South African born frontman sang for the group from 2016 into 2022.
Theart was let go and soon replaced by Sweden’s Erik Grönwall who appeared on the band’s 2022 critically acclaimed release “The Gang’s All Here” their 6th studio effort, which saw the band’s fan-base more excited then they’ve been since the group’s hey-day.
Grönwall left Skid Row in 2024 citing his need to focus on his on-going recovery from acute lymphoblastic leukemia which he was first diagnosed with in March 2021.
The band then finished out the year doing a few shows with guest (female) singer Lzzy Hale from the band Halestorm in 2024.
Read more about Sebastian Bach and Skid Row found on Metal Sludge and shared here.
November 13th 2024 > Sebastian Bach has Deleted his Rants Admitting he was Jealous, Emotional and Insecure about his Wife… now says; “No, I am NOT single”, “I have to be accountable for my behavior”, “I am ashamed” and “I apologize”
November 12th 2024 > TOES GONE WILD … Sebastian Bach weighs in under 200LBs for the first time since Y2K!
November 11th 2024 > THE BACHELOR … Sebastian Bach shares Photos without his Wedding Ring and shows off his New Stage Pants and Moose Knuckle
November 6th 2024 > REACTION … Sebastian Bach Rants on X after Election: “F#@k America”, “This Place Sucks Now” and “I Don’t Want To Be Here Anymore”
September 17th 2024 > DOUCHE GONE WILD … Sebastian Bach Has Some Choice Words to Fans Who Do Not Agree with His Political Views: “Go F*** Yourself”
December 6th 2023
HE’S BACH … Sebastian Bach drops new single “What Do I Got To Lose”
September 25th 2022
SKID ROW … Rachel Bolan Talks to 80’s Metal Recycle Bin podcast about Everything from Bon Jovi to Grönwall but Not a Peep about Bach
June 28th 2022
SKID ROWZ … Sebastian Bach and former Skid Row band-mates appear in new ‘Breaking the Band’ episode on REELZ
March 23rd 2022
SWEDEN ROW … Skid Row introduce new singer, Swedish Idol star Erik Grönwall formerly of H.E.A.T
January 12th 2022
SLIM TO THE GRIND … Ex-Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach goes on crash diet and loses 35 pounds
September 6th 2021
BAZ DEMANDS REUNION … Sebastian Bach says: ‘There Is No Reason’ why Classic Skid Row shouldn’t Reunite
June 14th 2021
F-BOMB MELTDOWN … Sebastian Bach goes on a Twitter tirade feuding with a fan about Skid Row song credits
January 21st 2019
30 & LIFE … Rhino Records releases SKID ROW debut for 30th Anniversary, w/ Bonus track + 10 Live tracks
January 1st 2019
DIARRHEA MOUTH … Sebastian Bach unloads on Skid Row (again): “Maybe you’re hard to work with!”
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