In a recent interview with The Hook Rocks podcast, Skid Row guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo opened up about the band’s future, especially following the departure of their latest frontman, former Swedish Idol contestant Erik Grönwall, who left to focus on his health.
When asked if they have any new singers in mind, Snake was clear: “We haven’t targeted anybody. If we wanna continue as Skid Row, we’re gonna have to get another singer. But we haven’t targeted anybody. There’s a lot of great singers out there. But Lzzy Hale (Halestorm who recently played two shows with Skid Row as a stand-in singer( just raised the bar, man. And Erik is a great singer. He raised the bar as well. And then Lzzy just came in here and just really raised the bar and showed us another side of what this band could be. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a male singer in Skid Row. The options are wide open. And like I said, there’s so much talent out there, but we just wanna make sure that we make the right choice and that we can bring the band to another level. That’s the hope.”
Asked on whether there’s been any change in his stance on a reunion with Sebastian Bach, Skid Row‘s iconic former singer, Snake‘s response remained unwavering: “Well, the answer has been the same for — I don’t know — 20,000 years now. 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.”
Snake elaborated, stressing that the decision is a collective one among himself, guitarist Scotti Hill, and bassist Rachel Bolan. He addressed the misconception that Rachel is to blame for the band’s refusal to reunite with Bach:
“Rachel has taken a beating over this through the years,” Sabo said. “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.”
Reflecting on the band’s long history, Snake emphasized their desire to avoid revisiting a tumultuous past: “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, and 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.” he added.
Snake further touched on the negative comments from former band members and their choice to remain silent: “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.”
