One on One: Sebastian Bach

He returned four a year in The Life episode one in Winter. Uh. He is a Canadian singer who achieved mainstream success as the front man of the American rock band skid Row from seven to nineteen ninety six. Bach released his debut solo album, Bring Him Back Alive, his first release. After his departure from skid rowan two thousand, Bach began performing on Broadway shows and productions. He made his Broadway debut in the title role in Jekyll and

Hide April two thousand. He also appeared in Ripped Raff in The Rocky Horror Picture Show two thousand one. From two thousand three to oh seven, Sebastian had a recurring role on the WB television show Gilmore Girls as Guild lead guitarist and Layekins band hep Alien. He also appeared in Rock of Ages two thousand twelve and Trailer Park

Boys two thousand seven to two thousand and fourteen. Let's bring him in, Hello Sebastian, God, it's that's been it's been since uh two thousand sixteen, Right, it's been I think before that. No, no, no, no, the other show right right, yes, yes, it's great sin you So let's get into this man. Um. So fans right in a lot of questions. They want to know certain things about you.

Uh so here they are. They want to know um and look everybody, you guys know that that that Sebastian is, uh one of the great rock singers of all time. He fronted, He fronted skid Row, had a bunch of hits big powerful voice. Um, so I have to live, but they have to leave in the band. You went to perform on Broadway. How did you make the transition

from rock? Start Broadway? Start talk talk about that? Well, specifically, Atlantic Records was the label that put out skid Row, and they also Atlantic Theater Division put out Jacqueline Hide the musical, the soundtrack record written by Leslie Brickuess, the legendary librettist, and then also Frank Wildhorn, who wrote the score the composer. So Frank went After four years of the play being on Broadway, Frank went to Jason Flom and Atlantic Records and said, I want a rock star

to play Jacqueline Hide. And Jason called me and he goes, hey, man, I don't know if you're interested, is I go, do you have the right phone number? Like really? And then he just explained to me that he thought with my rough rock raspy voice, that would be like Mr. Hyde. And then I also have a very clean ballad voice, which he said would work for Dr Jekyl. I thought he was crazy and uh so, But I went to see the play with Jack Wagner in the lead, and I totally loved the play. I just I loved it.

I loved the clothing. It was all like Victorian cool clothes and like effects smoke bombs and beating people up with like walking canes. And the plot was Dr Juckle gets the girl and high murders him. The skillers what could be better that wasn't really the plot, but but I just really loved it. I really really loved it. And there's a bunch of other reasons that I loved it,

but that's how I got the play. And then that's how I got into Gilmore Girls because Dan Palladino, after you had the other guitar, Jared Pillicky, right, he split the show and he was in Lane's band, I believe, and so, um Dan and Amy Aladino went to Atlantic, who put me in Broadway and they said, we we want a rocker to be on Gilmore Girls, and they said me so. And then Dan called me at home and he asked me, just when you asked me, how

the heck did you get on Broadway? And he was fascinated by that, so he was that was what got me onto your show. Um so, so obviously that's what made you lean into the acting more so. You did thirteen episodes as Gil on Gilmore and you replace uh guitar player for Dave in Lane span. I don't think it was John. I think Jerry was ever in the band, but maybe I'm wrong. Had had you ever acted on a TV series before? Was that your first time? Yes?

I I I don't know if you're a member of the channel v H one that used to have all these rock shows and stuff. I don't know if The Gilmore Girls was before that. But I did a lot of acting on um, some weird VH one things. But but you know, I did some acting in school. Um. But I after Jacqueline Hyde, I was Rocky Horror as you called me when you first met me. Uh, and I played Riff Wrath um and that was after Jacqueline Hyde.

Then I was Jesus Christ Superstar. Oh my goodness, yeah, wow, what a good with Carl Anderson, Like if you watched the movie from seventy two. He was my Judas and he taught me so much about hitting the stage with like all your heart and soul. He was a master. He was a member of the agot A Church. I don't know they're gone to that, that the big singing church.

And tragically Carl died during the during our tour. So that was really really heavy and uh, you know, yeah, and there's some other stuff I can go into about my dad and what the plays mean to me, Jacquelin and Jesus Christ Superstar. But that's this supposed to be fun. Who was your first Cloe Well Jesus Christ Superstar Wars. It was really hard because if you weren't at the end of the play like on the Cross, if you weren't crying, then then you were sucking you know, right right,

right right? And who wants to cry every day like I would. I gotta put pictures in my dad, relatives up in my trying to psyche myself in the right the actor's process. Yet sometimes it was certain jobs it's required and I guess with Jesus, you kind of know the ending there, so it's gonna requires Yeah. Well, um no, I I hear you. I I just finished uh my first season on a on a new TV series where

I had to pretty much cry in every scene. I just sometimes dreaded to go to work, I said again, because if you're not crying, you're not pulling off right rights. And I you know, I I kind of you know, I was on location for four months. I missed my family. I kind of went into the can a little bit. I kind of got a little depressed there. And you know, because if you're mining so that so did that happen

to you too? Because because of the role, you went into some dark places and you, Oh my god, right, I mean, everybody's seen the play. There's so mean to Jesus. I don't mean to it's not funny, but it's like they're really really Jesus. Act when he's riding on the palms and he was like oh, then he like there was like Jesus, and then act too. I'm standing on the side of the stage looking down. I'm wearing a

diaper with no other clothes, basically nude. And I go out there and I shuffled out there in my swaddling clothes and uh. Then the stormtroopers and they're big jack boots. They're like whipping me and like back and forth, and I got no shoes on. One of these dudes stands on my toe like on stage, and I don't it's just it was the only time Jesus swore on stage. But man hurt. I wasn't part of the dial in real Mouth. It's it's it's it theorized that he was

the head of real potty mouth. Um really no, I don't know. I'm walking out of my um No. The thing is to say, Sebastian, you know, Jesus didn't walk like this man walk on how do you know? You like, really, what were you there? Were you there? Like maybe you did walking about this what's up? Much more controlled and like this? And I go, well, you know, that's pretty subjective for you to tell me that, you know, maybe you got the wrong Jesus, you know, maybe I should

have been insta maybe you know, No, you wouldn't. That's crazy, you wouldn't want to do that. You talking about a career going from No More Girls, that's quitting, right right, that's a heck of the range there, bro from Luke to Kill Our Clowns, clowns and saw But I hear, I know, I get you drifted. Very funny, all right. So here's another question. This is from Lila from Salt Lake City. Going from being on stage in front of millions to acting in front of a crew. What was

that transition like for you? Well? I think about filming The Gilmore Girls, and I think about like each episode was one hour long, and there's not a lot of the TV shows like that anymore that I couldn't think of. And what I enjoyed about it was we all got along, like as as a cast and a crew, we all I mean, I wasn't there as long as you But in my experience, everybody was like having fun together and and we all were like auto mission to make something cool.

Well that's because they distributed mushroom at lunch so well, dude on on Twitter the other day they posted a picture of help Alien and our band, but they spelled it hemp Alien and I was like, I'll be old with my sub my sub shock. I got some chiba hut come on your way. But then they deleted it because I think they didn't. Then they put heap aliens. That's just I'm just plaining disrespectful. You gotta go take

care of that. Yeah. Um, So my answer would be that that everybody was on a team and I missed that. I love the feeling of like you know, it was a big cast and was a big crew, but we were all on the same page as far as making something that we were all proud of and getting paid every Thursday. Was the rich don't plan to have you on for more than one episode? Or did that grow as time? Yeah? Okay, yeah. I became friends with Amy

and Dan. We would go to The Rainbow a couple of times, and me and Dan uh bonded over old Judas Priest and Rush and he's a real rocker. As are you with your band? My band indeed? And so are you too? Luring right now? No? No, no, no, no, no, I'm doing this. I did the TV series Uh. I am going to Nashville uh in January to write some songs with some artists down there because they wanted me

to come down and co write. I've never done that before, so I'm I'm looking for I don't know if I'm gonna like it, but I'm gonna try it, you know what I mean, because I I write in a very specific way. But I'm really open to this and I'm kind of excited about it. That's great. Craps. Yeah, yeah, yeah, how about you you guys? Well we just I just did the Taylor Hawkins concert at the l A Form

with day Roll and Geezer. Butler from Black Sat on basin, Lars from Metallica on drums, and then after that we did the Kiss Cruise Ship, which sounds fun. It's a lot of work. I mean, I love Kiss. But Tom waits when when he was asked, hey, you're like going on cruise ship and He's going, you on a cruise ship is like being in jail with a chance of drowning.

And that's kind of you can't leave your room, you know, like if you want a Gilmore Girls, Cruisi'd be stuck in a room because I mean and a short for fanatic, right right, right right. But I love kiss and uh so that's one of my favorite bands. So that was really a lot of fun. So that's great. So so the music is still there, you're torn around. I have a new record label and we're putting out a new

record very soon. I'm not supposed to talk about that, but I'm always working on new songs and new music right right right. And you write your own material mostly not all the time. Like if someone has a great idea, I'm not gonna take a crap all over it right right right right, Like a good song, a good song right exactly, you know when you hear it right away? Absolutely skin Row. You know, we broke up a long

time ago. Now let's say, well, Sebastian can be hard to work with, but I wasn't hard to work with, Like on the song I Remember You, that was really easy. You've got wild done? Next? Is there any talk to you guys getting back together and doing uh and touring because so many everybody's doing it now. Yeah, there was texting and a little talking, but there needs to be more talking. I mean some of these older bands are doing stadium shows for Godson and Joan Jet my career

je Leppard. Yeah, and you're right in the pocket there. You could you could team up with somebody, you know, any of those bands and oh my gosh, what's wrong with these guys? What the hell is wrong with these guys? Well, I have a manager named Rick Sales, and he you know, he protects my interests. Okay, sure, I mean they got a deal with the business side of things, and they would rather maybe not deal with that as far as

I can tell, like, just not deal with that. But you know, there's always the number, right, So I mean, we're we're all still alive. We're all still alive. Then again, so it's Heap Alien, We're all still alive. They got to get the band back together, ye do, because there's you know, all those great Heap Alien hits that everybody

everybody knows going back twenty three years. You know, there's uh, you know, don't chew on my hemp and uh, you know, but this one, don't step on being around that track and it's not good to happen girl that you wrote that that's happen. That's a heap alien song. That there's the the hit Mrs Kim Get off my Neck. You know that's a big, big song. Uh Lane Lane Kim's Uh, well, everybody knows the hit. You know the fifteen thousand Bibles.

You know what's amazing, though, dude, is about the Gilmore Girls. When I go onto you know, other countries, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, all these different I get into hotel room and I put the TV on and sixty percent at the time there's the go in a different language, and I'm like, I'm my Holy moly, I mean like really, And I get noticed in public in different places for different things, Like if I'm in a rock club, it's skid row. If I'm in Canada, it's trailer part boys this show

that I'm on. But if I'm in a mall, if I'm at a mall with with women walking around with their daughters, are you like? Are you? Are you kidding? Like it happens all the time and people love the show. I really. One of my favorite memories is when Getty leave from Rush brought his daughter down to the set. Do you remember when we were in the house. I think you're in the scene we were playing the guitar.

I kind of do remember gettie Lee coming. I do remember that now, yeah, because his daughter loves and he just when I just played with Rush at the l A Forum for Taylor Hawkins and I was hanging with them and I got him to sign one of my vintage Rush albums and he put Sebastian I owe you for that day on mc gilmore with my daughter, thank you so much and so hey man, than that was a fans dream for me coming to come. I'm want

to talk about your voice. Were you born with that or did you work on that and and really train your voice? I did, I do still to this day. So it's work, well, it's an it's a natural ability mixed with technique. What's work is knowing how to do a two hour show and then drive for eight hours and then do it again the next time. That's work. That's work, and so you have to know how to

not push it too hard. So you have to there's a technique called speech level singing where you don't you don't you're not pushing it as hard as people think you are, but then you save your power for those epic screams or whatever. Your hardest thing to do. But you have to learn how to do that. And when I got in skid Row, bon Jovi was helped us. He took us on the whole New Jersey tour way back in and he put me with his vocal coach, a guy by the name of Don Lawrence in New

York City who still teaches. So you want to go get a lesson, he allows you to record a lesson. So I have tapes and tapes of me vocalizing with this guy, and one of them is a vocal warm up that I do before every single time I sing every time, and it's just scales, but against your voice, it turns it into like an instrument. I don't know. The more I do that properly, more you sing properly without like blowing it out, then it gets stronger. And I find like the more the more I sing clean,

the stronger my voice gets. If I put too much gravel, then then the quality the tone becomes less and if I keep it clean, it becomes this huge sound. So yeah, yeah, it's it's work. Yeah. I had to really, I had to really train my voice to build it up to the throat muscles strong enough to sustain playing in a short set. Right, it's it's a lot of work. People don't realize that it's it's it's a lot of work.

But also when we were kids, you and me, nobody had cell phones under nobody was filming the whole show from the front row like underneath like and then posting the whole thing. But when when I was a kid, we does sees Dan Halen David Lee Roth would run out there and you go, I forgot that goddamn words, and we would go yeah, and we would like each other go, you mustn't even know a lot of words. He doesn't even know the words. And there's the greatest

thing I ever saw. Like it was completely different. It was like it wasn't dissected. And like in skid Row, we would do a photo session for I don't know, six hours with six different photographers and shoot thousands of pictures, right, and we looked out like three you know what I mean, Like you would pick the best ones, and that's what the public saw. It wasn't like it's just when you talk about work Like. I used to go out on stage and we would look at each other and we

would go, let's go crazy. Now I go up there, like, don't don't move around too much, you know, don't don't jump around, because if you're running around and jumping around, you know, it's not gonna be the same as if you're standing perfectly on the mic, you know, because that's how you make records. You know, you're not you're not leaping off the drum riser while you're recording your album. You're in a you're in an air conditioned room. It's hard,

isn't it. I found being like, especially the laying down vocal tracks on recordings are difficult. Man. That's hard to do. You have to stand right there and if you don't feel it, man, it's gonna come out flat. It's oh yeah, it's hard man. It's I like doubling my voice was you know, I don't know if you've done that where you're staying and then you sing it to yourself and it gives this thick, thick tone. Ozzy Osbourne when you

hear him saying Everything's dope. John Lennon. John Lennon never put out a vocal that wasn't doubled really, so he records it twice and they just lay one's one's way lower volume really so yeah, so it gives your voice this really like Auzzy when you listen to Crazy Train, he sounds crazy. Yeah, it's powerful. Yeah, that's called doubling. And next time you're in the studio and give that a shot, because I find that really adds a nice tone. God,

I wish you'd known you were in Vegas. I was just out there for U our Heart Radio music festival through a weekend we stayed. We stayed a little bit outside of where we stayed at that Green Valley. Yeah. Yeah, beautiful resort. Um. I love Vegas, man. I saw all these acts. I saw all these bands and all this, you know, lion Al Ritchie and Pulls. Oh no, no, no no, the who were wasn't there? Yeah? We we saw the little like last week they just came in. They played

the stadium. No, they played the full orchestra, like like wow, it was crazy and they're while there. It was it was Pete Towns and it was Roger Daltrey. Yes, and I love the whom Yeah, man, sure see who's next album? Incredible album? Um? Whose Next is incredible, incredible, the sound of it, the production, it's an acoustic out him but it's so like, so much going on, but it's but He's like, it's it's an acoustic album. It's not. I love the synthesizer like you know, Babo Riley trippy. It

never gets boring. Every track on the every work of genius. That album is a genius. Well. I read an interview with Pete Townsend like two years ago or something, and he was like, you know, I'm sorry. I want to apologize to the planet for inventing heavy metal. Uh what he does? I didn't intend to do that, but yes, we did do that the album Live of Leads. I go, that's a pretty ballsy interview to say that. So I didn't have the album Live with Leads. So I went

got it and I put the needle down. I go, holy, that is that is the first all right hanging. And then the album has all these like you know, posters and stickers, all the fun stuff you get to look at like a crack of jack box. So you're ready, Pete Townson's right, Um, so you're still rocket on stage? Did you just mentioned the kiss crews and recently was easy top I feeling of being on stage? What does

it feel like to be on stage nowadays for you? Well, you know, as you get older, you you read interviews with some singers and they they say, oh, I gotta tune down the keys, or I gotta I gotta use tapes. Everybody does that. I don't know, you know, but but I don't. I don't use tapes. I still don't. I don't. I don't tune down the keys. I don't. Uh. I can still hit the notes that I could hit before.

Like some time times. You know, if I'm playing a club in Iowa or something and it's a Wednesday night, maybe I won't. Maybe I won't, as you were saying, feel as much as I would if I was at a the l a form with Black Sabbath. You know. But that's where the that's where the filming comes in all the time. You're like, Holy Holy, everybody's filming everything all the time. You better say, bitch, do you do you have a favorite show that you put on with

this good row? What was your the ultimate show that you remember? Oh wow, that's a good question. Um. The first thing that comes into my mind is Australia. Australia is this They loved a party in Australia and everything is like the hotels are nice. There's no it's all. Everything's really like like five stars seems like down there, and the whole culture loves music. I mean, if you do, you have you played in Australia, I'm telling you right now,

they will love your ass down there. They will because they love the Gilmore Girls. I'm surprised you haven't played there. Surprised, but that's a really really cool place. Um. I love playing there. I love Japan, I love I love playing in Japan. I love South America because they're out of their cotton picked and boards. They're nuts for rock and roll down there there. They just can't even deal with it.

They just have the Ramans, right they weren't They weren't huge in America, right, remember, but in Brazil they couldn't leave their hotel. It was like hysterical. South America's awesome. So where are you appearing next? Do you have a tour center or you have do you sort of do weekend hits or you know how that this is getting tired of me answering this. I basically I'm glad I asked it. Well, now hang on it. Basically kind of had to take this year off a little bit because

I I'm not supposed to say this stuff. I I I've been working on music since to skin rough singers ago, working on music since before the pandemic. Okay, so I

I had a masked a lot of music. And the thing about putting out music in is that you have to figure out a way to cut through the clutter because everybody in their cousin puts out an alum or has a YouTube page or you know, there's no Like a long time ago, there used to be record companies that you had to like be good to get signed or like not not just anybody put out records like I mean, you know, it was a it was a privilege and and and stuffing. You have to work for it.

But with the advent of pro tools and technology, you can be a wrestler and then just wake up the next day. I'm gonna be a rocker, Like I mean, it's just it's like that show don't be tardy for the party, that chick. I'm gonna be a singer. You know, you just walk in there and waffle out some half ass take and then fix it up, you know laptop, So so was there being no gatekeepers? You have to

have a plan. And if you notice albums that are big now, they have like such a long set up time, like an artist will put out three or four songs or three or four videos even before the album comes out. So it's this big plan. And then there's also the vinyl backlog. You have to get in line to produce vinyl right now because vinyl is so hot everybody collects it that you have to have like six months lead time even to get into the vinyl pressing plans. So

that's very boring, but that's what's happening. We are amassing the plan. And I just already said too much. But that's the answer, A right, good enough, good enough. So you and I have a personal history when on Sunset Boulevard once you remember that, Remember I remember going to your house just youn me and watching the very last episode of the Sopranos, very yes, in your in your theater room. It was just you and me. We were totally into it. We were the only people in the

house and it was the very last episode. And then get ready for this planet Earth then I took Scott to my buddy Axel Roses house. And that's a true story that happened though in this world. And I remember Axel hates Ferraris. Oh. He showed me his cars carp on carpet. He had an end zo, an endzo that you could only get by, and he I don't even think he opened the windows or anything fired up red and he had like red and blue lights and remember that. Oh yeah, I do. Good man, good dude. All right,

let's get into this rapid fire ready. I'm gonna fire questions at you right. How many cups of coffee do you have a day? Oh? Jeez? Four? Are your team Logan Team Jess or Team Dean Team Dean? Who's your favorite Gilmore Girl's character? Oh? Well, god, I had to be Luke from the Dinner. I gotta I gotta say, like, the guy who played uh Freddie Mercury in the Queen Movie was in an episode, really, Remy Mallock. He was on the Gilmore Girls and look at how cool. Yeah

he was in one of the episodes. I wasn't so I'm a very big Queen fan. Sure, so a way to go. He was great. He was great in that movie. He was great part good. Um uh, what would you order at Luke Steiner Coffee? And maybe cabbage roll? Cabbage roll? Buddy? There you go. Would you rather go on the road with Taylor or Michelle? I have to say Taylor? Why? Tell me why? Because I love Taylor Swift? Okay, Uh, I got you there? You love for tickets? Right? Well, my team is they want to go. They want to go.

Um would you rat? Okay? Al ask that finish the lyric and where you lead, I will follow dot dot dot. I'll be there right. No, I'll be there and Nana, I'm sorry. Any anywhere anywhere? Okay, where and where you lead, I will follow. Yes. And you're saying I suck. Sorry, Okay, I will be there. Right. You know what I'm gonna get and I'll be there. Let me let me tell you something. You made it work. It's the wrong answer, but I'm gonna give you a correct score on that. Okay,

I'm gonna give you that's that's a correct answer. Uh. Jackson's Vegetables or Suki's Baked Goods. Suki's baked goods, you know that will work. After a hangover, you need some baked goods. That also reminds me of Jenny McCarthy on the show, and she we were in a van going to the set and coming from the trailer. Melissa McCarthy, Yeah, I'm sorry, gosh, because I mean they're so similar. I need more coffee. No, definitely, they're very similar. Anybody can

making a mistake. So Melissa McCarthy, I just met her and she gets into van and she had just scored a acting role where she had to sing, and she bored me in the van and goes, Supash, I don't want her to sing? What do we do with her? And then I told her about the warm up and singing clean and don't blow it out and all this stuff. It was a great memory where she was really freaked out but she had to sing, and I was like, just, you know, like just do it. I just I can't

imagine Melissa be intimidated. She's so talented, she could do anything. But she started on the Gilber Girls, right or pretty much writer. I mean I didn't know who she was before and I think that was her first big job. Yeah, well, good for her. Yeah, um, would you rather listen to Drella's Harp or the Troopadours cover songs, The Trooper Doors cover songs, Gramly Phillips, the Man the Myth. Oh he was cool man, it was, wasn't he. Yeah? And also I remember the day that Sonic Youth came down to

the set and I hung out with them. That was amazing. And also, you know, Carol Kane, unbelievable. That was a great set to be on. That was totally totally fun. Chilton, Prepper Stars, Hollow High starts a lot. There you go, Sebastian Bach, you know, Yeah, I have one more little anecdote to tell you. So so I'm on the Gilmore Girls like come, I'm on Broadway all this acting stuff, and my agent calls me and they go, hey, Sebastian, Law and Order want you to try out to be

on Law and Order. And I was like, holy moldy. I was like because I like the show a Law and Order. So I was very excited to go try out. Okay, this is after being on the Gilmourts for a couple of years, and you're gonna laugh at this. So I go into audition. I got all my lines memorized, and there's directors and Law and Order people and they okay, go and I read my lines at the speed of gil order. And I'm coming into the town and I'm talking. I'm gonna go over here and I'm gonna go to

the and they don't. They look at each souther go slow down. I go on Gilmore girls. Every time I deliver a line, they tell me to speed it up. Oh no, no, that's okay. I'm seeing that. I don't see law and order on in Australia. No, they're they're they're the poorer for it. What a mistake they made. Uh. Anyway, thank you Sebastian for your time. It's been a blast catching up. Um, good luck. Let's hang out at in Vegas next time you're here. Yeah, I mean I think

I'm gonna maybe i'll be there next year. We'll you know, we'll grab your digits, uh and I'll get in talk to you. How do I do that without like broadcasting it on the internet, give it to give it to Amy and she'll give it to me. Yeah, because it would be recorded and broadcast. We don't want to do that. You get hassled enough. I was out with you one night. It was a mob scene. It was really I mean,

you're truly a rock star. I mean that that really solidified it for me about what you know, what impact you had on the music industry and on fandom, because man, they were lining up just to say hello. They fans the meet and great thing on the road. I don't know if you're doing that, but the fans love to come on your bus and get a picture Facebook stay hello, and yeah, that's that's where I really feel. Yeah. I do conventions. I do them all over the world, and

uh yeah, the fans show U. Yeah, it's great. Sebastian, all the best, great up, Thank you, thank you, thank good luck with everything. New projects coming out. I hope they're big hits for you and we'll be in touch and who knows, maybe we'll do another Gilmore girls. We're all still alive. That's a eight reason to do something.

We are breathing, all right, good good talking to you, man, Take care, all right, all right byet hey everybody, and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at I Am All In podcast and email us at Gilmore at I heart radio dot com. Oh you gil More fans. If you're looking for the best cup of coffee in the world, go to my website. For my company scott ep dot com, s c O T t y P dot com, scotty P dot cop Grade one, especially coffeeeah h.