SEBASTIAN BACH On 'Kicking & Screaming': 'When I Listen To It, It's Absolutely Perfect'

Jesse Capps of RockConfidential.com recently conducted an interview with former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

RockConfidential.com: The album is getting rave reviews everywhere. Do you go online and keep up with all the reviews and read what people are saying about "Kicking & Screaming"?

Bach: Oh, yeah. I haven't read any bad ones at all which is amazing! (laughs) People that liked "Angel Down" are saying this is even better. That's cool, because I really love that record. It's very satisfying because as a musician you go into the studio with nothing and you have to come out a month or so later with something you have to put your name on and stand next to for the rest of your life. It's got to be amazing. I'm really lucky to be with this killer record company, Frontiers Records. They're pulling out all the stops. It's not just a CD. There's a DVD called "As Long As I've Got The Music", which has live footage from around the world, three brand-new videos and we're also doing a LP which has a gatefold sleeve. It's amazing this day and age to design a record! That's incredible. They gave me a real budget for a real producer. We spent a month and a half recording, which is a long time. We got it perfect. I wouldn't change anything. When I listen to it, it's absolutely perfect the way I want it to sound. That's a great feeling.

RockConfidential.com: How did you guys work on material for "Kicking & Screaming"? Did you come in with lyrics first or did [guitarist Nick Sterling] already have some riff ideas?

Bach: Each song is pretty much different. The first song we came up with was actually John 5 from Rob Zombie's band. That was a song called "Tunnelvision". That's a fucking heavy song. Then Nick came into the band. I was working with Jamey Jasta from HATEBREED and he really helped me out a lot. He's metal to the core and I needed to have some hard rock in there, too. The first SKID ROW album we came up with when we were teenagers. A lot of this music Nick came up with when he was a teenager. I think it all fits together. A song like "Caught In A Dream" the chorus to that totally sounds like it could be on the first SKID ROW album. It's amazing, because that's been 22 years ago.

RockConfidential.com: You mentioned working on the design for the vinyl gatefold. I miss the attention that used to be given to album artwork. One look at the "Kicking & Screaming" cover and you know there's something cool goin' on.

Bach: That was done by an amazing artist named Richard Villa, who did the latest BLACK VEIL BRIDES album cover. I got hooked up through them. I was going through a divorce while writing the songs with Nick. When I was recording the album, I fell in love with this new girl who is the model on the cover. She's very beautiful and cool and it was amazing making the record with her around all the time. Her name is Minnie Gupta. The cover is basically me being drug into hell by the goddess Kali Ma. She's cutting me with knives and pulling my hair and I'm kicking and screaming to not go to hell! (laughs) I've never seen Hindu Indian artwork used in on a metal record with the eight arms and monsters and shit. I've always found that really fascinating looking. It was cool to do a new look.

RockConfidential.com: And I noticed Minnie in the "Kicking & Screaming" video, too. Tell me something about that video. At the very beginning you're looking around all crazy-eyed. (laughs) What in the hell are you doing?

Bach: We shot three videos in one day. They're basically performance videos. What I was thinking with my eyes there at the beginning is "I can't believe I'm shooting a fucking video!" (laughs) It had been so long since I'd shot a video that I didn't know what to fucking do! It's been a decade since I shot a video. What the fuck? I'm shooting a video! I can't believe it! I remember standing there with the camera on me and I didn't know what to do! That explains the look on my face. (laughs)

Read the entire interview from RockConfidential.com.