SEBASTIAN BACH Says He Lied When He Said He'd Stopped Drinking

The U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine recently conducted an interview with former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal Hammer: So about that "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" t-shirt you wore in 1989…

Sebastian: "I never usually talk about this but I read so much misinformation about it that I'm gonna set the record straight. I never wore no fucking anti-gay t-shirt to an MTV press conference. It's not true. I wore that shirt once in my life. I came off stage in Irvine Meadows in California after PANTERA had opened up for us. When we finished, I was totally hot and sweaty. The guys from L.A. GUNS were all backstage, so I said, 'Gimme a fucking shirt to put on.' Gerri Miller from Metal Edge magazine is there asking for a picture of all of us, so I just pick up this hideous fuckin' shirt that some fan had thrown up onto stage and put it on. We all knew it was the worst shirt of all time. It wasn't some campaign that I went on."

Metal Hammer: How did the media react?

Sebastian: "Kurt Loder from MTV, who's gay (and I don't think I'm outing him) got hold of the picture and put in on MTV as a news piece with all the other guys cut out: 'In the land of homophobia, if Axl Rose owns the restaurant and PUBLIC ENEMY are the diners, we have a new bus boy.' It was like I was the anti-Christ. Then Revolver magazine in the States said, 'The most appaling moments in rock: even though Axl Rose got more press, generally Sebastian Bach behaved worse.' Then they said I wore this shirt at a press conference on TV. That's way different to being backstage with L.A. GUNS all drunk and shit and sticking this hideous shirt on. It's complete bullshit."

Metal Hammer: Why did SKID ROW fire you?

Sebastian: "When it came to the mid-'90s, rock was totally at the bottom of the barrel and Snake [SKID ROW guitarist] wanted to change SKID ROW's image. He wanted us to cut our fucking hair and shit. [After 'Subhuman Race' in 1996] I spent all this time on the phone calling them, saying, 'Let's fucking do something.' I was fucking bored with the two- or three-year gaps between records. They didn't want me to be a songwriter anymore, so they sent me a demo they'd written and it sucked balls. I called them and said, 'I'm not singing this,' and they said, 'Well, that's a drag, because you're gonna have to quit the band.' So I said, 'I'll never quit this fuckin' band. Let's just go into the basement and write a good album.' So he screams at me and I just put the phone down. Then KISS asked us to open for them in New Jersey on their reunion tour. Rachel [Bolan, bassist] had a side-project with the road crew — the pyrotechs and stuff — called PRUNELLA SCALES, and he said he couldn't do the KISS show because he had a gig with his side-project. I lost my fuckin' mind. I rang him up and said, 'Let's fight' and 'I'm gonna kick your ass.' Then I did the same thing to Snake. I just wanted to play with fucking KISS, dude, excuse me!"

Metal Hammer: You made some new friends on the set of VH1 reality show "SuperGroup" — notably giving up drinking under Ted Nugent's wing. Would you ever do another series?

Sebastian: "You know that episode where I said I'd stopped drinking? Well, I lied. Ted is so militant in his views. I lived with him for 12 days and it's hard to imagine ever doing anything that would truly look good in his eyes. Also he said some stuff online about Dimebag which I thought was really not cool. I'm not going to repeat it but you can check it out online. [You can read Ted Nugent's comments about Dimebag at this location. — Ed.]. But Scott [Ian, ANTHRAX guitarist] and Evan [Seinfeld, BIOHAZARD bassist/vocalist] are awesome dudes. I don't know if there'll be another series. I think Scott would be into it and I know I'm well up for it."