Ellie Timms ~ Sebastian Bach & The Bach Tight 5 by Christa Titus

Note: Images have been altered to avoid further copyright infringement

Interview by Christa Titus - Photography by Ellie Timms

The Stone Pony, October 18. 2003

The historic venue sits among the dark, crowded houses of Asbury Park, N.J. With the ocean bordering it on the east, it
feels desolate and abandoned 10 o’clock at night in the middle of autumn. Nothing too exciting here. Just a sleepy
Jersey shore town.

Before Sebastian Bach charges the stage, that is.

Flailing and thrashing the minute he jumps before the crowd, the platform, already small, seems like it won’t
contain him. Bach enters like a kid joyously freewheeling downhill at 80 miles an hour without breaks, gleefully
risking breaking his neck in exchange for the adrenaline rush.

Sweating, heaving and screaming for more than an hour, he and the Bach Tight 5 tear through Skid Row staples
“Monkey Business” and “Piece of Me” just as viciously as new cuts like “Angel Down” and “Threat.” Bach is
completely on in voice and spirit; the audience is with him hands down.

We are treated to 90 minutes of entertainment that are by turns blistering (guitarist Adam Albright shredding so
furiously in our faces you wonder if he didn’t get enough attention as a child; fellow axe man Randall Rawlings
playing with a more sedate furor), touching (the crowd swaying to the serenade of “I Remember You”) and
hysterical (a girl of about 11, overwhelmed by Bach inviting her onstage, blushing and clinging to her companion). It’s all
stapled together by Mark “Bam Bam” McConnell’s bombastic percussion.

We can’t forget the comedic—twirling the microphone overhead lasso-style, Bach accidentally lets it fly. It coils
around a pipe on the low ceiling. He looks at it, shrugs, then boosts himself up and keeps singing into it to shouts
of approval. Or the carnal: Between the women lustily staring with jaws dropped at bassist Brian “Cheeze” Hall
(so handsome you could hear the hearts breaking) and a leather-clad Bas vigorously spouting mouthfuls of water
like a sperm whale on the crowd, it was a wonder someone in the front row didn’t get impregnated by proxy.

Fast forward to the band’s October 27 Beacon Theatre gig in New York. Bach and crew are opening the Twisted
Sister/Alice Cooper bill. The stage is bigger. The venue is bigger. The audience is bigger. And they’re responding. But
people are sitting.

Sitting? Not at this show they’re not.
“Wait a minute. Stop the show,” Bach demands, and the music ceases with a chop of his hand.
“What is this?” he asks the room. “The fucking library? Get off your asses!”

Some of them do, because the six-foot-plus Bach looks so menacing he might just swoop down from the stage and
beat you onto your feet . . . and then make you thank him for it. He pushes the room for the next 30 minutes, urging,
demanding—”I thought I was in New York City at a rock concert; what the hell is this?”—and the room steadily
catches the fire. By the time they finish with “Youth Gone Wild,” Bach announcing the song with a tomcat caterwaul
punctuating each syllable, there’s not a bent ass in sight.

Be it a runaway microphone or a crowd in need of a verbal flogging, Bach shows why, whether you like him or not, you
can’t take your eyes off him, which is the frontman’s job requirement. He proved that he can be just as
commanding while standing (somewhat) still during the Broadway productions “Jekyll & Hyde” (as the title
characters) “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (as Riff Raff) and “Jesus Christ Superstar” (as the son of God himself).
Now he’s dedicating more time to his first love—rock’n’roll—preparing an upcoming DVD and the
Bach Tight 5’s debut album.

Prior to a gig at Mulcahey’s in Wantaugh, N.Y., Bach candidly discussed, among other things, finding his new
partners in crime and dealing with Broadway producer who didn’t know quite what to make of his fans.

How did the October 23 gig at the Chance go with Rob Affuso?

It was fun. It was great to play with Rob again. We talked for a long time about jamming’ together. We did “18 and Life”
and “I Remember You” and “Youth Gone Wild.” It was a lot of fun to play with him again. He’s a great guy.

How did the crowd react when he came onstage?

Great. We did it in Poughkeepsie [New York], that’s his hometown, and it was emotional when he came up. We
both lost our fathers recently, so we did “I Remember You” and dedicated it to our dads. It was a really cool night.
[Editor: Affuso also played drums on “I Remember You” during the Bach Tight 5’s set when the band opened the
Twisted Sister/Alice Cooper show October 27 at the Beacon Theatre in New York.]

How are things with you and the rest of Skid Row? Do you see them at all?

No, not since 1996.

Have you heard their new album?

No.

Well, I guess I heard it when they were Ozone Monday [the band consisting of the other original Skid Row members
with a different vocalist] and they played me their new music, and it was complete shit. And I can’t sing music
that’s shit, so I told them that.

Skid Row does not have a new singer and a new drummer. Ozone Monday changed their name. That’s not Skid Row.
They own the name, so they have the right to completely destroy it, but that’s not Skid Row. That’s Ozone Monday
with a name that will make them more money.

Did you hear the version of “I Remember You” that they did [on the latest Skid Row album, “Thickskin”]?

No, but I heard the punk version of “I Remember You” that the Ataris did about two years before they got that idea,
which is just a rip-off of the Ataris. I heard the Ataris do it real good, actually. The Ataris did a punk version of “I
Remember You” about two years before Ozone Monday did.

On the new “Ozone Monday” album, they have “I Remember You” sung by a different vocalist. When
listening to it, I thought, “Well, this is an interesting thing to do.”

Yeah, well, that’s the way those guys are. If they see an idea they can steal, they’ll do it.

How was the gig with Twisted Sister on October 24?

It was un-fucking-believable; it was like this huge casino in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. It was just packed to
the gills. We came out and did our new songs and some old songs, then Twisted Sister came out and did their
whole set in full makeup and costume. At the end of the night I got to come up and I did “Tear It Loose” with Twisted
Sister. It was just a great, unbelievable night of metal.

The new songs that you played at the Pony, are they definitely going to be on the album?

Yes.

But you’re still writing and recording.

Yup. I have other songs too that you didn’t hear at the Pony. I wrote a song with Desmond Child called “Devil’s Deja
Vu,” which is a piano ballad, but it didn’t really fit into the set right at this point. And I wrote some songs with Paul Crook,
but most of the songs I’ve written is with a songwriter from Memphis, Tenn., named Mike Dover and also Adam
Albright from Skinlab has written a couple songs [that will] definitely be on the album.

I’m making sure my CD is the best CD ever. I’m really excited to be on Spitfire Records ‘cuz they’re doing
incredible things, [especially] with Zakk Wylde, and they’re becoming a real big company. I feel very fortunate to have a
record deal and be coming out with some new stuff. That’s very exciting to me.

How did you end up with two former members of Dead Tight 5 in your band? [They are Brian “Cheeze” Hall and
Randall X Rawlings]

Well, I did three Broadway shows in a row—”Jekyll & Hyde,” “Rocky Horror [Picture Show]” and “Jesus Christ
Superstar.” I was out of the rock’n’roll scene for three years, at least while I was doing Broadway, so three years is a
long time in rock’n’roll. I came back home after “Jesus Christ Superstar” and realized it would be the perfect time
to reinvent myself again in rock’n’roll.

I put an ad on my Web site, which is the most instantaneous way of getting your message out there. I got
over 1,000 packages from around the world. I picked these guys from Memphis—Cheeze on bass, Randall X.
Rawlings on guitar—and then I put them together with Adam Albright, who’s from Oakland, Calif., and my
drummer from my previous band, Mark “Bam Bam” McConnell.

What lead you to pick these particular players?

Cheeze and Randy and Mike Dover played together for years. I was just really looking for people who could play
the Skid Row stuff good, but they came in with an arsenal of brand-new, original music that had never been heard.

I really love the music that they wrote. They gave me the music, and I wrote all the lyrics and melodies to the songs
that we did together, so we’ve been basically writing songs all summer together. As soon as we’re off the road here
I’ve got to shoot another episode of “The Gilmore Girls,” but right after that, we’re going to get right into the studio.

The same thing [happened] with Adam Albright. I already had the band pretty much together, but I needed the
second guitar player. I looked in the big box of tapes that I got and I pulled out his tape. I pressed play, and he had the
song that he wrote called “Angel Down” that we’re opening the set with that just completely crushed me. It’s total metal
to the core, and I love it.

I chose these guys basically how I chose Skid Row back in ‘87. In 1987 I had a bunch of bands that wanted me to sing
for them, and Skid Row was just one of them. I had their tape of their original material, and the same feeling I had
when I chose those guys back then is the same feeling I have with these guys. So I just go with my heart, try to make
the best music I can, and I’ve been doing it for a long time now—20 years.

Were there any legal issues regarding taking Bach Tight 5 for the name? Because they put an album together under
the name Dead Tight Five in 2001.

No. Well, this is Bach Tight Five. [He chuckles]

So it’s enough of a difference in the name that there’s no legal issue in using it?

Yeah. You know, I don’t really pay attention to legal issues—if you knew me, that never enters my mind.

Well . . .If somebody wants to put me in jail, I’ll just drop the fucking name.

[We both laugh] I don’t think that’s going to happen.

I’m not trying to create a name like Motorhead or Mötley Crüe or Judas Priest. The name is basically a way to
distinguish this solo project from the other solo projects, because it’s a completely different band. I’m in the band,
Bam Bam’s in the band, but other than that it’s completely different songs and a completely different vibe. I got the
idea from Neil Young because [when] he did his solo bands, if he’s working with different guys, he names each
band—collectors and stuff know what era it’s from . . .. . . and what incarnation it is . . .

Yeah, that’s the way I look at it. It’s just something to distinguish my band from other solo bands. I’m not trying to
come up with the greatest name in the world.

Is this band supposed to be for the long term or was it brought together for recording and touring purposes?

Well, I don’t approach things like that. I’m just trying to make the best CD I can and put together the best band that
I can. I don’t plan things; I just kind of let them happen. If this is a long-term thing, then great.

I have no plans on changing anything at all and we’re definitely making a CD together. We’re definitely going on
tour together next year for at least a year, so this is long-term in rock’n’roll. [He laughs]

To me, Skid Row was going to be the rest of my life, so I learned from them that you can’t predict the future.

Were you at all nervous about bringing out new material live?

Not nervous, but it’s a challenge to put brand-new music with music that has sold 20 million copies over the course
of 10 years that everybody has burned into their brain. You have to be cognizant of how much those Skid Row songs
mean to people. “I Remember You” and “18 and Life”; they have a very big meaning for the fans. So to put other songs
in with them, they better kick ass.

Again, I chose those songs, “Youth Gone Wild” and “18 and Life,” when I was 18 because I loved them. I love these
brand-new songs, and the new songs are going over just as good as the old ones. They really fit in good, and they
flow together. The more we play them and the fans gets used to them, it’s really cool. I just like opening up with a
brand-new song; to me, that’s balls.

What do you think of the rock/metal scene as opposed to when you were in Skid Row? Do you think it’s any better or
worse?

There’s great bands like Slipknot and Stone Sour, and there’s a lot of good bands out there, but to me, the biggest
difference is the Internet. It’s made what we do so risky and so unstable.

If you say, “What’s the difference?,” the difference is in Skid Row, we made a record, and in order for you to hear it, you
had to go to the record store and buy it. [He laughs] I’ve got platinum albums all over my walls that I can guarantee you
that these new bands will never get, because it was a different time.

Now, kids just download all their music. I have children myself, and they laugh at me when I say, “Hey, you should
probably pay for that,” and they think I’m a dinosaur. They’re like, “Dad, get out of the room.”

Given the rise of computer gimmicks in the studio, there are vocalists and players who can correct problems with
their performance with mechanical tricks instead of fixing them themselves. Do you think that’s helping less talented
artists get by?

Oh, definitely. I remember Britney Spears had a big HBO special years ago. “Britney Spears live, Britney Spears live,”
and I wanted to see if she could pull it off. Well, I put it on, and it’s completely taped. [He busts out laughing] I go,
“What the fuck?” It’s stupid; what’s the point?

All I know is that true talent for singing has made me have a great career. I’ve had rock’n’roll to Broadway and I haven’t
done just one Broadway show but three Broadway shows. And I can guarantee you that you have to know how to sing
to do that. If I was lip synching to a tape my whole career, I would not be on Broadway.

You noted at the Pony show that it was good to see the audience standing and screaming throughout the set,
because on Broadway, the audience only gets up and screams so much.

Well, I didn’t really mean that, ‘cuz they do. They went absolutely nuts on Broadway. What I was talking about
onstage was that Broadway is so regimented, it’s really a lot about “Stand in this place, hold your hand this high, walk
like this.” Everything is so regimented, and rock’n’roll is so free, you can do whatever you want, so it’s very different
than Broadway.

What are the upsides of it?

It’s great, it’s unbelievable. I’m just saying that at this time in my life I just did it for a long time, so it’s feeling really
good to do rock’n’roll.

The upside of doing Broadway, when you’re walking down Times Square and you’ve got a billboard that’s 60 feet high
[there] and you’re on the way to a Broadway show, the way you’re treated in New York being a Broadway leading man
is the best feeling in the world. People treat you incredible in New York.

Broadway is like the fucking Capitol Hill of New York; they respect it and it’s really cool. I feel very proud to say that I
am the first heavy metal rocker ever on Broadway, unless you count Joan Jett. Oh, no, I was before her, in “Jekyll &
Hyde.”

Did you feel like when you started in “Jekyll & Hyde” that you weren’t given a fair shake in reviews because of your
affiliation with rock’n’roll?

I don’t know what review you read. [He laughs]

I read the ones posted on your Web site and positive reviews elsewhere; I didn’t find any bad ones. What I mean
is, when you started out, did you see any reviews where you thought, “They’re not really watching me and what I’m
doing?”

I never saw any [of that]. I got the most incredible reviews in “Jekyll & Hyde” that you’ve ever seen. I never got bad
reviews in [that play]. The Village Voice picked it as the Voice pick of the summer and did a whole page theater
review on me in “Jekyll & Hyde,” saying I was like lighting up the stage. It was one of the best reviews I ever got in my
whole career.

“Jekyll & Hyde” was an unequivocal financial and critical success for me. I loved doing that role. That was by far the
favorite of the three that I did.

What was it like to play Jesus Christ?

It was very intimidating and very challenging and very fulfilling creatively. But emotionally it was very draining to
die on the cross eight times a week.

I just lost my father, and the whole [play] is about Jesus singing to his father in Heaven. So basically, a great day for
me is if I really connected with my father in Heaven and I’d be bawling my eyes out crying, and that was what I was
attempting to work myself into every day. After six months of tears [he laughs], it was draining. But it was an incredible
experience and one that I cherish.

But it was very grueling, the schedule on the road—doing eight shows a week and then Monday being in the airport
going to the next town; literally not any days off at all for six months was very physically challenging. But it was great, it
was fun.

On your Web site you listed an E! online report that detailed your departure from the production, and you called it
“surprisingly and refreshingly accurate.”

That was a very accurate description of what happened. I don’t know how that reporter found all that out, he never
talked to me, but that was like exactly what happened.

They basically didn’t like how you were taking a curtain call?

They didn’t even want me to have a curtain call at the end. By the time we got to Philadelphia, the more the tour went
on, the more heavy-metal fans would come, and that’s who I am, that’s what they hired me for, but they didn’t like my
fans.

My fans would throw flowers at me onstage, and the stage manager would run up to them in the lobby and say, “Don’t
ever do that again [or] you’ll be asked not to come back.” Don’t fucking tell my fans what to do. If you don’t like me,
don’t have me in the play, but this is the way it is, and my fans like to shout and scream.

In Philadelphia, when I came onstage, the whole place just went nuts. And the co-star that I had was completely
jealous because he didn’t have a fan base at all, and they were basically there to see me.

I’m not lying to you; we were the number one play in Variety magazine, Broadway Touring Production, for months,
making a million bucks a week over “Mama Mia!” and “The Producers.” As soon as I left they had to cancel weeks and
weeks and weeks of their show.

They didn’t like rock’n’roll, the producers of that play. They kept telling me that by the time I’m done with the play,
they’re going to take all the rock’n’roll out of me, and I’m like, “You’ve got the wrong guy.”

If rock’n’roll is what they hired you for . . .

They got what they hired me for. They tried to change me. When I would come up at the curtain call, the whole place
would act like Van Halen at the US Festival. It would be mayhem, and they literally tried to make the curtain call like
I couldn’t even have a curtain call. They wanted me to come out [hums a melody] without a drumbeat, because if I have
a drumbeat I will get every hand in the place raised up.

I just can’t deal with a producer who would say, “Oh, Jesus wouldn’t get the crowd going like that.” I go, “Were you
there? [He laughs] Jesus isn’t allowed to smile? He can’t have fun? He can’t feel exhilaration?” Give me a break,
man. That’s just too pretentious for me.

Would you ever do a Broadway role that wasn’t a musical?

Yeah. I was just offered one called “Exonerated,” which is about death-row inmates [who have] DNA evidence come
in and they’re exonerated for their crimes. But as I said before, the main focus right now is the second CD, and
that’s where all my energy’s going.

So you have to do more shooting for “Gilmore Girls”?

Yup. I’ve already completed my first episode and I’m going to shoot two more. Right after this tour is done I get right on
the plane. I go back out to Hollywood and shoot on the Warner Bros. lot. It’s great. I get to hang out in the studio
where they shot “Casablanca.”

Were you actively pursuing a TV role or did they approach you?

No. I’ve never, ever, pursued at all any acting whatsoever [He laughs]. People just come to me and ask me to do
it. The way the “Gilmore Girls” hired me was they told me they saw me on VH1 “I Love the 70s” and they were looking
for this specific character to play the role of Gil, and they thought that I would be perfect for the role. I came out and I
did it. They were happy, and it’s lead to more episodes.

What is the character like?

It’s kind of like the older rock guy that’s really funny and cool, kind of an updated Fonzie. And I don’t sing at all, I just
act. I’m actually the guitar player in the band.

Since you intend to stick with music at this time, do you feel like “This is what I want right now, and if I want to go back to
acting I’ll do that”?

To be honest with you, I’m always just doing music. It’s not every day you get asked to become Jesus Christ. [He
laughs]

When I saw that ad, I said to myself, “I’ve got to ask him what that was like.”

Some of the times in that play, I felt like a lightening bolt was going to come through the ceiling. It was just such
heavy subject matter. It was super heavy; heavy heavy heavy heavy heavy, crying crying, lots of tears, lots of crying,
lots of death. The whole thing’s about death, you know? It was just really heavy mentally. It just feels really good to
stick my fist in the air and shout and scream on a rock’n’roll stage right now.

Interview in Japanese

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