Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from Canada's The Metal Voice recently spoke to co-founder and guitarist Dave 'Snake' Sabo from Skid Row.
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Skid Row's new studio album, "The Gang's All Here", will arrive on October 14 via earMUSIC. The group recorded most of the Album in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters)
When asked about the recent passing of Steve Grimmett from Grim Reaper
"What a horrible loss, that guy had a hard time man. I feel so bad for what he had to go through and what his family is now going through. He always seemed to have just such a positive great attitude and man could he sing. "
When asked about the journey of making the new record
"It's been quite the ride getting to this point we've gone through so many different obstacles and potholes in the road to get to where we were able to make and finish this record in the way that we ultimately wanted it to be. You know any band that finishes a record that they've taken a long time to create and produce they're gonna sit there and say it's the most amazing thing they've ever done and you're never going to hear anybody go and yeah it's okay but we could have done better. For us this is the record that we had envisioned in our head when we when we first started working on it and it took a long time to get there. A lot of rewrites and a lot of soul searching and navigating through as everyone had to do through the pandemic and how that all played into the formation of this record. Then having to make a really difficult decision to get ( new singer) Erik Grönwall in the band and that decision wasn't difficult from a standpoint of his talent because that absolutely speaks for itself. It was just that we had gotten to a crossroads where we were done with most of the record. I think we had maybe three or three vocal tracks on the record but most of the music was done if not all and we just realized that we needed to make a change and it was a harsh realization. There were no arguments or anything like that with ZP (with former singer ZP Theart ), there was no animosity. I think that it was we both and I mean ZP and myself Rachel, Scotty and Rob over here we kind of just knew that we were all we were just the two sides were going in separate directions."
When asked how difficult it was to part ways with ZP Theart
"It was hard to part ways because he's a really good guy (ZP) he's really like a nice guy. I had a lot of fun with him and a great singer but it's just we were going in two different directions and it was inevitable. We were recording the record like I said and we just felt like if we're gonna make a change we have to do it now. It was not the most opportune time to make a change being that we were in the middle of this record and we had this Scorpion's residency coming up in las Vegas so it was really difficult. We only had one person in mind and it was Eric and so when we made and informed ZP we're going to go all our separate ways. I think everyone was well aware that we were traveling in opposite directions or different directions. I think it was everything, I think as musicians, as artists, as people we're just starting to go down two different paths and like I said there was no blowout argument or anything like that there was no nothing that anybody did that was you know like salacious or or or disrespectful nothing like that."
When asked to describe the new album's musical direction for fans
"l don't want to use the term throwback but it this sounds like that to me, like the natural evolution from the first record and the second record and then it would have been this record that's what it feels like to me and that's kind of what we heard in our head. That's all credit due to our producer Nick Raskulinecz. You want to get back to why you started doing this in the first place and for me personally I think most of us, it's that essence of that 16 year old kid standing in front of a mirror with his guitar slung though pretending he's Ace Frehley or Michael Schenker or Alex Lifeson. It's that mentality if you love the music that you do, you love the band that you're in, that essence burns. It's just a case of tapping into that again in as much as a purest pure form as you can at this stage of your career. That was really the magic of Nick just reintroducing us to ourselves. "
When asked about their publishing status in the early days
"There's all these rumors going around that we had a sell off all our publishing and all that stuff. It's not true. We did a business deal for part of our publishing to be owned by another entity but not the whole thing and yes we've been very blessed and fortunate with the financial return that we've gotten still to this day."
When asked if they got the phone call to replace Whitesnake on the upcoming Scorpions Tour
" I would love to get that phone call, I'm hoping that we do at some point it would be amazing, time is running short. We had an amazing time with Scorpions in Las Vegas, they treated us with just absolute respect and we've known them for a long time so they're friends and we think the world of them. So any sort of offer would be greatly appreciated and obviously well we have such great admiration for them that it would be an honor to play with them again."
"The Gang's All Here" track listing:
01. Hell Or High Water
02. The Gang's All Here
03. Not Dead Yet
04. Time Bomb
05. Resurrected
06. Nowhere Fast
07. When The Lights Come On
08. Tear It Down
09. October's Song
10. World's On Fire
Erik Grönwall – Vocals
Snake Sabo – Guitars
Scotti Hill – Guitars
Rachel Bolan – Bass
Rob Hammersmith – Drums
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