At the age of 57, Sebastian Bach still has the same gung-ho attitude he had when he first shot to fame in 1989 as a hyperactive 21 year-old singing for hard rock band Skid Row.
As he continues to tour heavily this year with his solo band, Bach tells MusicRadar: “I want you to understand this: I did 91 cities in 2024.
“I sometimes do seven shows in a week. A week!
“I did 91 cities — I’m not exaggerating. I think I deserve a little credit.
“Can I get a little pat on the back, please? I’m 57 now, so for an old man like me, 91 fucking cities! I mean, give me a break. That’s an accomplishment, and I’m very proud.”
Bach has spent most of his adult life on the road, and his early years with Skid Row shaped his hard-working ethos.
“I can remember with Skid Row, on the first tour, we did 31 shows in 29 days,” he recalls. “You might say, ‘No, you didn’t,’ but we did.
"We were opening for Bon Jovi, and on a couple of those nights, we would headline our own show at a club.
“One of those times was in Detroit, and I was so tired. I was just fucking exhausted.
“We came off the stage, and they were screaming for an encore. It was about 100 billion degrees, and we were all just dead.
We were like, ‘We don’t want to go back on. We’re done.’
“But [Skid Row’s manager] Scot McGhee goes, ‘Get you asses back on the fucking stage, you fucking pussy motherfuckers!’ And we were like, ‘Alright…’
“Those are the times that we came from. If we said, ‘Oh we don’t feel good,’ people would just laugh and say, ‘Get your fucking ass on the stage.’ That’s where I come from.”
Bach has some advice for younger singers.
“I know how to warm up my voice,” he says. “Some singers don’t have a fucking clue what they’re doing.
“When I see a singer go all out at soundcheck, I fucking laugh. I go, ‘There’s nobody here! What are you doing?’”
As for his own role models, Bach finds inspiration in the long careers of icons such as country legend Willie Nelson and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford.
“This is my job,” Bach says. “This is what I do.
“I look at guys like Roger Daltrey, Willie Nelson, and Neil Young. These are guys I aspire to be.
“If I can be like Willie, with my hair down to my ass, smoking a joint and going all over the country playing music, that’s what I’m looking to do.”
He continues: “Like Rob Halford, he’s not slowing down. Rob Halford is not slowing down, so neither is Sebastian Bach.”
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