Though the band’s most commercially successful years were in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when Sebastian Bach fronted the band on such hits as “18 and Life,” “Youth Gone Wild” and “Monkey Business,” Skid Row has continued to rock metal crowds across the country. Having toured with the likes of KISS, Mötley Crüe and Poison, the Bach-less Skid Row has taken a more hard rock approach since the addition of singer Johnny Solinger in 1999. As the main songwriter for Skid Row, bassist Rachel Bolan (alongside longtime guitarists Dave “The Snake” Sabo and Scotti Hill) has not only kept Skid Row from ending up on a metaphorical skid row, but he has also produced bands such as the now-defunct Luchagors (led by Amy “Lita” Dumas) and taken to the track for various kinds of auto racing. As the band prepares for some big upcoming shows such as October’s KISS Kruise and a homecoming of sorts for Atlanta-based Bolan and former Rockets to Ruin drummer Rob Hammersmith at Wild Bill’s, Bolan takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture.
Photo by Edel Puntonet
You were scheduled to perform at Wild Bill’s in June, but it was rescheduled to Sept. 16. Why was that show rescheduled?
We were doing a show and had just finished playing and the lights went down. As we were walking offstage, our guitar player Scotti was cutting behind the drum riser and I guess one of the local crew guys had put a small load case there. It was pitch black and he just fell over it and went to brace himself with his hand and nailed it on the corner of the drum riser and broke one of the metacarpals in his hand. So it was either play without him or reschedule, which we opted to do.
You’re not touring behind a new album, but will you be playing any new songs at this show?
We’re not playing new ones yet. We have been writing because we plan to get something out in 2012. We won’t be playing anything new at Wild Bill’s, but we have been pulling out some obscure songs that we haven’t played in a few years. So we’re looking forward to that.
Outside of performing in Skid Row, you’ve also done a bit of production work for other bands in the past few years. How did you get into that and what are some of the more recent projects you’ve worked on?
I’ve always loved producing. It’s a lot less stressful than actually being in the band and doing your own stuff because you still get to create and as long as you gain the trust of the artist or band you’re working with, it’s something I always really like to do. I did the Luchagors a while back, then Rockets to Ruin. I also produced the band Bigfoot, which will be playing with us at Wild Bill’s, and another local band called
Ledfoot Messiah. Sometimes people just call me from the creative side just to get new ideas, so it’s always a lot of fun to do it.
When you’re not working on music, you’re also involved in auto racing. What type of racing do you do?
I race stock cars, Legends cars and my go-karts any chance I get. We’re gone on the weekends, so sometimes it’s difficult. But every now and then a friend of mine will call and want to get his car in a race and he might not be able to do it so I’ll go jump in the car and race it. That’s usually up in Charlotte. It’s something that I really love doing. I’m at the amateur level because I obviously can’t put in all the time that is needed. But I have so much fun and work out so much aggression when I’m out there.
I like racing my high performance go-kart on the clay oval, usually up in Commerce, Ga. I’ve raced in Minnesota quite a few times. A friend of mine and I built the kart and it goes about 60 miles an hour.
Photo by Fran Strine
I know you and your drummer live in Atlanta. Why did you originally relocate to Atlanta?
Snake lives out in L.A., Scotti’s in Florida and our singer Johnny is in Texas. I grew up in Jersey and lived there my whole life, so I wanted to move south. I was originally aiming at Charlotte, but ended up in Atlanta and it’s a cool town. I made a lot of friends pretty quickly, got to work with a lot of good bands, bought a house and stayed.
Your past few shows in the Atlanta area have been at Wild Bill’s in Duluth. Why has that become your go-to venue for Atlanta?
First of all, it draws a bigger crowd. Second of all, the people that live outside the Perimeter usually won’t come into the Perimeter while the people that live inside the Perimeter will go outside of it. It’s just such a cool venue and it still is predominantly a country venue with rock shows during the summer. There are so many rock fans out in that area and the surrounding areas. We know there are rock fans in the city, but who would have guessed there were so many in the surrounding areas? It just makes it easier for everyone and the fact that it’s such a great stage and venue, we really enjoy playing there.
Hard rock and professional wrestling seem to often go hand-in-hand. Aside from working with Lita’s band the Luchagors, has Skid Row ever been directly involved with wrestling?
Photo by Edel Puntonet
We haven’t, but Snake is a huge wrestling fan. We have a lot of friends who are in or used to be in professional wrestling. Actually, a buddy of mine is Marcus Laurinaitis and he just moved up this way and we get together whenever we can and grab a few beers. He was Fury years ago, but he has since retired. His brother is Road Warrior Animal.
Yeah. I’ve met them all and they’re great guys. But Snake has been into wrestling since he was a little kid. He has such a vast knowledge of the sport, it’s crazy. He knows everything about American professional wrestling. We’ve had a lot of wrestlers come out to our shows. Back in the day,
“Diamond” Dallas Page,
the Nasty Boys, all those guys used to come out. And whenever we toured Japan we seemed to run into a bunch of guys over there. And they still do come out to shows.
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