Recommended Aussie Tunes:Psycroptic | The new single "A Fragile Existence" | Listen

Interviews : “… it’s just going to be awesome!” – An interview with Rachel Bolan (Skid Row)

By on June 22, 2018

Skid Row- Rachel Bolan

Skid Row are coming to Australia in October to showcase their tremendous catalogue of hard rock and the talent of former DragonForce vocalist Z.P Theart. On the line from his adopted home of Nashville, foundation bassist and band spokesperson, Rachel Bolan, talks weather, rugby union and the Australian tour.

As far as the author of this feature is concerned, anything below 10 degrees Celsius is a too cold a start to the day, particularly in Queensland. Bolan has some empathy but explains that the weather in his native New Jersey is an entirely different matter.

“You get cold, cold winters up there, man. And that was one of the reasons I moved south, other than getting divorced, but just I couldn’t deal with the winters anymore, man. When I left, ’cause I moved from Jersey to Atlanta, and when I left there was five feet of snow on the ground. I was like fuck this!”

Can’t blame him really. Someone else in the reinvigorated Skid Row who comes from warmer climes is the rather excellent vocalist Z.P. Theart. Given his birthplace of South Africa, a place similar in many ways to Australia, has Theart informed his bandmates of the intricacies of rugby union?

“He has not. He’s told us about it and that he’s played it, I believe. But, yeah, we’re not really too athletic in this band. We’ll go to games, but you know? But, yeah, actually, all his family moved from South Africa to Australia quite a long time ago”

Does that mean we can claim Theart as an honorary Aussie?! Either way the tour is much anticipated, so Bolan is keen to make the trip down.

“Well, you know, we’re doing … What are we doing? Five in Australia, I believe, and one in New Zealand. We haven’t been there in a bit. Man, I don’t even remember the last time we were there. I believe we went through with Ugly Kid Joe and that was quite a while ago. And now we’re coming through with ZP as our singer and it’s just going to be awesome! We’ll probably have another big announcement to make soon, but I’m not allowed to make it yet.”

One can imagine what that announcement might be given the proclivity for harmony in the band circa 2018. It might surprise many to know that Skid Row have only the five studio albums in-market. Its testament to the quality of the bands output since the album, Skid Row, unleashed in 1989 that fans clamour for the opportunity to witness the band perform the many hits throughout the catalogue.

A reunion with Sebastian Bach, the vocalist who fronted the outfit when they hit the bigtime is very unlikely. One only has to peruse an interview with Bolan online to read the almost standard reunion question and his response. Every angle must have been covered on the relationship between Bach and his former bandmates, so it’s reasonable to suggest that Bolan is likely fed up with the need to focus on the past given the wonderful things happening for Skid Row with the current line-up. So what are Bolan’s thoughts on why the question keeps coming up from journo types?

“You know, I don’t know what they think but it is a question that comes up. It’s coming up a lot less, but it is a question that comes up, usually at the end of the conversation after talking about how well the band’s doing. People will ask that, and I’ll just be like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, man. We just did a half an hour interview on how good things are going’.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Catch Skid Row on their upcoming national tour of Australia this October.

For complete tour, ticket and VIP Experience information, visit Silverback Touring

Thursday 18 October BRISBANE- Eatons Hill Hotel
Friday 19 October MELBOURNE – Prince Bandroom
Saturday 20 October SYDNEY – Manning Bar
Sunday 21 October PERTH – Astor Theatre
Tuesday 23 October ADELAIDE – The Gov
Wednesday 24 October AUCKLAND – The Studio

About

Andrew is a musician who has spent many years performing on the stages of the pubs and clubs of Queensland. A devotee of the broad church that is rock, punk, funk, jazz and of course all genres of metal... he now shares his enthusiasm via a burgeoning pursuit of music journalism. Follow him on twitter @andymckaysmith