Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach sat down with Classic Rock to chat about his new record ‘Child Within The Man.’
During the chat, the topic switched to when he almost became the singer of Velvet Revolver. When asked about it, the rocker admitted that he had to turn down an offer because of his friendship with the Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose. He explained:
“I used to sit up with Axl late at night and into the next morning, talking about his grievances with his former band. Around the time, [ex-MC5 guitarist] Wayne Kramer and Slash called me. They had a benefit in New York for [upmarket menswear designer John Varvatos], and Wayne said: ‘I want you to sing with me and Slash at this thing.’ I was such friends with Axl at the time, I had to tell them on the phone: ‘No, I can’t do it. I don’t want to piss off Axl.’ And of course, Wayne Kramer is no longer with us, and I really wish I’d done it.”
Bach Thinks Velvet Revolver Made A Mistake
In 2008, Velvet Revolver tried out Franky Perez from Scars on Broadway as their new singer briefly but then decided to continue as a trio. They didn’t release any new music and mostly played live gigs until they disbanded after Scott Weiland passed away in 2015.
Bach talked about auditioning for Velvet Revolver in an earlier interview and argued they made a mistake by not picking him. Bach implied they chose someone ‘dealing with addiction’ instead of him, and claimed if they had chosen him, the band would still be making music:
“They put their faith in a heroin addict. How did that work out for them? Listen, if they had picked me, we’d probably still be together right now. I’m a musician like them. I’m not a junkie and not into that kind of thing. So, they don’t have a singer, and I have a new album. Let’s rock!”
Slash Has Another Reason
However, Slash gave a different reason in a 2014 Q&A with Rolling Stone Australia. Slash mentioned Bach auditioned before Weiland joined and joked that if Bach had joined, they might have sounded like ‘Skid N’ Roses’:
“Sebastian was before Scott. I love Sebastian, but, if you can imagine, it sounded sort of like Skid N’ Roses. It was cool, but you knew that everybody who heard it was gonna be like, ‘Oh, yeah, that makes sense.’ It was a little bit too predictable.”
You can hear Bach’s new record below.