Sebastian Bach
(born Sebastian Philip Bierk
, on April 3, 1968) is a Canadian heavy metal singer, best known as ex-frontman of Skid Row.
Born in Freeport, Bahamas, and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, he attended nearby Lakefield College School. He is of Norwegian, French Canadian, and Native American descent. He currently resides in Middletown, New Jersey.
He and his wife, Maria Bierk, have three children, 2 sons, and 1 daughter. Their names are: Paris, London, and Sebastiana. His daughter, Sebastiana, was born in 2007. His son Paris was formerly the drummer of metal band Severed Hand, who opened up for him on occasion and were also featured on the VH1 special I Married Sebastian Bach.
Paris is currently playing for New York rock band The Infinite Staircase, who are to appear on the Black Label Bash tour in Spring 2009 with Black Label Society, Sevendust, and Dope. His parents divorced when he was 12 years old, though remarried in 2005. Bach's father was the visual artist David Bierk. He is the brother of retired NHL goaltender Zac Bierk and actor Dylan Bierk.
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SEBASTIAN BACH TICKETS
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Skid Row
Bach was invited to join
Skid Row in 1987 at the age of 18 when
guitarist Dave Sabo heard him sing at famed rock photographer Mark Weiss'
wedding. Sabo sent him a
videotape of the band playing, and Bach subsequently joined the band. After enjoying commercial success as lead singer of Skid Row, Bach was eventually fired in 1996.
In 1989, Bach was heavily criticized for wearing a t-shirt on stage that a fan had thrown to him before he could read it, with the slogan "
AIDS Kills
Fags Dead" emblazoned on it, (a parody of the
insecticide ad slogan, "
Raid:
Kills Bugs Dead"). Although he made light of the incident in his original apology, Bach has since repeatedly apologized for and disavowed the statement, "That was really stupid and wrong for me to wear that for one half-hour in my life. What nobody brings up is in 2000, when I was in
Jekyll & Hyde
, and at an auction for Broadway Cares, I donated $12,000 of my own money to fight AIDS."
[1]
In 1990, Bach performed with
Guns N' Roses and
Metallica, on the same stage, at a party held by
RIP Magazine, the improvised name for the band was:
The Gak.
Post-Skid Row
In 1996, Bach formed a rock band called
The Last Hard Men, with
Frogs guitarist Jimmy Flemion,
The Breeders lead guitarist
Kelley Deal, and
Smashing Pumpkins drummer
Jimmy Chamberlin. The group recorded a full-length, self-titled album for
Atlantic Records, who then opted not to release it. In 1998 it was released on Kelley Deal's label,
Nice Records, with no fanfare and a very limited pressing of 1000 CDs. This run may have been sold via
mail order only.
In 2000, Bach began performing in
Broadway productions. He made his Broadway debut with the title role in
Jekyll & Hyde
in April 2000. Although originally only contracted through early September, Bach received good reviews and was asked to extend until October 15. Replacing him was
David Hasselhoff, whom Bach mentored slightly during rehearsals. He also appeared as Riff Raff in
The Rocky Horror Show
in 2001. On
November 28,
2001 Bach appeared at
New York Steel, a benefit concert held in response to 9/11. He appeared early in the show, left to perform on Broadway, and returned at the end when all performers gathered for a final song.
In early 2002, he became the host of
VH1's Forever Wild
. In October that same year, Bach was signed to perform in the national touring production of
Jesus Christ Superstar
, playing the
title role alongside
JCS
veteran
Carl Anderson (who reprised his familiar role of
Judas Iscariot). On April 2003, following a disagreement with the director, Bach was fired for alleged
diva-like behavior. He has said if he ever did the show again, he would like to try the role of Judas next time. A
DVD video of live performances called
Forever Wild was released in June 2004. That same year, he reprised the title role(s) in another showing of
Jekyll and Hyde
.
Sometime in 2003, Bach tried out for
Velvet Revolver before the band found
Scott Weiland, but was turned down because, according to Slash, "We sounded like Skid Roses!"
From 2004 to 2007, Bach had a recurring role on the
CW television show
Gilmore Girls
as "Gil", the lead guitarist in
Lane Kim's band,
Hep Alien
.
In 2005, Bach cooperated with
Henning Pauly to be the singer on the
Frameshift album called
An Absence of Empathy
, which was released in April 2005.
He still performs with his band, Sebastian Bach (formerly noted as
Bach Tight Five and Sebastian Bach and Friends). Members of Bach Tight Five lived with him and his family as recently documented on
VH1's "
I Married ...Sebastian Bach", one of the "I Married ..." series. Stars also included
Dee Snider, of the rock band,
Twisted Sister.
On
May 12 and
May 14,
2006 at the Guns N' Roses' warmup show at the
Hammerstein Ballroom in
New York City, Bach joined
Axl on stage for the song "
My Michelle". He joined Axl and gang for a third time the following night (
May 15) to sing "My Michelle" once again. He also joined them for their Pre-Download Festival show in the Apollo Hammersmith,
London, singing My Michelle. Rose introduced Bach by saying that the two had rekindled their friendship in the previous week after 13 years of not speaking. On June 4, 9 & 11 he again joined Rose on stage at the 2006 Gods of Metal Festival (
Milan), Download Festival in RDS
Dublin and in
Donington, respectively. He also appeared on several other tour dates during GN'R's European tour. On
September 23,
2006, he joined Axl on stage once again at
KROQ's Inland Invasion festival in California for a rendition of "My Michelle". On
July 30,
2006, Bach filled in for an ailing Axl Rose for “
Nightrain” and the encore “
Paradise City". He has also recently performed backing vocals on the song "Sorry" , from Guns N' Roses new 2008 album Chinese Democracy .
SuperGroup
And Relaunch Into The Rock Scene
Bach starred with
Ted Nugent,
Evan Seinfeld,
Jason Bonham and
Scott Ian on the VH1 show
SuperGroup
as of May 2006. The musicians formed a band called
Damnocracy for the
reality show, during which they lived in a
mansion in
Las Vegas for twelve days and created music. On the show Bach was very much the centerpiece of the conflict throughout, with publicists
[who?] citing his closed mindedness and inability to compromise (he would often turn down press obligations to 'work out' or 'go running') as reasons for him being difficult to work with. His bandmates, particularly Evan Seinfeld, had major issues with his drinking problems which became more obvious as the show progressed. Seinfeld, a recovered alcoholic himself, was roughousing with Bach on a night when he was drunk when Bach slammed his head into the floor. Seinfeld proceeded to snap at him and nearly hit him. The next day Bach apologized to Seinfeld but disobeyed Seinfeld's orders to stop drinking. Eventually Seinfeld came to Ted Nugent to get Bach to stop drinking, and although it was difficult for him, Bach had gained sobriety by the end of the show.
The most well known moment from Supergroup was in the show's 4th episode, in which, after the rest of the band agrees on the name "Godwar", Bach suddenly conceives the name "Savage Animal", which he becomes obsessed with, and continues to insist to his band mates and other officials that "rolls off his tongue" and that "Rock N' Roll is a Savage Animal". It is not until the bands final meeting where Bach himself actually comes up with the name Damnocracy that "Savage Animal" is forgotten. It has been parodied on websites including
YTMND and
Blabbermouth and there are even T-Shirts for sale which parody the instance. Despite this leading to Bach's public portrayal as sort of a dopey musician, he took the fanfare following the name very lightly and even performed a concert with Scott Ian and other members of Anthrax, performing Damnocracy music, under the name "Savage Animal" and has since dubbed his own backing band "Savage Animal".
Bach had by far more turbulent relationships than anyone else on the show. He had a very mixed relationship with the bands publicists and manager
Doc McGhee. He for the most part got along very well with Evan Seinfeld (who had been his friend previously) despite quite a few rocky turns involving Bach's alcohol problems. He appeared to be friendly with Scott Ian and Jason Bonham, although Bonham in particular expressed distaste with his sometimes erratic behavior. Despite this, Bach became very close to Ted Nugent, who he had listened to since childhood and looked up to as a father figure, going as far as to put Nugent in the role of his deceased father. However, at a
November 5 2006 Guns N' Roses concert in
East Rutherford, New Jersey, Bach referred to a SuperGroup episode where he promised Ted he would quit drinking, and claimed that he had lied. Bach had previously said that he had taken offense at disparaging comments Nugent had made about
Dimebag Darrell. In 2008 Bach and Nugent reconciled their relationship, and Bach regained his sobriety.
[2]
On
September 13 2006, during a show at Selinas in
Sydney, Bach stormed off stage during the encore. After two earlier similar incidents, Bach had warned the crowd that the throwing of any more plastic bottles and/or cans onto the stage would lead to him walking off. As the encore began (Youth Gone Wild), Bach was hit by a plastic cup, threw down the mic and left the stage.
On
September 28 2006, he appeared on Celebrity Duets singing with
Hal Sparks. Bach later was on the road with Guns N' Roses, touring around the world until late 2006.
In 2007, on an episode of the
Trailer Park Boys season seven titled
Friends of the Road
, Bach played himself as a celebrity guest hosting a model train convention. He later meets Ricky and Julian in a parking lot to smoke marijuana. In episode "Going Off the Rails On the Swayze Train" in the same season, Bach returns as the accomplice on the American side of the border helping to facilitate a drug deal over the border.
During beginning of June 2007 Bach headlined a tour of Japan, playing to Japanese fans in Nagoya, Osaka and 2 nights in Tokyo. His touring band consisted of "Metal" Mike Chlasciak on guitar, Johnny Chromatic on guitar, Rob De Luca on bass and Jason West on drums filling in for the injured Bobby Jarzombek. After the Japanese tour, his band supported the Australian & New Zealand Guns N' Roses 'Chinese Democracy' tour.
Bach recently announced a partnership record label with
EMI. Jointly, they will be creating a label owned by Bach, including his new album
Angel Down
, which was released on
November 20 2007. Bach also recorded backing vocals for a track on
Guns N' Roses' long-delayed album,
Chinese Democracy
, which was released on
November 23 2008.
Bach has also recently joined a new television show featured on MTV,
Celebrity Rap Superstar
.
Celebrity Rap Superstar
involves eight celebrities, one being Bach, hailing from the worlds of music, TV, film, sports and more to compete in a winner-takes-all rap contest. The show began on
August 30,
2007 with Bach performing "Mama said Knock You Out" with coaching help from rapper Kurupt. Soon after this appearance, a remix was posted on YouTube that brought a possible rap career-move into question. During the third episode of the show, Bach worked an announcement of the upcoming "Angel Down" CD into his original composed rap, and also mentioned his team-up with Axl Rose. He managed to finish in third place losing to runner up
Playboy
Playmate and
The Girls Next Door
star
Kendra Wilkinson and to
Shar Jackson, who was crowned the first Celebrity Rap Superstar on the MTV competition show.
Recent events
Sebastian Bach spent the summer of 2008 playing with
Poison and
Dokken. He also did a solo Australian tour in May & has been working on new songs with Jamey Jasta from HATEBREED, for the follow up to his
Angel Down
CD.
Sebastian Bach was also the winner of the second season of the CMT reality show,
Gone Country
."
[3]
On
May 6,
2008, Sebastian Bach was interviewed on "
The Buckethead Show" on Tampa's 98 Rock radio station about the rumors concering him being considered for the position of lead singer in
Velvet Revolver, after the split from
Scott Weiland.
He said that he actually spoke to
Slash recently, but also that joining
Velvet Revolver will be very awkward for him and unlikely, stating he prefers his latest solo record
Angel Down
material to the songs on all of Velvet Revolver's records, and that since he is very good friends with
Axl Rose, he said he would feel uncomfortable to sing Axl's songs (referring to
Guns N' Roses covers that the band performs on live shows), although he finished off with saying:
"I love Guns N' Roses material, but I've got my own old songs — Skid Row — so for me, it would all depend on music. I wouldn't just join the band just to join the band. If we came up with some incredible new songs, then maybe I'd think about it."
[4]
Bach confirmed in an interview with the band that he does not want the Velvet Revolver gig due to his close relationship with Axl Rose."
[5]
In an interview published on July 23, when asked about the future, Bach said "I've got four songs that I'm working on with Jamey; who knows what will happen with that, but I make whatever music I want to make, and when you ask what's in the future, I don't look at other bands for inspiration or whatever. I don't follow trends, I'm not a trendy guy, but the biggest bands right now in 2008 have been doing it their whole lives, like the Rolling Stones, Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell, Ozzy, Van Halen is the biggest band in America now, the Police, Genesis, Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe for that matter. They've all been doing it way longer than me, and if all those bands I've just mentioned are still rockin', I'm just getting warmed up compared to them (laughs)."
[6]
Bach just released his first single to the airwaves of "Battle With The Bottle", which is now airing across America on CMT and Country Radio Stations everywhere.
Bach has announced on his official myspace page
[7] his plans for 2009 are to release two albums, one country album and one rock album. The country album will be worked on with Jeffrey Steele & Vicky McGehee. The rock album will be his follow up to Angel Down (2007) and he is currently recording demos with Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta for that record. Bach stated he is considering offers to play live this summer but nothing is confirmed.
Currently, Bach is looking for a new guitarist and bass guitarist for recording a new album and live shows.
Discography
With Kid Wikkid
1985 Kid Wikkid / "Maple Metal" / LP & cassette / Attic Records / "Take A Look At Me"/ Canada
With Skid Row
- Skid Row
(1989) (9x Platinum)
- Slave to the Grind
(1991) (4x Platinum)
- B-Side Ourselves
(1992)
- Subhuman Race
(1995) (Gold)
- Subhuman Beings on Tour
(1998)
- 40 Seasons: The Best of Skid Row
(1998)
- Hi-Five
(2005)
With The Last Hard Men
- Scream
– "School's Out" (1996)
- The Last Hard Men
(1997)
Solo
- Bring 'Em Bach Alive!
(November 2, 1999) (Gold)
- Bach 2: Basics
(2001)
- Finding My Way
(April 1, 2007)
- Angel Down
(November 20, 2007)
- 2010: Country Album (TBA)
- 2010: Rock Album (TBA)
With Frameshift
- An Absence of Empathy
(2005)
Guest appearances
- Slave to the Power: The Iron Maiden Tribute
(2000)
- Chinese Democracy
(Guns N' Roses) – Backing Vocals on "Sorry" (2008)
- Trailer Park Boys
Season 7 (2007)
Videos
- Oh Say Can You Scream
(1991)
- No Frills Video
(1993)
- ''Road Kill (1993)
- Forever Wild
(2004)''
- ''Road Rage (2008)
- ''Battle With The Bottle (2008)
Stage work
- Jekyll & Hyde
– Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde (2000)
- The Rocky Horror Show
– Riff Raff (2001)
- Jesus Christ Superstar
– Jesus of Nazareth (2002-2003)
- Jekyll & Hyde
– Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde (2004) Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh, North Carolina
Filmography
- Kiss Loves You
(2004) (TV)
- Point Doom
(1999)
- (Don't Fear) The Reaper
(2001)
VH1's STRANGE FREQUENCY
- "Gilmore Girls" (2003-2007)
| Gil
- "Trailer Park Boys" (2007)
| (TV)
References
- Orlando Weekly - Columns Story - Rockin' out with Jesus
- 2 Music Geeks' Podcast 10: Metal--Featuring Sebastian Bach
- CMT : News : Cast Announced for Season Two of ''Gone Country''
- Joining Velvet Revolver Would Be Awkward For Bach | News @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com
- Bach Doesn't Want Velvet Revolver Gig - A Top Story This Week - antiMUSIC News
- Komodo Rock Talks With Sebastian Bach
- [1]