In a recent Interview with Podcast Icon Mitch Lafon, Former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach was asked about the state of heavy music.
He said (via Blabbermouth):
“I was jealous that I didn’t get a chance, ’cause I can f*ckin’ sing AC/DC pretty f*ckin’ good too, and I’m not just saying that. [Laughs]
“So, at first, I was, like, ‘F*ck, man!’ I was jealous,” he continued. “But then, of course, I understand, obviously, why he would get the gig – because people don’t know how to sing anymore; it’s like a dying art.”
Sebastian further added:
“Maybe I haven’t heard any, but where is the new Jeff Buckley? Or where’s the new Steve Tyler? Okay, Greta Van Fleet – there’s the new Robert Plant; that’s for sure right there. But there’s a lack of original-sounding heavy metal vocalists. Unless I’m not hearing any. But I don’t know.
“To me, when we were all starting out in the ’80s, we all knew that we had to have our own sound. That was the goal of every musician back then – because there was no such thing as Pro Tools or computers. I had to find my own vocal sound, of Sebastian Bach.
“When I first got in Skid Row, Jon Bon Jovi said, ‘Sebastian, sometimes you sound like Vince Neil, sometimes you sound like Dio, sometimes you sound like Halford, sometimes you sound like Neil Diamond.’ [Laughs]
“He goes, ‘You have to find your own sound.’ And it freaked me out. I was, like, ‘F*ck! I have to do this, like, right now!’ [Laughs] I have to find what is the Sebastian Bach vocal sound.
“Making the first Skid Row record [1989’s ‘Skid Row’], my two favorite singers were Rob Halford and Steve Perry, and if you listen to ’18 and Life‘, you can hear the influence. You can hear ‘I Remember You’ is influenced by Journey, the vocals. I can hear it – maybe you can’t, but I can hear it.”