Well, well, well. Sebastian Bach, Skid Row frontman until 1996 and one of the mightiest and most powerful voices in rock'n'roll, has come to London to pay us a little visit and inform us about the forthcoming UK release of his solo album 'Bring 'Em Bach Alive!' as well as to tell us all about his future plans, including a busy theatre schedule and a new DVD for Christmas. With his stunning sense of humor, Seb talks openly about his experiences with Skid Row and even explains why he had recent trouble with the law. Gorgeous Baz also reveals the intended new lineup of his solo band. Now we just have to wait for the big promoters to make him an offer so we can finally see him play live in England!

Your solo album 'Bring 'Em Bach Alive!' will be released in the UK on 28th October after almost three years after its release in America. Why has it taken so long?

"I don't know [laughs]. I am not a businessman! Basically I was signed to Atlantic Records when I was like18 years old and I am 34. That's like ... 16 years! When Atlantic Records first signed me they have this thing called first right of refusal in the contract, so they had the rights. I am on Spitfire records now but that is because Atlantic lets them do that. They [Atlantic] decided to put it out in 40 countries like Japan, Sweden and Finland, but they didn't put it out in England. Then I got a deal in America with Spitfire and finally the English label put it out. I am happy they did!"

Have you come to London expressly to promote the release of this album or is there any other reason?

"I came to London to promote this and also to do the TV show Never Mind The Buzzcocks [To be broadcasted on 4th November on BBC2. So if you want to see how funny Seb can be, you can't afford to miss it!]. I've done it twice in America."

Are you still playing with the same musicians that recorded the album (Jimmy Flemion and Richie Scarlet on guitars, Larry on bass and Mark McConnell on drums)?

"It's not that I am not playing with them, it's just that sometimes musicians that I'm working with are not available because they have other projects. Now I have Al Pitrelli from Megadeth on guitar and also Paul Crook from Anthrax. So I have Megadeth on the one side and Anthrax on the other. When we do 'Slave to the Grind' it is fucking heavy! I didn't tell any interviewer this, but do you know who wants to join my band and who might me joining my band? Twiggy from Marilyn Manson! That's not for sure, but Paul Crook and him are really good friends and Twiggy is not in a band right now. So Paul asked him 'Dude, do you want to do some shows with Sebastian?' And he goes 'Fuck yeah!' If you were going to say that the guy from Megadeth digged Sebastian, you would say 'No fucking way!' but he loves it. On bass I wanna try and get that chick from Nashville Pussy that breaths fire, Corey [Park] .She is really tall, so that good be a cool looking band: Twiggy, Corey, me...! The album comes out on the 27th October and I'm making a DVD right now that is going to come out on Eagle Rock Entertainment for Christmas. It's called 'Forever Wild'."

Will it feature new songs?

"Maybe. I think that's probably the best idea. Kids don't go out and buy CDs, they make their own, they download them from the Internet. So the scene is really different than what it used to be. I never would have thought of putting new audio songs on a DVD, but it makes perfect sense. I opened up for Pantera in America for a few weeks and I videotaped all my shows. But there's lots of other stuff too, like a video of me when I was 10 with my buddies doing Cheap Trick 'I Want You To Want Me' that they showed on the VH1' Before They Were Rockstars'. Then there will be stuff from the Skid Row years that I shot myself, backstage stuff... It will be probably two full shows and then intermix other stuff."

So when do you think you will release a new album with all new songs?

"You know what I'm doing starting 1st November? Jesus Christ Superstar. So it's going to be a while before I put out a full album. I get these offers that I never would suspect that I would get. It's so weird to me, but the whole Broadway community loves the way I sing!"

Well, who doesn't?! Yes, you have been starring in the Broadway musicals Jekyll and Hyde and The Rocky Horror Show, and starting in November for 42 weeks, you are embarking on the new Andrew Lloyd Webber Jesus Christ Superstar. Do you intend to keep doing this sort of stuff full-time?

"Inside I never said I wanted to do theatre or be an actor. They came to me. Like Atlantic Records called me and said 'We think you could do this.' And I said 'Why do you think that?' They said 'Because you have two different personalities: you have a very nice sweet side and you have a really rotten side!' But that's just who I am. I wake up everyday and I try to be as nice as I can. I say 'It's going to be a great fun day,' but then if somebody fucks with me I go the opposite way. So Atlantic Records just thought I would be good and I couldn't believe it. So I went to see it and it's old English [Starts reciting with an old English accent, showing his great talent]. Also my dad died a few weeks ago. The play Jekyll and Hyde was about Dr Jekyll trying to save his dying father and started out with the lights and me singing a song called 'Lost In the Darkness'. It was really emotional. The actor's name that played my dad was David, which is my dad's name too. It was just meant to be, it really was because of the emotions I was feeling in my heart - I wish my dad wasn't wanna die- and then I get to do that on stage. And now he is dead and I get to be Jesus. I am singing to my dad, because I miss him. The last line of the play I go "Father into your hands I commend my spirit." Every night I'm going to be doing that. To me that's art. The only kind of music that I want to do is good music, because I don't like rules or doing what is expected of me. I hate that. I want to do something creative, not just easy. It is easy for me to go play a rock show, I have been doing that all my life and I love that. But when I go on a tour, it's too easy, too simple and I need a bigger challenge than that, like a thirty piece orchestra and the sets moving in an out, costumes.... a big show. I love that. I think I am so lucky that I get to do it."

Being so busy with your theatre career, will there be time in the near future to tour Europe?

"Yes, but I have to say this: the band is going to decide where the band plays. Everybody in England says 'Why don't you play here?' but the promoters in England don't really give a shit. Maybe they will now. In America I've done two full tours, hundreds and hundreds of shows in Japan, Alaska, Korea, Puerto Rico... all over the world with my solo band. But it seems that in England all there is are bands like Oasis. So the promoters made me an offer to play here the Hard Rock Cafe or the Mean Fiddler. I wanna play a bigger place! If [smaller venues] is all I can do, then I will do it, but I played Wembley Stadium with Guns N' Roses. For me as a performer I enjoy playing bigger places. Maybe I am selfish, but when I go from Wembley Stadium to the Mean Fiddler, it's tough! I can pretend, but inside I go 'What the fuck?!' I'm doing the same places in America that I did in Skid Row, little arenas - 7,000-8,000 seats - all on my own, without Skid Row. You can't stop me!"

So any dates yet?

"There are no offers that have been made to me that I'd accept, but I WILL PLAY ENGLAND ANYTIME A PROMOTER ASKS ME TO COME. But it looks like metal isdead here. In America it's not like that. Rock was down in the mid-90's, but in the late 90's rock 'n' roll totally became huge because of the Kiss reunion, Ozzy... Metal is still the biggest music now in America. It used to be in England too with Donington, but what happened?!"

How come there are only six new songs on the new album?

"Well, how many have Skid Row put out? ZERO!! I did two albums since I left Skid Row, 'Bring 'Em Bach Alive' and 'Last Hard Men', a side project that I did with Kelley Deal from the Breeders and Jimmy Chamberlin from Smashing Pumkins. It's not really metal, but it's pretty good."

How do you feel about playing Skid Row songs that are credited to other members of Skid Row?

"It's the same as Ozzy singing 'Paranoid' or Elvis Presley playing 'Blue Suede Shoes' or David Lee Roth singing 'Running With The Devil' or Vince Neil singing 'Looks That Kill'. That's standard in the music industry. They can kick the man out of the band, but you can't ever kick the band out of the man. [Pointing at his 'Youth Gone Wild' words tattooed on his arm, says:] That's always inside me forever, that's me, it's in my blood! Those songs are written in my heart. Nobody can ever change that fact."

How is your current relationship with your former band mates of Skid Row?

"Just the drummer [Rob Affuso] is the only one I have contact with. He got kicked out of the band too. I would have never left the band. Well, I would probably have left the band if it kept going as it was, cos these guys are merely boring. They did the last album in 1995. It's 2002! What are they doing? Who the fuck wants to make one album in 10 years? Please! So I was sitting around just waiting for them to do something, but they were like 'I'm busy, maybe next year...' Fuck you!"

So why were you kicked out?

"Because I was totally getting fed up with these lazy asses. Get up and rock! We took so many years off doing nothing, just sitting around. And I can't sit around, I have to be doing things. It came to a point that we were asked to play with Kiss and Rachel was busy with his side project and he told me that we couldn't play the gig, so I let him know how I felt and then they didn't like what I said..."

Do you miss the money and the success you had with Skid Row?

"Let me tell you something. When there's a play called Jekyll and Hyde on Broadway and you are Jeckyll and Hyde, you get paid a lot of money. When there's a play called Jesus Christ Superstar and you are Jesus Christ Superstar... it's sick! I make more money now than I ever made in my life! If you have a perception of Skid Row playing Wembley Stadium and somehow me getting fucking totally rich... there were so many fucking people in that pie you wouldn't even believe it: the production company, the lawyers, the accounts, the record company and there's FIVE guys in the band to split it up with. When I play a Sebastian Bach show, guess who gets the fucking money? Me! Not to be an asshole, but that conception you have - which I would have too- is completely false. I made pretty good money in the Skid Row days, but me myself, I make more now. Broadway is $85 a ticket and we do 8 shows a week. I do better now. In Skid Row we fought over every fucking dollar. Now I have a fight with myself and then I make up with myself and then I get myself that money!"

Have you listened to your substitute in Skid Row, John Solinger?

"The best thing you could say about the guy is that he sounds like me. What the fuck? I could never want to be in a band where the ultimate good job I could do is to really impersonate somebody a lot. What kind of a life is that? I mean, when Sammy Hagar came into Van Halen, he wasn't trying to be David Lee Roth. It would interest me if they got someone who was completely different and did my songs in a different way or a different style. I don't want to hear some guy trying to be me, cause he is not!"

The albums that followed the self-titled Skid Row album are clearly much heavier. Where does your personal preference lie?

"Well, we did the first Skid Row album when we were really young. I was 19. We were trying to be as heavy as we could. When we came out with 'Sweet Little Sister' I thought that was the heaviest song of all times. Then when 'Slave to the Grind' came out we were just better as a band, we had more practice and maybe it sounded completely different. But I think that's the difference between being 19 and 25. I could scream better and my voice had more power. I couldn't have sung 'Monkey Business' or 'Livin' On a Chain Gang' on the first album. But I love 'Eighteen and Life' and 'I Remember You'. It's magic, it ounds like the sound of youth."

You have a reputation of being a wild man...

"Where does that come from? [Laughs]"

...and even got arrested on a few occasions. Has that created problems in the music business or is that a way to take you where you want to be?

"The music business is a complete sham. There is no such thing. If I was to go to jail, who would I piss off? It's not some music business guy. Every time I read the papers there's always some rock n' roller getting drunk or in trouble. I think it's standard. When I get in trouble like I did get in trouble a couple of months ago, I didn't do anything!"

So what happened?

"I haven't told this, but I'll tell you. Basically, I was with Vince Neil and Tommy Lee for like a week and was sad about my dad and I was drinking a little too much. When I was coming home I decided I wanted to go out for a drink, but I was already too drunk. I couldn't drive so I walked. I put a bunch of beers in my pocket and walked up to my corner bar that I've been going to for 12 years. There was this new bartender there that I didn't know. He was with all these chicks and his dudes. As soon as I walked in this people went 'Oh, that's Bazz, oh my god!' so they all came, sat with me and left him alone. So this guy comes to me and says 'Let's go. Outside, you're too fucking drunk'. So I go 'Okay', I get up and I walk out. I had my beer in my hand and when I get to the door the bartender runs over to me and says 'Put your fucking beer down!' and I go 'Shut the fuck up! I live two blocks away from here. I walked in here with the beer and if I want to go home I'll fucking walk home with it. You are not a cop.' And the guy says 'I'm going to call the police.' I say 'Go ahead, call the fucking police'... In the end I was charged with terrorist threats and since I had some weed on me, with drug possession too! But then the guy never appeared in court, so the charges will be dropped."

Your father, artist David Bierk, who created the 'Slave to the Grind' album cover and the artwork of other of your albums, died on 28th August. You posted a little tribute to him on your website with very emotive words. Do you have any plans about writing your autobiography?

"Well, I am thinking about it and I will be taking a diary with me when I start doing Jesus Christ Superstar."

To conclude, where do you see yourself in five years' time?

"I've been so overwhelmed: I had my own TV show on VH1, 'Forever Wild'. I did three Broadway musicals, a solo album, I'm putting out a DVD and I wanna make a full studio CD. That's my ultimate goal right after Jesus Christ. I know exactly what I will be doing in five years, I'll be singing, that's how I feel. That's what I've done since I was 13 and it's all the same to me. I sing! Right now I'm learning Jesus Christ Superstar, the Ian Gillan version. He did Jesus Christ Superstar like in 1970 and he screams so high! He is pretty good, he really gets high! But we have different voices though. My scream is full voice, like Ronnie James Dio. I don't have a falsetto scream."