Skid Row
May 19th, 20176
Alpharetta, GA – 37 Main
Skid Row, a fledgling bar band from Sayreville, NJ, started turning heads right off the bat back in 1987 but it was only when they added a young Canadian singer by the name of Sebastian Bierk (Bach) that the band would secure a deal with Atlantic Records and take the world by storm. The band would go on to release hit after hit such as “Youth Gone Wild”, “I Remember You”, “18 & Life”, and “Piece of Me.” Hitting the road to support bands such as Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and Guns N’ Roses, they won fans over night after night. Following the success of their self-titled debut, Skid Row released their groundbreaking Slave to the Grind album in 1991 and before we knew it they were hitting the road as headliners, playing arenas and theaters all over the world. Seeing this line-up five times, both as an opening act and as arena/theater headliners, they always melted my face off. Their live show solidified themselves as one of my favorite bands and in my opinion they were going to be one of the biggest metal bands in the world.
Hey, shit happens. Over time the musical landscape started to shift and change and so did the popularity of Skid Row. The band released the way underappreciated Subhuman Race and slowly faded into oblivion. When the band returned in 1999 with a new lineup featuring Johnny Solinger on vocals (Sebastian Bach had gone solo) and some dude on drums that wasn’t Rob Affuso, I was pretty skeptical. But after seeing them open for KISS and putting on an amazing performance, I was excited to see one of my favorite bands back in action. For the next 11 years, Skid Row would go through a series of spontaneously combusting drummers before landing Rob Hammersmith (their best drummer to date, in my opinion) who seems to be the missing link behind the kit they always needed. At the mic, Solinger definitely put in a valiant and underappreciated effort as their vocalist for 14 years to varying degrees of praise and criticism. While I always thought he did a great job, something was missing. Something seemed to be lacking and while Johnny was a great singer in his own right, he just seemed to lack that charisma and attitude that a front man for a band like Skid Row should have. Well, all that was resolved last night in John’s Creek at 37 Main when Skid Row rolled into town to unleash their new secret weapon: lead vocalist ZP Theart.
I was familiar with ZP’s work with Dragonforce so hearing that he was going to be at the mic made me excited but skeptical. A power metal singer singing for Skid Row? This could either be really fucking good or he could be so out of his element that it’ll be awkward. As the band hit the stage with “Slave to the Grind”, my blood was pumping and the minute ZP started singing I just lost my shit. He was absolutely nailing it. The attitude, the charisma, you could tell that not only is this guy a great singer , but he’s a fan of these songs. He treated them with respect while adding his own touch to them which compared to the touch Bach has been putting on them these days is…well, you know how I feel about Bach these days..
Song after song ZP was knocking them out of the park. From the mellower songs like “18 & Life” and ” I Remember You” to the more rollicking songs like “Get the Fuck Out” and “Makin’ a Mess”, he ripped these songs a new asshole. His voice was so emotive and full of power and insane range which is something that Solinger (and even Bach these days) seem to lack. ZP spent most of the night building a report with the audience who, at first, didn’t seem sold, but by the time they were three songs deep he had them eating out of the palm of his hand. He had an almost Bruce Dickinson kind of stage presence in that he really connected with the audience and let them know that they were going to be going to work just as hard as the band was. That energy was definitely reciprocated by the audience creating this dynamic push and pull between the band and crowd that I have never seen at a Skid Row show before. The band stormed through their set with a youthful energy and played each song with so much excitement. They looked like they were having the most fun that I’ve seen them ever have on stage and the songs sounded so fresh and full of life.
The highlight of show came towards the end as the band kicked into “Monkey Business” which featured some really great guitar playing from long time members Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill. These guys are terribly underrated players. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, here comes ZP to drop some facemelting vocals on this song to take it to a stratospheric level. The encore of “Quicksand Jesus” brought it home for me. ZP put every ounce of heart and soul into this song and sang it with so much passion and power that you would’ve thought that he wrote it himself. Skid Row then ceremoniously closed out with “Youth Gone Wild’ which absolutely brought the house down and with that, they were done.
Now I know what you’re probably going to say. You’re going to say some stupid shit like, “You’re biased. You’ve always had it out for Bach and you’re just fluffing these guys.” Well, no. You’re a dummy and that’s not true. I was a Bach fan tried and true back in the day but as the years passed, I just recognized him for what he was: a pompous, egotistical, vocalist who can’t come to grips with the fact that he’ll never be as great as he once was. I’ve seen the footage where Bach says shit like, “I heard my former band played at this venue and we have more people than they did.” Ya know, that’s great. Yay you. I saw Sebastian Bach’s last show at this same venue and compared to the Skid Row show, I can say this, quality over quantity my friends. There may not have been as many folks in the room but the ones that were in the room can attest to the level of professionalism and power that Skid Row delivered. As a matter of fact, I just may send him video clips from this show and label them “Instructional Videos.”
As a long time Skid Row fan, I left that venue proud, energized, and head held high. I haven’t had this kind of feeling from a Skid Row show since the Fox Theater in Atlanta in 1992. One can only hope that this union with ZP Theart will become something permanent and something that will take Skid Row to a whole new level. If Skid Row keeps playing shows like they played last night, they could be bound for whole new levels of greatness that will take them way into another 10 or even 20 years of making great music. Like I said, who needs to go Bach when moving forward seems to be the way to go?
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