In a new interview with Rockin’ Metal Revival, former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach was asked if he regrets writing such high vocal parts on double-platinum album Slave To The Grind that he now has to reproduce live on stage three decades later.
“All I can tell you is that I’ve been singing so much in the last four or months,” he responded. “I can’t tell you exactly what I was doing yet, but I will be able to. My voice is the same it’s always been.
“I’ve gotta say just a couple of things answering your question — a couple of things come to mind. For a guy like me or a guy like Bono [U2] or a guy like — I don’t know, Geddy Lee [RUSH] or somebody like that, making a record is not the same as doing a show; it’s not the same thing; it’s a different thing.
“Making a record is you standing in an air-conditioned room with water next to you and coffee and you’ve got the lights perfect,” he continued. “And you’re standing as still as you can, and you get to sing it as many times as you want until it’s perfect. [Laughs] Nothing can be more different than a show — unless you’re using [backing] tapes. But I’m proud to tell your audience that we will not be using any tapes anytime soon, so it’s a real rock show. But doing a show is more like communicating the spirit of the song and the music to the audience, and everybody gets into it. And I’m not just gonna stand there and try to be perfect. I’m gonna run all over the place and I’m gonna put on a show.
“As singers get older, I don’t like changing the key of the song because, to me, that makes it sound like a different tune, and I’m not interested in that,” Sebastian added. “If I’m gonna change a little vocal part in the same key, to me that’s a cooler way of doing it instead of making it into the key of KORN. That works great for KORN.
“I have to sing every day properly and do it for many weeks in order to get my voice to the top of its abilities, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I just played and I had no problems doing all those tunes. I’ve got no problems — knock on wood.”
