THE BEAST

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach has confirmed to "The Metal Command" radio show that he is putting together material for the follow-up to 2014's "Give 'Em Hell" album. "I am working on a new record — yes, I am — but I'm doing so many shows that it's just not gonna be possible for me to make it anytime soon, I'm sorry to tell you," he said (hear audio below). "But I am working on it, and I have some tunes from John 5 [ROB ZOMBIE guitarist], a really heavy tune from Steve Stevens [BILLY IDOL guitarist], and another one from [guitarist] Devin [Bronson] from 'Give 'Em Hell'."

According to Bach, it's difficult to include new material in his live shows because so many people want to hear him sing the SKID ROW classics that made the band famous. "It is very hard to compete with those [early SKID ROW] records, 'cause everybody grew up with them," the singer explained. "So you're actually competing with more than just those records; you're competing with people's memories of their lives and what they were doing when they had the first SKID ROW record. And that's a challenge to compete with, because people hold on to their memories with such passion that they can never imagine that something could be better than that. But if you really try hard, and you really go for it, the cream does rise to the top. And I can give you just one very real example of that, and that's the song 'American Metalhead', which is off [Bach's 2007 solo album] 'Angel Down'. When we do that song, it kicks ass just as hard as 'Monkey Business'. Every show we do it at, that tune stands up to the other huge hit songs. Even though it's not a hit song, it is a hit song in our live show. So there's one tune that we always do pretty much every show, 'cause the crowd loves it. And I don't know whether it's 'cause of the heavy beat of it or because they're into being an 'American metalhead,' but that tune is a song that stands up to the other ones."

Despite the audience's reluctance to embrace brand new music from classic artists, Bach says that he hasn't given up wanting to be creative.

"I've always made records that I love — my whole career," he said. "From the first SKID ROW record up to 'Give 'Em Hell', I love 'em all, or I wouldn't put 'em out. And that's all you can do as a musician — you make something you love and hope other people will dig it too."

Bach recently began "cutting demos" for one of the tunes for his next studio album. According to the singer, the song was written by John 5, "and it rips."

Sebastian previously stated that "the mission" of his next record "is to capture a cool vibe, and I think that really involves live drummers playing — not just a drum machine, which seems to be too pervasive today in music." He added that the album would "be more uplifting and fun."

"Give 'Em Hell" was criticized by some for sounding "too modern" and a departure from Bach's '80s hard rock past.

Sebastian's autobiography, "18 And Life On Skid Row", came out in December 2016 via Dey Street Books (formerly It Books), an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.