Tag Archives: dave sabo

Features, PiercingMetal Says

Skid Row Confirms ZP Theart As “New” Official Singer

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Just the other day NJ Rockers Skid Row started off their touring cycle for 2017 and officially welcomed former Dragonforce vocalist to the band as their “new” lead singer”. I used quotes because ZP Theart had been singing with them for about a year since the departure of TNT singer Tony Harnell. If you’ve been keeping up with the bands doings, Harnell replaced their longtime Sebastian Bach replacement Johnny Solinger. Whew. I admit that it was getting a little arduous to keep up with and the news surprised me because over the last few months Sebastian had outlined in numerous interviews that the management sides had been “talking”.

zp theart, zp theart concert photo

Theart is a terrific singer and according to some friends who had seen him in concert with Skid Row very recently said that he had done a much better job at their tunes than Harnell did. I saw some YouTube clips and had to agree even though I’m a big fan of Tony’s voice in TNT. Sometimes the idea isn’t what you expected it to be. If Harnell singing for the band went by too quickly for you and you never got to hear him, the band did make their hit “18 and Life” song available as a free download which you can access HERE. I’ve yet to see ZP fronting the Skids and that is why I’m using photos that I took of him back when the group Dragonforce appeared in NYC. These might have been at the former location of the Limelight.

zp theart, zp theart concert photo

PiercingMetal Thoughts: Well. I guess that is that about any chance of Sebastian Bach rejoining the lineup of the group. I mean of course stranger things can happen but let’s be honest with ourselves here, this is the third singer since Bach and the boys parted ways. I’m going to keep on supporting each of the sides but move on from anticipating any sort of Earth shattering announcement about a reunion. Speaking frankly, the time to have worked all this stuff out would have been when Solinger was moved on from. Had they done any sort of reunion back then they might have even been able to secure one of the Guns N Roses opening slots. Now it’s time to get back to business for other bands and stop debating about what could have went wrong. Clearly the two sides couldn’t meet in the middle, and that is if management sides were really talking seriously in the first place and not just theorizing. I wonder if they will re-record their tunes and release them as we find some bands doing to give us how it sounds “today” as opposed to back in the day. Only time will tell. So what do you readers think about the news and the appointment of ZP to the full on role. Let me know your thoughts about this down in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you on it so bring it on. Good luck to ZP, Rachel Bolan, Scotti Hill, Dave Sabo and Rob Hammersmith.

Official Website: http://www.skidrow.com

Features, Milestones

Skid Row’s “Slave To The Grind” At A Quarter Century (1991-2016)

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Wow can you believe that we are at the 25th Anniversary of the sophomore effort by Skid Row? Yeah my Metal friends, today is the day that their “Slave To The Grind” album was released back in 1991 on Atlantic Records. The album was a whole lot heavier than their debut which spawned the hits “I Remember You”, “Youth Gone Wild” and “18 and Life” and as result would not get the same kind of airplay that its predecessor did. I’ll admit that when this particular album was released that I was full on into the heavier side of Metal and while I enjoyed a few tracks on this one, not a whole lot of my immediate circle was listening to it and back then you kind of followed the pack a little more. I did own a copy because I loved the title track, the song “Monkey Business” and a few more that are not coming to me at the moment so I apologize. As before I’ve left the full discovery on the albums history to your own devices since all of that has been fully documented over on Wikipedia.
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Music, Reviews

“Revolutions Per Minute” by Skid Row

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Artist: Skid Row
Title: “Revolutions Per Minute”
Label: SPV Records
Release Date: 10/24/2006
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 2.5/5

No matter how you slice it Skid Row as a band will probably never achieve the level of acclaim and impact that they reached with “Slave To The Grind” nor will an album of theirs generate as many radio hits as their self-titled debut “Skid Row” was able to do. The prime reason for this is the fact that the tide of the music industry has shifted from viewing Metal and Hard Rock as incredible financial opportunities and also because the fire of those vibrant years has gone out awhile ago. Metal still sells but it is far different from what Skid Row was selling in the Eighties. Skid Row’s major reason for success was lead singer Sebastian Bach and a front man like him does not come around very often. Now fronted by Johnny Solinger and three of the bands original members (Dave Sabo, Scotti Hill, Rachel Bolan) they are aiming to return to glory with “Revolutions Per Minute”. To be brutally honest this is not as bad an album as some reviews had said but then again it is not that great an album either. There are some solid moments such as “Disease” and “Shut Up Baby, I Love You” which are quality Hard Rockers but the band also shows the ability to shift musical gears as well. Tracks that show some level of maturity and growth are “Strength” which has a lot of Cult feel while “When God Can’t Wait”, is a blending of styles usually seen in Social Distortion or The Backyard Babies. They make this work but totally lose the listener by including two very similar versions of “You Lie”, its unclear if one was a demo version or live recording. The song “Nothing” seems aimed at radio rotation ala Foo Fighters and perhaps this is the track that will catch some more people to their cause if those outlets snare it.
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