By Jennifer Levesque
For the Valley Advocate
Whether you’re familiar with their music or not, you know who Twisted Sister and Sebastian Bach are. They are legendary icons of heavy metal and rock and roll music and they are now joining forces. Bach, ex-vocalist of 80s/90s rock and roll band Skid Row, is now Twisted Sister’s singer, taking over Dee Snider’s role, due to health issues. The band is currently on tour with Bach for the first time and they have a stop here in the Valley at The Big E on Oct. 2.
Notoriously famous for his vocal range and energetic stage presence, Bach has helped define the hair metal of the 80s with a touch of glam rock. You may have also seen him on screen in a handful of different reality TV shows and also the wildly popular show of the early 00s, Gilmore Girls. I was lucky enough to catch up with the rocker over Zoom a couple weeks ago. He’s still rocking that long, blonde hair that has been his signature look for decades and has a very animated personality.
Jennifer Levesque: Can you tell us a little bit about how it came to be that you would be replacing Dee Snider after his health problems?
Sebastian Bach: Well, Dee’s health dictated that. He’s an older dude, and he said his knees were like bone-on-bone, so he couldn’t jump around. He didn’t want to do shows unless he could do them at the full capacity of his capability. But, you know, he’s one of the greatest frontmen of all time, and I’ve always been a Twisted Sister fan — like, I’m a real fan, especially the first two albums, Under the Blade and You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll. I also like Stay Hungry, but it’s those first two albums that I really, really love. I love those albums. So, Dee Snider has always had a nickname for me: “SMF Number 2.” He’s SMF Number 1, and I don’t — this is probably a family show, so I’m not going to say …
Levesque: That’s okay! It’s an alternative newspaper, so you can say whatever you want!
Bach: Well, I’m a sick motherfucker! [laughs]
Levesque: There you go! [laughs]
Bach: Yeah, so I really am a fan. That’s really the truth. Imagine, you know, if your favorite band said, ‘Hey, you want to join the band?’ This is one of my favorite bands. My favorite bands are like, KISS, Rush, Van Halen — the standard hard rock heroes — but Twisted Sister, when they came out … I used to read this magazine called Kerrang! from the UK. I used to collect it, and they were in there. I loved their early videos — who doesn’t love those? I love the “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll” video, “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “I Want to Rock”…
Levesque: All the classics.
Bach: …and we just did our first show, and it went really great. Once it got … you know, we were all nervous and anxious, freaking out because we’d never done this. But it went great. And I’ve got to say thank you to the fans in New Jersey for packing out the first show.
The thing is, in that venue — it’s called Starland Ballroom — right before you go on stage, you’ve got to enter the venue so the fans can see when the show’s about to start. When we walked in — when I walked in — the place just went [gets choked up]. To the point where I was really touched. I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ It was a very passionate roar, like ‘Come on, dude, come on, we love Twisted Sister! Get up there and do it, come on!’ I was laughing, and I had tears of joy in my eyes because the audience just gave me this huge roar. I’ll never forget that moment. I walked up there going, ‘Okay, man. You guys want to rock? ‘Cause we’re not gonna take it!’
Levesque: Are there any specific songs that you played that were just like, ‘Oh wow, this is really awesome to play this one specific song,’ or was it just all of them?
Bach: Well, many, but people know me really for my ballad voice … I mean, that’s not true — my biggest hits, though, are “18 and Life” and “I Remember You,” like radio hits. And to me, the Twisted Sister song “The Price” is a power ballad that really influenced me singing the way I sing. It’s a beautiful melody and a beautiful lyric by Dee Snider.
And watching that back from the other night, I was very proud of the way I sang it, because I was determined to sing it, and we’re doing all the songs in the original key. I want the fans to know that. Twisted hasn’t played them in the original key in decades, they told me. They had to relearn all the songs, ’cause a lot of bands tune down to make it easier on the singer. But I’m on the road so much that my voice doesn’t have time to go down! I sold out the Big E by myself last year …
Levesque: Oh right, okay! I forgot that you played that, okay.
Bach: Yeah! I destroyed that place!
Levesque: That was going to be another one of my questions, if you had ever been to Western Mass before and if you had any stories from Western Mass.
Bach: Well, you know what, I’m not even going to touch that question, because if you really Google around, you’ll have a whole other story! But no, we sold out — my solo band sold out the Big E last year, and it was an awesome show. So obviously, this is a completely different set, obviously, but the fans are right there, man at the Big E. I really loved playing there. Can’t wait to come back.
Levesque: Being tied to the glam rock and heavy metal icons of the rock/metal genre, how do you feel that has changed, if at all, in the modern era of all these other subgenres in rock and metal?
Bach: Well, that’s a good question. I don’t see a lot of glam bands these days! To me, music now … like, everybody’s kind of like the same. They have the same sound, it’s all compressed, computerized, quantized. The tempos are all perfect, the vocals sound like computers. That’s not what we’re bringing to town.
I want everybody to know: we do not have any tapes, any computers. We don’t have the verses sounding this way, and then the chorus starts and somebody presses a button and it sounds perfect, and then it’s back to the verse … I don’t understand why people …
Levesque: And no Auto-Tune!
Bach: We don’t — I don’t even know what that is! I warm up my voice for weeks! I’m always playing, so I feel sorry for the fans when it’s very hard to find authenticity in music.
I honestly look at guys like Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Gregg Allman (rest in peace) — guys that just played the best they could. Maybe it’s not perfect, but I’m not interested in going and watching somebody mime to a playback on a computer. I’m just not interested. It’s boring to me. So when you come to the Big E, it’s all real! Get ready for real rock ‘n’ roll. Come see a real rock show while you still can!
Levesque: To go off of that with your vocal range — you’re definitely known for having an extensive vocal range. How has that evolved throughout the years, and how do you maintain it as you get older?
Bach: Well, back in the late ’80s when I first joined Skid Row … I took vocal lessons in Toronto before I got to New Jersey. But when I got to New Jersey, Jon Bon Jovi hooked me up with his vocal coach, a guy by the name of Don Lawrence. I used to go take vocal lessons for $100 an hour, which I didn’t have, but people lent it to me and I paid them back. Plus interest!
But Don used to allow us to record every lesson on cassette. So I had all these vocal lessons that I took when I was 19, 20, 18 — like a teen. And then in the mid ’90s, when digitizing came out and was a thing, the first thing I did was take all my vocal lessons and make them into WAV files and MP3s for my phone. So every day, I sing these vocal lessons that I did when I was 19, and I’m 58! And I do them with no problem. Knock on wood. I’ve kept my voice to the same range as it was when I was 19 because of these lessons that I have.
Levesque: Well that’s good, it’s important to find something that works.
Bach: And I’m not the only one. If you listen to Rob Halford of Judas Priest, he is still screaming at the top of his range. Steven Tyler, when he does shows … I think if I was going to be losing my voice, I don’t want to jinx myself, I think that would have started happening already.
Levesque: Well, fingers crossed!
Bach: Yeah, that’s right!
Levesque: Are there any future projects for you with Twisted Sister, or are you just doing the tour right now with them?
Bach: Well, that’ll be up to the fans. I should say that my solo band is still going very strong. I have a record deal for my solo band, so we’re going to start working on new songs for a new album while I’m doing this Twisted thing.
We’re still doing shows with my solo band. I just sang the lead theme song to the new Transformers movie, which is coming out in IMAX this month, and I’m the lead singer of the title track, “Nothing’s Gonna Stand in Our Way.”
I also sing on the brand-new tribute album to the metal band Accept. The album’s called Teutonic Titans, and it comes out this Friday. I sing the song “London Leatherboys,” which is an incredible metal song, produced by Zeus — a producer who I think is from Massachusetts — who does Hatebreed and everything. We’ve always wanted to work together, and he produced me in the Transformers movie and this Accept tribute, and it sounds really good.
Levesque: That’ll be cool to look out for. Going off of film, you have a pretty large list of TV and film roles. I personally loved your character in Gilmore Girls! Are there any future projects in that field that you want to share?
Bach: What would you think if I told you that I’m going to be on the show Wheel of Fortune?
Levesque: Oh, really? That’s cool! Is that coming up soon?
Bach: I got asked like last week, ‘Hey dude, you want to be on Wheel of Fortune?’ I go, ‘I don’t see why not!’
Levesque: How was it on The Masked Singer? How was preparing for doing that type of role, wearing all the costume and stuff?
Bach: It was hot!
Levesque: Yeah, I bet!
Bach: The first time I put that costume on, it was claustrophobic. It takes like five people to get you in and out of it. And I was like 9 feet tall, because I’m 6’4″, and they made this costume where my head was like 2 feet above me, but then it had like a tiki leaf or straw or something that was like another 4 feet! I couldn’t walk around backstage, I was too tall! It was insane.
Levesque: That’s got to be kind of crazy! So, when you’re at the Big E, are you going to partake in any of the crazy food that they have? They always have all the comfort food …
Bach: Not if I … do they got crazy veggie burgers?
Levesque: They might, who knows! A lot of it is like comfort food or deep-fried stuff.
Bach: If you watch me eat all that, I’m not going to be able to fit into my pants! The zippers are all over them! I need to get into my vest — as a singer, I’ve got a vest! [laughs]
You know what keeps me from eating too much food? My t-shirt collection! I love my vintage rock shirts, and I have thousands of them.
Levesque: You eat too much, they won’t fit!
Bach: You’ve got to keep kind of in shape to get into them skinny shirts. Sometimes I’ll go put one on and it doesn’t look right, and I’ll say to my wife, Suzanne, ‘Honey, are you washing these wrong? You must be washing these in hot water!’ She’s like, ‘No, dude!’
Levesque: Is there anything currently that you’re listening to, watching, or reading that you want to share with us, just on a personal note?
Bach: I’m reading Jay Jay French’s book, Twisted Business. He’s my new guitar player, so I’m reading that.
I’m always collecting vinyl, so I just got that new KISS Destroys Anaheim ’76 vinyl box set, which — I’m a sucker for that.
And, you know, I read these stories that like AI companies are buying up vintage books and scanning them and destroying them. I can’t believe it. So I have a huge book collection. I love reading books, and I have hundreds of rock biographies. Like Frankenstein — I love the Universal movies, you’ve got that on your wall! I collect all that stuff, Marvel Comics, DC. I just saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I saw The Odyssey in 70mm, which was amazing. I like big screens. I can’t wait for Godzilla Minus Zero! I will be front row at that movie. I love Godzilla. Reminds me of Dee Snider!
Levesque: Is there anything else that you want to share with your fans — any little tidbits or updates coming up in the future?
Bach: I would like to say thank you to all of the fans that have supported my solo band over the last couple of years, because we’ve gotten way more successful. Lots more people come to the shows, there’s bigger shows, selling lots more t-shirts!
And I’d like to thank the fans of Twisted Sister. For the first show, they really accepted me into their hearts, because I’m a fan. We can relate to each other. So we’re all in this together. Come to the Big E, and let’s celebrate one of the greatest live rock bands — the most fun! The one thing about Twisted Sister: it’s fun! This music is fun, man. “I Want to Rock” — who doesn’t want to rock? We all want to rock! So come on out and come see a real rock show while you still can.
Levesque: Awesome! Well, thank you so much for taking the time, and we look forward to seeing you at the Big E and anything going on in the future.
Bach: Looking forward to coming back! Last show was great, this one will be great. Thank you! Good talking to you.
