Sebastian Bach

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This article is about the rock singer. For the classical composer, see Johann Sebastian Bach.
Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Bach performing in 2006
Sebastian Bach performing in 2006
Background information
Birth name Sebastian Philip Bierk
Born April 3, 1968 (1968-04-03) (age 40)
Origin Freeport, Bahamas
Genre(s) Heavy metal, Hard rock, Glam metal, Progressive metal
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, actor
Instrument(s) Vocals
Years active 1985–present
Associated acts Skid Row, Frameshift, Damnocracy
Website www.sebastianbach.com

Sebastian Bach (born Sebastian Philip Bierk, on April 3, 1968) is a Canadian heavy metal singer, best known as ex-frontman of Skid Row.

Born in Freeport, Bahamas, and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, he attended nearby Lakefield College School.

He and his wife, Maria Bierk, have three children: two boys named Paris and London and a girl named Sebastiana. His son Paris is the drummer of New Jersey Metal band Severed Hand, who have opened up for him on occasion and were also featured on the Vh1 special I Married Sebastian Bach. His parents divorced when he was 12 years old. His father was the visual artist David Bierk. He is the brother of retired NHL goaltender Zac Bierk and actress Dylan Bierk.

Contents

[edit] Skid Row

Bach was invited to join Skid Row in 1987 at the age of 18 when guitarist Dave Sabo heard him sing at famed rock photographer Mark Weiss' wedding. Sabo sent him a videotape of the band playing, and Bach subsequently joined the band. After enjoying commercial success as lead singer of Skid Row, Bach was eventually fired in 1996.

In 1989, Bach was heavily criticized for wearing a t-shirt on stage that a fan had thrown to him before he could read it, with the slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" emblazoned on it, (a parody of the insecticide ad slogan, "Raid: Kills Bugs Dead"). Although he made light of the incident in his original apology, Bach has since repeatedly apologized for and disavowed the statement, "That was really stupid and wrong for me to wear that for one half-hour in my life. What nobody brings up is in 2000, when I was in Jekyll and Hyde, and at an auction for Broadway Cares, I donated $12,000 of my own money to fight AIDS."[1]

In 1990, Bach performed with Guns N' Roses and Metallica, on the same stage, at a party held by RIP Magazine, the improvised name for the band was: The Gak.

[edit] Post-Skid Row

In 1996, Bach formed a rock band called the Last Hard Men, with Frogs guitarist Jimmy Flemion, The Breeders lead guitarist Kelley Deal, and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The group recorded a full-length, self-titled album for Atlantic Records, who then opted not to release it. In 1998 it was released on Kelley Deal's label, Nice Records, with no fanfare and a very limited pressing of 1000 CDs. This run may have been sold via mail order only.

In 2000, Bach began performing in Broadway productions. His roles included Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show as well as the title role(s) in Jekyll and Hyde. On November 28, 2001 Bach appeared at New York Steel, a benefit concert held in response to 9/11. He appeared early in the show, left to perform on Broadway, and returned at the end when all performers gathered for a final song.

In early 2002, he became the host of VH1's Forever Wild. In October 2002, Sebastian was signed to perform in the national touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar and played the role of Jesus successfully in the show until April 2003 alongside Superstar veteran Carl Anderson, when he was fired for alleged diva-like behavior. He has said if he ever did the show again, he would like to try the role of Judas Iscariot next time. A DVD video of live performances called Forever Wild was released in June 2004.

Sometime in 2003, Bach tried out for Velvet Revolver before the band found Scott Weiland, but was turned down because, according to Slash, "We sounded like Skid Roses!" Slash, 2007

He had a role on the CW television show Gilmore Girls as "Gil" , the lead guitarist in Lane Kim's band, Hep Alien.

In 2005, Bach cooperated with Henning Pauly to be the singer on the Frameshift album called An Absence of Empathy, which was released in April 2005.

He still performs with his band, Sebastian Bach (formerly noted as Bach Tight Five and Sebastian Bach and Friends). Members of Bach Tight Five lived with him and his family as recently documented on VH1's "I Married ...Sebastian Bach", one of the "I Married ..." series. Stars also included Dee Snider, of the rock band, Twisted Sister.

On May 12 and May 14, 2006 at the Guns N' Roses' warmup show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, Bach joined Axl on stage for the song "My Michelle". He joined Axl and gang for a third time the following night (May 15) to sing "My Michelle" once again. He also joined them for their Pre-Download Festival show in the Apollo Hammersmith, London, singing My Michelle. Rose introduced Bach by saying that the two had rekindled their friendship in the previous week after 13 years of not speaking. On June 4, 9 & 11 he again joined Rose on stage at the 2006 Gods of Metal Festival (Milan), Download Festival in RDS Dublin and in Donington, respectively. He also appeared on several other tour dates during GN'R's European tour. On September 23, 2006, he joined Axl on stage once again at KROQ's Inland Invasion festival in California for a rendition of "My Michelle". On July 30, 2006, Bach filled in for an ailing Axl Rose for “Nightrain” and the encore “Paradise City".

The Damnocracy logo
The Damnocracy logo

Bach starred with Ted Nugent, Evan Seinfeld, Jason Bonham and Scott Ian on the VH1 show "SuperGroup" as of May 2006. The musicians formed a band called Damnocracy for the reality show, during which they lived in a mansion in Las Vegas for twelve days and created music. During the show, Bach became particularly close to Ted Nugent, whom he looked to as a father figure. This was acknowledged several times on the show. He also appears to have developed good relationships with Evan Seinfeld. However, at a November 5, 2006 Guns N' Roses concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Bach referred to a SuperGroup episode where he promised Ted he would quit drinking, and claimed that he had lied. Bach had previously said that he had taken offense at disparaging comments Nugent had made about Dimebag Darrell. In 2008 Bach and Nugent reconciled their relationship, and Bach regained his sobriety.[2]

On September 13, 2006, during a show at Selinas in Sydney, Bach stormed off stage during the encore. After two earlier similar incidents, Bach had warned the crowd that the throwing of any more plastic bottles and/or cans onto the stage would lead to him walking off. As the encore began (Youth Gone Wild), Bach was hit by a plastic cup, threw down the mic and left the stage.

On September 28, 2006, he appeared on Celebrity Duets singing with Hal Sparks. Bach later was on the road with Guns N' Roses, touring around the world until late 2006.

In 2007, on the seventh season episode of Trailer Park Boys titled Friends of the Road, Bach played himself as a celebrity guest hosting a model train convention. He later meets Ricky and Julian in a parking lot to smoke marijuana. In a later episode in the same season, Bach returns as the accomplice on the American side of the border helping to facilitate a drug deal.

During beginning of June 2007 Bach headlined a tour of Japan, playing to Japanese fans in Nagoya, Osaka and 2 nights in Tokyo. His touring band consisted of "Metal" Mike Chlasciak on guitar, Johnny Chromatic on guitar, Rob De Luca on bass and Jason West on drums filling in for the injured Bobby Jarzombek. After the Japanese tour, his band supported the Australian & New Zealand Guns N' Roses 'Chinese Democracy' tour.

Bach recently announced a partnership record label with EMI. Jointly, they will be creating a label owned by Sebastian, including his new album Angel Down, which was released on November 20, 2007. Bach also recorded backing vocals for a track on Guns N' Roses' long-delayed album, Chinese Democracy.

Bach has also recently joined a new television show featured on MTV, Celebrity Rap Superstar. Celebrity Rap Superstar involves eight celebrities, one being Bach, hailing from the worlds of music, TV, film, sports and more to compete in a winner-takes-all rap contest. The show began on August 30, 2007 with Bach performing "Mama said Knock You Out" with coaching help from rapper Kurupt. Soon after this appearance, a remix was posted on YouTube that brought a possible rap career-move into question. During the third episode of the show, Bach worked an announcement of the upcoming "Angel Down" CD into his original composed rap, and also mentioned his team-up with Axl Rose. He managed to finish in third place losing to runner up Playboy Playmate and Girls Next Door star Kendra Wilkinson and to Shar Jackson, who was crowned the first Celebrity Rap Superstar on the MTV competition show.

[edit] Recent events

Sebastian Bach will spend the Summer of 2008 playing with Poison and Dokken. He will also be doing a solo Australian tour in May & has been working on new songs with Jamey Jasta from HATEBREED, for the follow up to his Angel Down CD.

Sebastian Bach is also appearing as a celebrity contestant on the second season of the CMT reality show, "Gone Country." [3]

On May 6, 2008, Sebastian Bach was interviewed on "The Buckethead Show" on Tampa's 98 Rock radio station about the rumors concering him being considered for the position of lead singer in Velvet Revolver, after the split from Scott Weiland.
He said that he actually spoke to Slash recently, but also that joining Velvet Revolver will be very awkward for him and unlikely, stating he prefers his latest solo record Angel Down material to the songs on all of Velvet Revolver's records, and that since he is very good friends with Axl Rose, he said he would feel uncomfortable to sing Axl's songs (refering to Guns N' Roses covers that the band performs on live shows), although he finished off with saying "I love Guns N' Roses material, but I've got my own old songs — Skid Row — so for me, it would all depend on music. I wouldn't just join the band just to join the band. If we came up with some incredible new songs, then maybe I'd think about it." [4]

Bach confirmed in an interview with the band that he does not want the Velvet Revolver gig due to his close relationship with Axl Rose." [5]

[edit] Bands

  1. Herrenvolk (note: There is at least one other band with this name.)
  2. Kid Wikkid (Note: There is also a band named "Kid Wicked".)
  3. Madam X
  4. VO5 (1 show Only)
  5. Skid Row
  6. The Last Hard Men
  7. Sebastian Bach And Friends
  8. Band of Doom (Supergroup)
  9. Frameshift
  10. Damnocracy (VH1's SuperGroup)

[edit] Discography

[edit] With Kid Wikkid

1985 Kid Wikkid / "Maple Metal" / LP & cassette / Attic Records / "Take A Look At Me"/ Canada

[edit] With Skid Row

[edit] With The Last Hard Men

[edit] Solo

[edit] With Frameshift

[edit] Guest appearances

[edit] Videos

[edit] Stage work

  • Jekyll & Hyde – Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde (2000)
  • The Rocky Horror Show – Riff Raff (2001)
  • Jesus Christ Superstar – Jesus Christ (2002-2003)
  • Jekyll & Hyde – Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde (2004) Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh, North Carolina

[edit] Filmography

  • Point Doom (1999)

VH1's STRANGE FREQUENCY

[edit] References

  1. ^ Orlando Weekly - Columns Story - Rockin' out with Jesus
  2. ^ 2 Music Geeks' Podcast 10: Metal--Featuring Sebastian Bach. 2musicgeeks.com (2008-03-18).
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/joining_velvet_revolver_would_be_awkward_for_bach.html
  5. ^ http://www.antimusic.com/news/08/may/24Bach_Doesnt_Want_Velvet_Revolver_Gig_.shtml

[edit] External links

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Skid Row
Johnny Solinger · Dave "The Snake" Sabo · Scotti Hill · Rachel Bolan · Dave Gara
Rob Affuso · Sebastian Bach · Phil Varone · Matt Fallon · Sean McCabe · Charlie Mills · Kurtis Jackson · Steve Brotherton · Keri Kelli · Tim DiDuro
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