Multi-platinum rocker Sebastian Bach returns with a new solo album aptly titled “Give ‘Em Hell.” In two new interviews, Bach talks about his love for Van Halen and bootlegs of Van Halen, and has some valid complaints about how, with the advent of YouTube and cell phones, rock fans are more critical now than they ever were. He says that sites like YouTube have upped the pressure during live performances, and that cell phones are distracting for both the performers and the crowd. He misses the time when audiences were more wide-eyed and carefree, and less concerned with recording and critiquing.
Bach tells Fox News:
“Unfortunately, with the advent of YouTube, it has changed for me the live concert experience. In 1990 when Skid Row played Giants Stadium, I wasn’t thinking at all about “be perfect because somebody is filming you and it’s going to be on the internet tomorrow morning.” That never crossed my mind. I would go and rock as hard as I could, if I didn’t do the perfect job that I did in the studio… nobody came for that, it was like a celebration of rock.
“One of my favorite bands of all time is Van Halen. I collect Van Halen Bootlegs. I can’t imagine Van Halen in 1978 with YouTube! Because David Lee Roth comes on the stage, jumps off the drum riser, hits the stage, comes up and goes “I forgot the words, man!”… and the whole crowd goes {sticks arms in the air, head back] “YEAHH! He forgot the words!” That couldn’t exist now. And it’s a shame. Its a shame.”
Bach tells Ultimate Classic Rock:
“For me, getting older, I have to approach the stage differently and I have to kind of ask myself what do I appreciate about stage performance. When you look at the Eagles sing those perfect harmonies, they are not running around the stage like David Lee Roth, jumping off of the drum riser and doing spread-eagle kicks in the air and being cheerleaders like a lot of heavy metal frontmen do because the audience expects that.
“For me, when I’m in the studio singing, I’m just standing there. [Laughs.] I’m not running as fast as I can across the stage the size of a football field. Now everything we do is filmed for YouTube by all of the fans and you know when I first came out, I would always read that, “Sebastian Bach is like a combination of David Lee Roth and Rob Halford.” But I have to laugh when I think of what it would be like if we would have had cell phones and YouTube in the early days of Van Halen.
“Because I have bootlegs where David Lee Roth just walks out there and goes, “I forgot the f—ing words!” And the whole place goes “YEAAAAAAAH.” These days it would be like, “David Lee Roth doesn’t sing like the record; This is bullshit. It doesn’t sound the same as my phone and the record.” Endless bullshit.
“It’s like, rock ‘n’ roll live is not meant to be perfect like the record, every fucking thing exactly perfect. When I was a kid, it was like a celebration of rock to go see Van Halen. It wasn’t about filming it on your phone and then critiquing every note under the comments section. It’s so ridiculous. In the studio, it’s a more controlled environment for the sound — and watching the Eagles, while they just stand there and sing, that’s probably going to be more the direction I’m going in, thanks to YouTube.”[Laughs.]
Sebastian Bach is a long time Van Halen fan, and has made that well known over the years. He released a video telling his “Best Story Ever“, a tale of when himself, Axl Rose, and David Lee Roth were put in a car together. You can watch the video HERE.
In 2012, Sebastian also led the Steve Stevens band in true to heart rendition of Hot for Teacher, Daveisms and all. Watch it HERE.
And HERE he accounts how awesome it was sharing a plane with David Lee Roth, where the two of them ended up laughing and singing and carrying on together for hours.