We Are The Youth Gone Wild!

As we approach Rocklahoma Festival, I have the opportunity to talk to several of the bands playing, including the epitome of hair-metal rockstar singers, Sebastian Bach. His band Skid Row was one of the core bands that helped define the ’80s hair metal genre.

I’ve interviewed Sebastian several times over the years, and he is always one of my favorite rockstars to talk to. He had me and Jill Munroe, my Tulsa Rocks podcast cohost/fellow radio DJ at 103.3 The Eagle, absolutely dying with laughter. We have a zoom interview that is almost a half hour long, which you can watch below (with “naughty words” edited out):

Having traveled around the world several times as a rockstar, I was anxious to get his take on what it’s like to be a dad and the lead singer of Skid Row at the same time.

His son, Paris Bierk, plays drums for his dad on tour these days, so Sebastian has some insight on that rockstar father-son-on-tour time.

Sebastian Bach:

“I don’t know if you know this, but on drums is my son! If he messes up the show, right after we’re done, I’m gonna make him go mow the lawn. Either that or he’s gonna get sent to the tour bus, without his dinner!

“To be honest, the life of a successful musician often carries the cost of the family life because you’re not around at the birthdays, you’re not at graduation, you’re not at really heavy events that normal people get, and they don’t understand that a guy like me misses out on so much. When you’re gone for 91 cities, that’s 200 days with getting there and days off, so how are you present? So my point is, having my son on the road with me in my band, I can’t even even tell you, when I turn around and I look at him on the stage, and I’m having a father and son moment, I’m like: Here’s a moment I am here for, dude!

“When we were in the pandemic we couldn’t leave the house, and I built like a drum studio on our property. I listened to him practice the drums for like eight hours a day, every day, for like two years. And the thing is, you can’t teach a musician to rehearse. They either have that with them, or they do not. And that is something, to me, something that is rare nowadays because everybody takes the easy way out of running a tape. Everybody’s doing that. We don’t.

“So, when I realized that my son had the rehearsal gene, I go OK, well, you know.”

I asked Sebastian some advice for young dads who also have a situation where they are gone a lot. Not so much a rockstar, but maybe a traveling salesman, military deployment, etc.

“For me, it’s the most fun when I bring them on the road with me. But when they’re in school, you can’t do that, so I have a bunch of years when I first met my wife Suzanne, when we first met, our kids were young enough they weren’t in school, so they came on the road and that, to me, is the most fun. Like, a day off with your kids, you go to a record store, a steakhouse, and seeing a city that you never saw, those are magical moments.

“So I’d say bring them, but then I got the luxury of having a bus, so maybe that’s not an option for a musician who’s just starting out. But I just say, try to spend as much time as you can with them.

“Oh, I would say another thing, I gave my kid the phone way too young. Because I did not realize it was such a nightmare! I spend all my time with my kids saying put the phone down!”

I explained to Sebastian one of my pet-peeves:

I was at the mall yesterday, and I saw these babies, they could barely hold this phone, and they had it glued to their face, even while eating at a restaurant. You see a family of four at the table, and they are all on their phones! I told him I thought it was detrimental to our society.

Sebastian:

“Imagine THEIR kids!

“I’m like 6 foot 4, so my kids are very tall, and if you see me on stage, I crank my back and neck to hit these insane notes.”

“My daughter is very tall. She’s always on the phone to the point where she’s like hunched over all time and I tell her, ‘Tiana, you gotta sit up straight!’

“So, there’s some dad advice. Sit up straight! Eat your vegetables! Go mow the lawn!”

Rocklahoma Schedule