Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan chided “miserable bastard” internet trolls who have taken shots at his band since their 1999 return without classic-era frontman Sebastian Bach.
“We were under a microscope — and we still are, to a degree — but we were under a microscope and the scrutiny was just ridiculous and unwarranted,” the rocker explained during an appearance on the Appetite for Distortion podcast.. “We were doing what we were doing. We were in a rock band. People were saying, ‘Hang it up. Give up.’ … It’s, like, okay, what do you do for a living? Say you’re a roofer. Give it up. [Laughs] You know what I mean?! You’re telling someone to give up something, their passion and all that.”
Though Bolan admitted he used to be bothered by such negative talk, he learned to ignore internet trolls after talking with other musicians.
“Just in talking to other guys, like friends that are in bands, popular bands, they were, like, ‘Dude, go on any message board anywhere. Go on the NASCAR message board. Go on baseball, for a team, go on their message boards, if they have one. It’s the same shit everywhere, man. It’s the same shit. People just can’t help being like that.’ Some people, not all people, of course. But it’s like, people just can’t help it. Here is their platform to get noticed, whether it’s just one sentence, one second, whatever it is, here is their platform to get noticed.”
The bassist then offered his theory about haters, suggesting they insult bands like his because they’re unhappy with their own life.
“For them to go on and spend all that energy and that time to sit down and tell someone how much they suck is, like… How miserable of a bastard do you have to be to do that?” Bolan pondered. “And when they go to bed, they’re that miserable bastard. When they wake up the next morning, they’re still that miserable bastard. The big difference is when I go to bed and wake up the next morning, I’m in Skid fucking Row.”
Skid Row is poised to release their sixth studio album, The Gang’s All Here, on Oct. 14. It’s their first release with new singer Erik Gronwall, who joined the band in March.
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