THUNDER BAY -- Skid Row is not afraid to be Skid Row anymore. It was a lesson the band learned after working with producer Nick Raskulinecz on their first album release in 16 years, and they go back even further, returning to their heavy metal roots.
“You get so far from your roots sometimes. Life kind of gets in the way. You get so far from that kid that wrote those songs 35 years ago but Nick was able to bring us back to that,” said bassist and founding member Rachel Bolan.
“And that was very important because we were able to put that same energy and angst into what we were doing in that moment in 2022.”
Skid Row is returning to Thunder Bay for the first time in nearly 25 years as part of The Gang’s All Here international tour alongside Buckcherry.
The tour is in promotion of Skid Row’s sixth studio album, The Gang’s All Here, released in 2022.
Being the first studio recording released since Revolutions per Minute in 2006, Bolan said the writing process was similar to past releases, with him and Dave ‘The Snake’ Sabo doing the bulk of the writing and other band members putting their own feel into the songs.
But what sets this latest release apart for the band was working with producer Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with artists including Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, Rush, and Danko Jones.
“The cool thing was Nick was a fan before he was producer. He had that photographic time of our music in his head, which is always different than what we have,” Bolan said.
“There is a lot of life from your first album and 35 years into your career. But he brought us back and helped us retrace our steps, which is not an easy task by any means. He was very honest with us with our ideas and it just turned out to be really important for us.”
Bolan added that Raskulinecz brought the band back into focus and helped them create a record he is really proud of and one the fans have said has all the energy and hooks of a true Skid Row record.
“Nick knew what he wanted to hear. He wanted to produce his favourite Skid Row record. He remembered all the feelings he got as a teen listening to that record and what lit him up as a fan listening to those records,” Bolan said.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, but all I know is we really like where we are at right now. We have an updated sound with the energy and the style of what we used to do, but it hasn’t gone through the mill one thousand times. It’s new music with new production but it has that classic Skid Row feel to it.”
The band is also working on new material for a potential seventh studio album. Bolan said he loves creating and working on new music, but also connecting with fans, especially live on stage.
“Playing live is really important to us. It’s kind of our life’s blood to do this,” he said.
Skid Row and Buckcherry will bring The Gang’s All Here tour to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium on March 20 with guest Sierra Pilot.
“You’re going to get nostalgia, you are going to get new stuff, you are going to have a good time, throw your arms in the air, yell out really loud,” Bolan said.
“There’s a lot of energy at a Skid Row show. We just want people to go home singing the songs and with a smile on their face. That’s really important to us.”
