After four decades as the driving force behind Skid Row, bassist and song writer Rachel Bolan steps forward with his first-ever solo album under the name Bolan. 'Gargoyle of the Garden State' is a bold, deeply personal debut rooted in the grit, attitude, and the storytelling spirit of his New Jersey upbringing, but, as he reveals, was also a lot of fun to record. We sat down with Rachel for a chat about the album, his infamous face chain, the search for a new singer for Skid Row, and his love of collecting. Into another; Eamon O'Neill.
Photo; Anabel DFlux
Today on this Ozone Monday, I'm joined not by Prunella Scales, but by Skid Row, founder, song writer, bassist, and now for the first time a solo artist, Rachel Bolan. Hi Rachel, how are you doing?
I'm doing well, man. That was quite the intro! That was very clever.
I thought to myself earlier this year when Prunella Scales passed away; what's Rachel Bolan's opinion on that.
All of us, like Tommy Elwood, and I, we were texting back and forth; "Oh my god, it's the end of an era, man! Prunella Scales died!" You know, we were all such big fans of that show [Fawlty Towers].
We're here today to talk about 'Gargoyle of the Garden State'; which, of course, is New Jersey. You're rooted in New Jersey, aren't you?
I am. I was born and raised here. I moved out for about, I don't know, twenty-five years, and you know, you could take the boy out of New Jersey, but you can't feed them good pizza anywhere but here!
The press release states that the album is "a bold, deeply personal debut, rooted in grit, attitude, and storytelling spirit"; it's a very personal album to you, isn't it?
It is. It's not only personal experience, but it's people I know, their personal experiences as well, and then you know, mash some kind of political statements in there, or political opinions, I should say, and a lot of fun; mash it all together, and that's what we have.
Was the idea of a solo album a way to take the pressure off the Skid Row singer search?
One didn't have anything to do with the other; it's just the timing was worked out. While we we're looking, we're taking our time, and we have the luxury of time this time. I had some songs and I played them for Nick [Raskulinecz, producer] and he was like; "yeah, let's do a solo record", and it was just that matter of fact. I was like; "okay, let's see if the label wants to do it", and they said yes, thankfully, and now here we are, We started it, I guess, a little over a year ago, and now we're getting ready for the release in a couple weeks,
You were obviously, very famously thrust onto the scene in 1989 with tracks like 'I Remember You', but you've always had this punk spirit, which is all over the album.
Yeah, you know, I'm the fourth out of four kids, and when I was growing up, each room had their own thing going on. There was the British invasion in my one sister's room; like Chicago, and Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, from my brothers, and then my other sister, it was Melanie, all the singer songwriters, James Taylor, stuff like that, and then I listened to all that, and then I got older and started to form my own musical opinion, and when I heard punk rock, I was so drawn in, and by the energy and probably the simplicity to a lot of it, and it's coming out now in my writing, and I guess I was into the new wave. I was into a lot of stuff, and a lot of people that I've been talking to that have heard the record are like; "wow, your influences are really showing, this is great!". And I wear them like a badge of honour. I'm not trying to hide it, I'm not trying to say I came up with something new, it's just the stuff that I'm doing is my way, which is new.
'Anything But You' kicks off the album, and it's great to see you playing guitar in the video; what was it like playing guitar on the album?
It was fun, you know. I'm a decent guitar player at best. Did I hit all the notes on the barre chords? I'm not going to put money down on it, but it came out of me, so it was a lot of fun doing that. When I left for Tennessee, I drove down, and had a bunch of stuff, like twelve guitars and basses, and Nick has an arsenal of guitars down there, and I played so many different guitars, even if it was for tiny little parts for texture and accents. That part was really fun, to just build with the different tones, and not having to explain. It was fun too because I knew what I had in my head, and I just played it. I didn't try this or try that; I just did it, and what worked, worked, and what didn't, we scrapped.
It sounds like you really enjoyed playing guitar.
Yeah, playing guitar was a lot of fun, and that particular [Gibson] Les Paul, I've had for years. It's a reissue, and the headstock has been broken off twice, but it's still that magic guitar, and it's my favourite six string that I have, without a doubt.
You're playing some solos on the album as well; do you enjoy playing the leads?
Yeah, well, I did the leads, but what I'm calling leads was the one on 'Anything But You', which was just creating another melody line. I'm not a lead guitar player. I don't even go there. I left that up to the professionals, but then there's another song called 'Devil in the White' that I just had a guitar part, and it fit in the section that we were calling the lead section, so that was really fun to do. It was another avenue to create, but the real lead guitar players, the solo stuff, I left up to Damon [Johnson] and Nuno [Bettencourt] and [Skid Row band mates] Snake and Scotty, because that's way above my pay grade, that's for sure.
In the video for 'Anything but You', you're wearing the face chain. You retired that for the longest time, but it's been back a while now. What was it like to reclaim that?
Yeah, it's been back for a little while. I think Johnny [Solinger, singer 1999 - 2015] may still have been singing with us, and we were playing a festival called Rocklahoma. You could blame Scotty Hill for this, because before that, we'd have a big gig, like a gig in London or in New York, and he's like; "man, you got to bring the chain back, just bring it back!" and I'm like; "man, I don't even know where they are anymore", it's like; "so make a new one, you used to make them all the time!" So one day we're playing Rocklahoma [presumably, 23 May 2014], and I didn't say anything to anybody, and it's like; "okay, time to go to the stage", and I like, run into the restroom real quick, and I put it in, and I walked out with my head down, and just walked straight to the stage, and we all got together, just to, you know, for the pep talk, and everyone's like; "no way, you got to be kidding me!" So ever since then I've had it in, and yeah, I wanted to carry that into my solo career, for sure.
I have to ask, is there a failsafe for some guy grabbing it or something? Does it break easily, or what?
No, my failsafe is a right hook. If someone goes to grab me, that's my failsafe; a right hook or a left uppercut, a nice bolo punch.
I'm doing well, man. That was quite the intro! That was very clever.
I thought to myself earlier this year when Prunella Scales passed away; what's Rachel Bolan's opinion on that.
All of us, like Tommy Elwood, and I, we were texting back and forth; "Oh my god, it's the end of an era, man! Prunella Scales died!" You know, we were all such big fans of that show [Fawlty Towers].
We're here today to talk about 'Gargoyle of the Garden State'; which, of course, is New Jersey. You're rooted in New Jersey, aren't you?
I am. I was born and raised here. I moved out for about, I don't know, twenty-five years, and you know, you could take the boy out of New Jersey, but you can't feed them good pizza anywhere but here!
The press release states that the album is "a bold, deeply personal debut, rooted in grit, attitude, and storytelling spirit"; it's a very personal album to you, isn't it?
It is. It's not only personal experience, but it's people I know, their personal experiences as well, and then you know, mash some kind of political statements in there, or political opinions, I should say, and a lot of fun; mash it all together, and that's what we have.
Was the idea of a solo album a way to take the pressure off the Skid Row singer search?
One didn't have anything to do with the other; it's just the timing was worked out. While we we're looking, we're taking our time, and we have the luxury of time this time. I had some songs and I played them for Nick [Raskulinecz, producer] and he was like; "yeah, let's do a solo record", and it was just that matter of fact. I was like; "okay, let's see if the label wants to do it", and they said yes, thankfully, and now here we are, We started it, I guess, a little over a year ago, and now we're getting ready for the release in a couple weeks,
You were obviously, very famously thrust onto the scene in 1989 with tracks like 'I Remember You', but you've always had this punk spirit, which is all over the album.
Yeah, you know, I'm the fourth out of four kids, and when I was growing up, each room had their own thing going on. There was the British invasion in my one sister's room; like Chicago, and Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, from my brothers, and then my other sister, it was Melanie, all the singer songwriters, James Taylor, stuff like that, and then I listened to all that, and then I got older and started to form my own musical opinion, and when I heard punk rock, I was so drawn in, and by the energy and probably the simplicity to a lot of it, and it's coming out now in my writing, and I guess I was into the new wave. I was into a lot of stuff, and a lot of people that I've been talking to that have heard the record are like; "wow, your influences are really showing, this is great!". And I wear them like a badge of honour. I'm not trying to hide it, I'm not trying to say I came up with something new, it's just the stuff that I'm doing is my way, which is new.
'Anything But You' kicks off the album, and it's great to see you playing guitar in the video; what was it like playing guitar on the album?
It was fun, you know. I'm a decent guitar player at best. Did I hit all the notes on the barre chords? I'm not going to put money down on it, but it came out of me, so it was a lot of fun doing that. When I left for Tennessee, I drove down, and had a bunch of stuff, like twelve guitars and basses, and Nick has an arsenal of guitars down there, and I played so many different guitars, even if it was for tiny little parts for texture and accents. That part was really fun, to just build with the different tones, and not having to explain. It was fun too because I knew what I had in my head, and I just played it. I didn't try this or try that; I just did it, and what worked, worked, and what didn't, we scrapped.
It sounds like you really enjoyed playing guitar.
Yeah, playing guitar was a lot of fun, and that particular [Gibson] Les Paul, I've had for years. It's a reissue, and the headstock has been broken off twice, but it's still that magic guitar, and it's my favourite six string that I have, without a doubt.
You're playing some solos on the album as well; do you enjoy playing the leads?
Yeah, well, I did the leads, but what I'm calling leads was the one on 'Anything But You', which was just creating another melody line. I'm not a lead guitar player. I don't even go there. I left that up to the professionals, but then there's another song called 'Devil in the White' that I just had a guitar part, and it fit in the section that we were calling the lead section, so that was really fun to do. It was another avenue to create, but the real lead guitar players, the solo stuff, I left up to Damon [Johnson] and Nuno [Bettencourt] and [Skid Row band mates] Snake and Scotty, because that's way above my pay grade, that's for sure.
In the video for 'Anything but You', you're wearing the face chain. You retired that for the longest time, but it's been back a while now. What was it like to reclaim that?
Yeah, it's been back for a little while. I think Johnny [Solinger, singer 1999 - 2015] may still have been singing with us, and we were playing a festival called Rocklahoma. You could blame Scotty Hill for this, because before that, we'd have a big gig, like a gig in London or in New York, and he's like; "man, you got to bring the chain back, just bring it back!" and I'm like; "man, I don't even know where they are anymore", it's like; "so make a new one, you used to make them all the time!" So one day we're playing Rocklahoma [presumably, 23 May 2014], and I didn't say anything to anybody, and it's like; "okay, time to go to the stage", and I like, run into the restroom real quick, and I put it in, and I walked out with my head down, and just walked straight to the stage, and we all got together, just to, you know, for the pep talk, and everyone's like; "no way, you got to be kidding me!" So ever since then I've had it in, and yeah, I wanted to carry that into my solo career, for sure.
I have to ask, is there a failsafe for some guy grabbing it or something? Does it break easily, or what?
No, my failsafe is a right hook. If someone goes to grab me, that's my failsafe; a right hook or a left uppercut, a nice bolo punch.
You mentioned Nuno Bettencourt, who plays a ferocious solo on 'Jet Black Universe'. He's an absolute monster, isn't he?
Yeah, I hit him up when I was trying to think of someone to play because Snake and Scotty were playing on songs, and Damon played on like five of them, and I started thinking Nuno. We see each other in passing all the time, and we've known each other for a really long time, and there's been so many times, just in a casual conversation, where we're like; "we got to do something together, man. When we both have time, let's do something together", and it never came to fruition. So, when I was listening to the song, I was like; "man, Nuno would shred on here!", so I sent it to him, he loved the song, and he goes; "yeah, I'll do it". He goes; "I've got a lot going on" - he was doing the Back to the Beginning show - "but I will get to it". I said; "yeah, dude!" I said; "we still have other stuff to do, so when you get to it, you get to it", and he did, and he sent it back, and when Nick and I put it in the song, Nick had his back towards me - I was sitting in the couch and he was sitting in the engineer's chair in his studio - and I just see him stop, and he just turns around and looks at me, and he goes; "what did we just listen to?!" I was like, "that's exactly what I wanted for this song", and he's like; "that's sick, like that is the sickest solo".
So, it's cool, man, with all the people I asked. I've got really cool friends, they all said yes. It's like this is a monumental point in my career, and to have a lot of my friends there with me was really special to me, and it means a lot that everyone got involved.
Speaking of friends, didn't you sing backup vocals on Mötley Crüe's 'Dr. Feelgood' album?
We did. We sang on a couple songs, I believe we sang on 'Change' ['Time for Change'], I think that's the name of it. I believe we sang on that, and then sang on something else, one of the other songs. It was really fun. They called us down to see if we wanted to sing some backup vocals, and we're like; "yeah, let's go!", so we did, and it was cool. We've had opportunities like that, and I've been involved in some stuff that it's just great memories.
One track that surprised me on the album was your cover of Oasis's 'Rock and Roll Star'; did you catch the band on their reunion tour?
I did not catch them on the tour, and I'm a fan. I'm not a huge fan, so at the time that I heard that Oasis was no more. They were broken up, and as far as anyone knew, it was never going to happen. I heard that song on the radio, and I was like; "wow, what a cool beginning" with the slide part, and that swampy, bluesy feel to it. I didn't know who it was, and then once I heard him sing, I was like; "oh, this is Oasis". I started really tuning into the lyrics, and I'm like; "whoa, I get exactly what he's saying". Sometimes people just expect you to be this character that they see on stage or on the internet, and they expect you to be that twenty-four/seven, and you're not. Sometimes you're the guy that is out in public with spinach in his teeth, or your fly is open when you're taking pictures with people; true story, both these things happened to me.
Yeah, you're human after all!
The way he put it across was very sarcastic; that British sarcasm, which is very similar to how we speak in New Jersey. I heard it in the car, and I thought "When I get home, I'm going to demo this just the way I would demo it". So, I sped it up to where I'd feel comfortable singing it, and then I noticed the song was considerably shorter now, so I'm like, "okay, I'll put a lead section". I called Scotty. I said; "I just did this for fun. You want to throw a solo on this?", so he did. I got it back and the solo was insane, and it's the exact solo that's on the record.
So it all came together pretty quickly.
Fast forward to when we're getting ready to do the record, and I'm like; "man, they just did this enormous, highly successful, highly publicised reunion tour. I feel like I'm trying to seize an opportunity. I'm afraid that people are going to see it that I'm just being opportunistic", and Nick is like, "Nah, dude, you did it your own way. It's like a nod. It's cool you made it your own, and it's not like if you did it exactly the same". He goes; "I think the way you did it is really cool, and people will be like, oh, this is Oasis, but a different version". A good song is a good song, no matter what genre you put it in. And then [drummer] Rob Hammersmith said; "I agree with Nick, and secondly, when did you ever start caring about what people thought of you?" I was like; "that's true, both points. Let's put this on the record".
If you could swap it around, what Skid Row track, or one of your tracks, would you like to hear Oasis do?
Oh, wow, I would love to hear them do 'Piece of Me', maybe.
The first one that came to my mind was 'My Enemy'.
Oh yeah, that would be really cool. That would be really cool, actually.
You mentioned Rob Hammersmith; does he play drums on the whole album?
Yeah, he plays drums on everything. He was my one, my first and only choice. If he had been busy or said he didn't want to do it or couldn't do it, then I didn't have a plan B at that point. I would have had to think of someone else, because Rob and I have been playing together so long that we're so locked in, and other than that, just being one of my best friends. We grew up listening to the same type of music, so whenever we do festivals, we always look, and we're like; "hey, did you see Rancid's playing?", or "did you see Less Than Jake's playing?"; we're always running around to the stages before and after our show together to see the same band. So yeah, he killed it. The eleven songs, I think he did in like two days or something like that.
Yeah, I hit him up when I was trying to think of someone to play because Snake and Scotty were playing on songs, and Damon played on like five of them, and I started thinking Nuno. We see each other in passing all the time, and we've known each other for a really long time, and there's been so many times, just in a casual conversation, where we're like; "we got to do something together, man. When we both have time, let's do something together", and it never came to fruition. So, when I was listening to the song, I was like; "man, Nuno would shred on here!", so I sent it to him, he loved the song, and he goes; "yeah, I'll do it". He goes; "I've got a lot going on" - he was doing the Back to the Beginning show - "but I will get to it". I said; "yeah, dude!" I said; "we still have other stuff to do, so when you get to it, you get to it", and he did, and he sent it back, and when Nick and I put it in the song, Nick had his back towards me - I was sitting in the couch and he was sitting in the engineer's chair in his studio - and I just see him stop, and he just turns around and looks at me, and he goes; "what did we just listen to?!" I was like, "that's exactly what I wanted for this song", and he's like; "that's sick, like that is the sickest solo".
So, it's cool, man, with all the people I asked. I've got really cool friends, they all said yes. It's like this is a monumental point in my career, and to have a lot of my friends there with me was really special to me, and it means a lot that everyone got involved.
Speaking of friends, didn't you sing backup vocals on Mötley Crüe's 'Dr. Feelgood' album?
We did. We sang on a couple songs, I believe we sang on 'Change' ['Time for Change'], I think that's the name of it. I believe we sang on that, and then sang on something else, one of the other songs. It was really fun. They called us down to see if we wanted to sing some backup vocals, and we're like; "yeah, let's go!", so we did, and it was cool. We've had opportunities like that, and I've been involved in some stuff that it's just great memories.
One track that surprised me on the album was your cover of Oasis's 'Rock and Roll Star'; did you catch the band on their reunion tour?
I did not catch them on the tour, and I'm a fan. I'm not a huge fan, so at the time that I heard that Oasis was no more. They were broken up, and as far as anyone knew, it was never going to happen. I heard that song on the radio, and I was like; "wow, what a cool beginning" with the slide part, and that swampy, bluesy feel to it. I didn't know who it was, and then once I heard him sing, I was like; "oh, this is Oasis". I started really tuning into the lyrics, and I'm like; "whoa, I get exactly what he's saying". Sometimes people just expect you to be this character that they see on stage or on the internet, and they expect you to be that twenty-four/seven, and you're not. Sometimes you're the guy that is out in public with spinach in his teeth, or your fly is open when you're taking pictures with people; true story, both these things happened to me.
Yeah, you're human after all!
The way he put it across was very sarcastic; that British sarcasm, which is very similar to how we speak in New Jersey. I heard it in the car, and I thought "When I get home, I'm going to demo this just the way I would demo it". So, I sped it up to where I'd feel comfortable singing it, and then I noticed the song was considerably shorter now, so I'm like, "okay, I'll put a lead section". I called Scotty. I said; "I just did this for fun. You want to throw a solo on this?", so he did. I got it back and the solo was insane, and it's the exact solo that's on the record.
So it all came together pretty quickly.
Fast forward to when we're getting ready to do the record, and I'm like; "man, they just did this enormous, highly successful, highly publicised reunion tour. I feel like I'm trying to seize an opportunity. I'm afraid that people are going to see it that I'm just being opportunistic", and Nick is like, "Nah, dude, you did it your own way. It's like a nod. It's cool you made it your own, and it's not like if you did it exactly the same". He goes; "I think the way you did it is really cool, and people will be like, oh, this is Oasis, but a different version". A good song is a good song, no matter what genre you put it in. And then [drummer] Rob Hammersmith said; "I agree with Nick, and secondly, when did you ever start caring about what people thought of you?" I was like; "that's true, both points. Let's put this on the record".
If you could swap it around, what Skid Row track, or one of your tracks, would you like to hear Oasis do?
Oh, wow, I would love to hear them do 'Piece of Me', maybe.
The first one that came to my mind was 'My Enemy'.
Oh yeah, that would be really cool. That would be really cool, actually.
You mentioned Rob Hammersmith; does he play drums on the whole album?
Yeah, he plays drums on everything. He was my one, my first and only choice. If he had been busy or said he didn't want to do it or couldn't do it, then I didn't have a plan B at that point. I would have had to think of someone else, because Rob and I have been playing together so long that we're so locked in, and other than that, just being one of my best friends. We grew up listening to the same type of music, so whenever we do festivals, we always look, and we're like; "hey, did you see Rancid's playing?", or "did you see Less Than Jake's playing?"; we're always running around to the stages before and after our show together to see the same band. So yeah, he killed it. The eleven songs, I think he did in like two days or something like that.
I wanted to talk a little about Skid Row. Fans have been wondering for years about why there's not been any deluxe or expanded editions of your albums, particularly the first two; you must have loads of stuff in the vaults!
We actually don't. We don't. We've got some live stuff. We've got a bunch of plans going on, you know, stuff for Record Store Day, and then reissues we're doing, but yeah, a lot of people think we wrote thousands of songs that sat there, but you know, for the first album, we had our whole life to write that record, so we had a bunch of songs for the two albums. Afterwards, we wrote the amount that we needed for the record, and then that was it. But there's ideas and bits and pieces, but we do have a stockpile of live tapes, like board tapes and DAT tapes and stuff like that that we are sifting through to see which ones to see if they even play anymore. They've been in storage, but we do have a lot of stuff and we've got some cool stuff coming out for Record Store Day over here [in the USA] and yeah we definitely have had material that we could put out for sure.
Do you have, like, the demos with Matt Fallon?
We do, and a few of them got out online a while back, but yeah, we do have a bunch of demos with Matt. They're either in my basement or Snake's basement somewhere, but yeah, we do have.
Well, there you go. Ideas for the box set!
You're hired as our marketing guy!
This album isn't your first project outside of Skid Row - you played on a pair of Stone Sour albums for example - but have any other bands ever approached you?
After I did the Stone Sour record ['House of Gold & Bones', Part 1 & 2, 2012 / 2013], they approached me to tour and to be a member, more or less, and I just couldn't do it. Skid Row was super busy, and they needed a two year commitment, which I understood, because they were going to hit the road hard, and I couldn't commit to two years. It would have been great because it was so much fun doing that record and the guys were awesome. As far as anything else, I mean, I've written songs with friends and stuff, but never anything other than Stone Sour to go out on the road and do stuff.
Back to the present day, and I had a little look at what formats are available for 'Gargoyle of the Garden State', and it's out on vinyl, and there's a test pressing available. Have you had the vinyl in your hand, and does that still excite you?
Oh, yeah. The day it came, I saw the shape of the box, and I'm like; "oh wow, here it is, it's here!", and I opened it up, and I'm like; "I can't believe I'm holding this in my hand, like this. This is amazing". And I did just like I used to do when I was a kid; I put a finger on this corner, a finger on this corner, and spun the whole thing, like; "this is unbelievable!" And it's a gate fold, and everything came out so great, and just the flood of memories designing it and putting it together, and bouncing ideas off of the art department at the label and my managers, and all that, like getting together with Anabel DFlux, who is the photographer that took the cover shot, and getting together with her, all that flooded back, and the whole recording process. It was pretty overwhelming, emotionally, and yeah, I still, you know, I'll see it, and I'll throw it on, and I'll ask my wife; "is this corny that I want to listen to my own record again?!" But it was a really cool process, and it means a lot to me to be at this point to have it done. We sent some advanced copies to everyone that was on the record, and everyone was just as excited as I was.
Do you, do you keep all that stuff? Do you have like, the first press of the Skid Row album on vinyl, and the box sets etc?
Yeah, I have all of it. I have, I actually have the acetate. A friend of mine found the acetate for '18 and Life', and I don't even think they use acetates anymore. He wouldn't tell me what it was, he just called me, and He goes; "we have to meet somewhere, grab a beer, I have something that you need to own", and I'm like; "okay", and we couldn't get our time together, so we'd both go to this one vinyl store in Nashville a lot, when I lived in Nashville, so I guess he knew he was going to run into me there, and he brought it. He goes; "you need this", and I saw, I was like, "oh man, this is amazing!" He goes; "this is like, it's probably one of like three". And so I had that, and he gave me some other stuff too, that was just so awesome. But man, I have like record store displays, I have posters, gigantic posters that were like for a billboard, I have them all rolled up in my storage, and I have all that stuff, and now I'm collecting all the flats and all the signs. I have a couple of test pressings, and I have the flats, and that collection is beginning now, so it's cool, man. It's like, you want, you want something to show your future, like someday I'll be able to describe it to my grandson; "this is what they used to do".
You must have all the gold and platinum discs too.
Well, I have. I keep it to one hallway outside my studio. I'm in the studio right now, so I keep it to the hallway outside the studio, because I don't need to see it all day, and then I kind of feel weird when all my friends come over. If they have to look at it, it's like; "okay, dude, we know you sold records", you know? So it's just in the hallway outside my studio, and at the bottom of the stairs outside the studio. It's like a little museum, right before a little museum of creation, right before you get in here to create. Then in my studio I've got Kiss posters and Bowie posters and stuff like that, and my New York City collage behind me, like a sign. It's a great creative space.
Before I let you go, have any touring plans for the new album?
We don't have any touring plans made now, but it is the objective to get on the road and do a bunch of shows. I would love to do that. A lot of it hinges on the guys. Some of the guys, like Rob Hammersmith is in, and for the most part we have the same schedule, so yeah, there's a couple other guys. I would like to play guitar. It's just going around their schedules.
Rachel Bolan's 'Gargoyle of the Garden State' is out on 12th June 2026. Order here.
We actually don't. We don't. We've got some live stuff. We've got a bunch of plans going on, you know, stuff for Record Store Day, and then reissues we're doing, but yeah, a lot of people think we wrote thousands of songs that sat there, but you know, for the first album, we had our whole life to write that record, so we had a bunch of songs for the two albums. Afterwards, we wrote the amount that we needed for the record, and then that was it. But there's ideas and bits and pieces, but we do have a stockpile of live tapes, like board tapes and DAT tapes and stuff like that that we are sifting through to see which ones to see if they even play anymore. They've been in storage, but we do have a lot of stuff and we've got some cool stuff coming out for Record Store Day over here [in the USA] and yeah we definitely have had material that we could put out for sure.
Do you have, like, the demos with Matt Fallon?
We do, and a few of them got out online a while back, but yeah, we do have a bunch of demos with Matt. They're either in my basement or Snake's basement somewhere, but yeah, we do have.
Well, there you go. Ideas for the box set!
You're hired as our marketing guy!
This album isn't your first project outside of Skid Row - you played on a pair of Stone Sour albums for example - but have any other bands ever approached you?
After I did the Stone Sour record ['House of Gold & Bones', Part 1 & 2, 2012 / 2013], they approached me to tour and to be a member, more or less, and I just couldn't do it. Skid Row was super busy, and they needed a two year commitment, which I understood, because they were going to hit the road hard, and I couldn't commit to two years. It would have been great because it was so much fun doing that record and the guys were awesome. As far as anything else, I mean, I've written songs with friends and stuff, but never anything other than Stone Sour to go out on the road and do stuff.
Back to the present day, and I had a little look at what formats are available for 'Gargoyle of the Garden State', and it's out on vinyl, and there's a test pressing available. Have you had the vinyl in your hand, and does that still excite you?
Oh, yeah. The day it came, I saw the shape of the box, and I'm like; "oh wow, here it is, it's here!", and I opened it up, and I'm like; "I can't believe I'm holding this in my hand, like this. This is amazing". And I did just like I used to do when I was a kid; I put a finger on this corner, a finger on this corner, and spun the whole thing, like; "this is unbelievable!" And it's a gate fold, and everything came out so great, and just the flood of memories designing it and putting it together, and bouncing ideas off of the art department at the label and my managers, and all that, like getting together with Anabel DFlux, who is the photographer that took the cover shot, and getting together with her, all that flooded back, and the whole recording process. It was pretty overwhelming, emotionally, and yeah, I still, you know, I'll see it, and I'll throw it on, and I'll ask my wife; "is this corny that I want to listen to my own record again?!" But it was a really cool process, and it means a lot to me to be at this point to have it done. We sent some advanced copies to everyone that was on the record, and everyone was just as excited as I was.
Do you, do you keep all that stuff? Do you have like, the first press of the Skid Row album on vinyl, and the box sets etc?
Yeah, I have all of it. I have, I actually have the acetate. A friend of mine found the acetate for '18 and Life', and I don't even think they use acetates anymore. He wouldn't tell me what it was, he just called me, and He goes; "we have to meet somewhere, grab a beer, I have something that you need to own", and I'm like; "okay", and we couldn't get our time together, so we'd both go to this one vinyl store in Nashville a lot, when I lived in Nashville, so I guess he knew he was going to run into me there, and he brought it. He goes; "you need this", and I saw, I was like, "oh man, this is amazing!" He goes; "this is like, it's probably one of like three". And so I had that, and he gave me some other stuff too, that was just so awesome. But man, I have like record store displays, I have posters, gigantic posters that were like for a billboard, I have them all rolled up in my storage, and I have all that stuff, and now I'm collecting all the flats and all the signs. I have a couple of test pressings, and I have the flats, and that collection is beginning now, so it's cool, man. It's like, you want, you want something to show your future, like someday I'll be able to describe it to my grandson; "this is what they used to do".
You must have all the gold and platinum discs too.
Well, I have. I keep it to one hallway outside my studio. I'm in the studio right now, so I keep it to the hallway outside the studio, because I don't need to see it all day, and then I kind of feel weird when all my friends come over. If they have to look at it, it's like; "okay, dude, we know you sold records", you know? So it's just in the hallway outside my studio, and at the bottom of the stairs outside the studio. It's like a little museum, right before a little museum of creation, right before you get in here to create. Then in my studio I've got Kiss posters and Bowie posters and stuff like that, and my New York City collage behind me, like a sign. It's a great creative space.
Before I let you go, have any touring plans for the new album?
We don't have any touring plans made now, but it is the objective to get on the road and do a bunch of shows. I would love to do that. A lot of it hinges on the guys. Some of the guys, like Rob Hammersmith is in, and for the most part we have the same schedule, so yeah, there's a couple other guys. I would like to play guitar. It's just going around their schedules.
Rachel Bolan's 'Gargoyle of the Garden State' is out on 12th June 2026. Order here.
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