Niclas Müller-Hansen at Sweden's Metalshrine recently caught up with SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan. An excerpt is available below:

Q: Not counting the new one, do you have a favorite Skid Row album, where you feel you were firing on all cylinders?

Rachel: "Slave To The Grind is one of them. It was our only number one album, but that doesn´t come into play as far as being one of my favorites. We did a completely 180 sound wise. We were always a little heavier than the bands we got lumped in with and when Slave To The Grind came out it was like 'Ok, these guys are more than a hair metal band. They´re a hard rock band.' When Johnny joined the band and we did Thickskin, that album was like 'Ok, we´re making a statement.' First of all the name, having thick skin. We knew we were gonna have to endure a bunch of shit, but we were all so involved in that album, Johhny, Snake, me and Scotti. We were so involved in every facet of that record. We would fall asleep at Snake´s house. I got divorced during the record and then moved into Snake´s house. Johnny broke up with his chick during the record and moved into Snake´s house. We lived in Snake´s house and it was just like, wake up, make some coffee, go down to the studio down in the rehearsal room and write. We lived that record. That´s the only one of our records, except the new one, that I listen to. It´s very self indulgent and I feel funny some times. It´s in the iPod and I listen to it in my truck and it´s so weird. That´s kinda like a faux pas, you know. I´m listening to it, getting into it and cranking it. (laughs) If I had to pick a favorite, it´s Thickskin. I just love that record. Actually, Snake and I were down in Burbank, writing for the new record and we were just chillin´ and we put it in and played it so loud, the neighbors complained. (laughs) It was fucking great!"

Q: Are you just as hungry for music now, as you were back when you started out as a young kid?

Rachel: "Yes! 100 %. Especially when we started this, because of that time span that went between the albums. There were so many highs and lows and dark days. We had the dark days in the first year of Skid Row and then after a while we toured so much and came back to the same places and it wasn´t really… it was fun, but it wasn´t satisfying because we weren´t making new music. We were constantly on the road and then guys started having kids and families and they were away from their families. It just wasn´t satisfying. When we started writing this album, we were just like 'Ok, who were those 23 year old kids that wrote the first two records?' and retracing your steps and retracing your roots is not as easy as you would think. It took a while and once we got our heads in tune with it, the songs just started popping out."

Click here for the complete interview.

Skid Row and UGLY KID JOE are on a 29-city, 12 country co-headline tour of Europe and the UK that kicked off in England on October 22nd, and runs through November 26th ending in Austria. Each band will play a full set of the songs fans want to hear. Remaining shows are as follows:

November

26 - Vienna, Austria - Szene Wien
28 - Turin, Italy - Audiodrome
29 - Rome, Italy - Crossroads
30 - Scandiano, Italy - Corallo

December

1 - Udine, Italy - Palacus