Featured in a new interview with Metal Sludge, Warrant bassist Jerry Dixon discusses the passing of original vocalist Jani Lane, who died of acute alcohol poisoning in 2011. An excerpt is available below:

Dixon: "It was brutal to see someone go through something like that and not be able to help him or for him to change his ways. It was frustrating not being able to fix it, that path to destruction. We would point him in the right direction, but it would last just a short period. It was ugly. It was ugly to see him forget the words on stage. Basically, it was like he wasn’t really there, and he ended up quitting. We had all gotten back together with good intentions. He was back from rehab. It was all there for him with sober coaches on the road to help battle his demons, and that just didn’t seem to work. The whole thing just sucked. To play music together, to be a friend and like a family member, to see someone in that addicted state, that’s brutal.

MS: Your new singer Robert Mason has been in the band since 2008, and he’s done well.

Dixon: "Yeah, when we first got together, he sang the songs right on the nose, and it gave me goosebumps. Jani Lane would be proud. Robert didn’t change Warrant, and he didn’t change the songs. He has really done the songs justice, and he was a natural fit because in the past, we had all hung out, and he was friends with Jani. At the end of the day, Jani is looking down and saying, 'Atta boy. You do the shit justice.'"

Go to this location for the complete interview.