SKID ROW website www.skidrow.net has posted an interview that Tommy Black did with the band’s guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo. Some Q&A; from the interview follows:

Tommy: I got the sampler for the new album, and I love it. It’s great but it’s not enough.

Snake: (laughs) August 5th.

Tommy: Can’t wait. Ok, so just tell us how the tour is going so far.

Snake: It’s great man. I really have to say everybody out here we have a great camaraderie. Everyone’s so nice to each other. And just so respectful. And how can you complain when you get to play in front of between six and twelve thousand people a night, ya know? I give tremendous respect to Poison because they go out and do what they do. They make no bones about it. They are true to what they do. And the whole show is just really entertaining and a lot of fun. And the people maybe miss that and it gives them an opportunity to just forget about their everyday worries. And it shows such a tremendous respect for the bands that they are willing to spend their hard earned money to come out to this show. So we recognize that as a band and we make sure that our job is to go out there and make sure we give them a great show every single night. Again, for anybody to sit there and throw out money for a concert these days; It’s so hard to make a buck. And when they are willing to give up that money to come to your show, you really better deliver. And we make that promise every night to ourselves and our fans that we’ll deliver and we’ll show you a good time. And everybody on this tour does that.

Tommy: Are you guys changing the set list up on the tour or staying the same or what?

Snake: Umm… We basically just stick with something till we get sick of it, and then we change it. And so far it’s been fairly the same. We only get forty minutes and that’s fine. But we put seven old songs in there which people love and then we put two new songs off the record.

Tommy: Which version of ‘I Remember You’ are you playing in the set?

Snake: On the Poison tour, we play the original version. On our (own) live show we play both. We’ll never deny our past. We are very proud of what we accomplished in the past. That being said, people want to hear that song so you have to respect the audience. So we will always continue to do the old version but when we have the opportunity we will do the new version as well.

Tommy: I saw you guys on the Kiss tour and it was great but from what I understand, you guys are even tighter now.

Snake: Oh yeah. You know with the Kiss tour, that was the growing period for this band. Because Johnny’s first show with us was six weeks after he joined the band in front of 20,000 people. So, you have to find your ways and find your comfort zone with each other all over again because there is two new guys in the band. And so that tour enabled us to do that on a very large scale.

Tommy: Is that really hard to do, getting used to new guys you have never been on tour with?

Snake: No, it really wasn’t because they’re such great guys, and just so easy going. And such wonderful people. You know, ever since they joined the band, we haven’t had one argument in this band. And I swear to you on my life that it’s the truth. And we get along so well. I mean, we hang out together all the time. We’re together all the time. We go out to dinner with each other, we’re planning vacations together. I mean, that has never ever occurred in this band before.

Tommy: Wow. It doesn’t sound like the old days.

Snake: No, definitely not.

Tommy: I know people are always talking trash, and it’s really like, ‘hey, the guys are happy now, so leave them alone.’

Snake: I will chose to maintain our integrity and happiness over any dollar amount anytime. And believe me, we have been offered a lot of money to put the original band back together, and we flat out (said no), it wasn’t even a question. Just flat out said no. What’s like happiness? I am the happiest I have ever been playing music these days. Just as happy as I was when I first picked up the guitar. And that says a lot. And I won’t trade that for any dollar amount. I just will not, because I know how unhappy I was for a long period of time; Meaning such a turmoil that occurred within this band that really drove friendships right into the ground. I mean, Rachel and Scotti are my best friends in the world, and we wouldn’t even want to see each other because of so much cancerous, toxic stuff going on around us. It drove us away from each other.

Tommy: It’s sad because you guys were friends that happened to start a band. You weren’t one of those bands that a record label created. To have something drove in between you and your friends must have been devastating.

Snake: Yeah, it really was. It was really sad man, you know. It was really really sad because I was so proud of what we had created, and so disappointed that I couldn’t hold it together.

The entire interview can be read at the Press section of www.skidrow.net.

Skid Row’s new album, ThickSkin, is set for release on August 5th.