Before grunge turned rock into a flannel-soaked existential crisis, Skid Row and Pantera were out there living the most debaucherous version of the rock star fantasy. Case in point: a now-legendary hotel incident from 1992 involving psychedelics, a knife, and a very unlucky couch.
In a new interview with Australia’s Sense Music Media, former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach shared the chaotic story from a tour when Pantera was supporting his band. According to Bach, the trouble started before he even arrived.
“Oh, it was wild. I remember being on the bus pulling into Philadelphia, and we got a call and they go, ‘We’ve been kicked out of the hotel.’ I go, ‘What do you mean? I’m not even fucking there yet. How can I get kicked out if I’m not there?’
“And they go, ‘Well, Dimebag [Darrell, guitarist of Pantera] and Snake [Dave Sabo, guitarist of Skid Row] did acid’ – I mean, this is going way back; hey, kids don’t get any ideas; it was a different time – but they go, ‘Yeah, Dimebag and Snake did acid and Dimebag got a knife out and stabbed the couch in the lobby of the hotel.’ And I go, ‘Holy fuck, man.’ So there’s a couple of stories that are pretty crazy like that. But he didn’t stab any people – just the couch.”
While those kinds of wild antics have mostly faded from the rock scene, Bach says there’s still at least one person who embodies that old-school swagger—and it’s not who you might expect.
“Well, you might not be anticipating this, but I think Liam Gallagher from Oasis is completely hilarious. When I watch his interviews [laughs] — he is, to me, a rock star. When he said, ‘Look,’ he goes, ‘Look, all I wanted out of life was a large-screen HDTV and a fit bird,’ which is a hot chick. That’s all I fucking want — that’s all I want. Hey, Liam, you’re speaking for me, too. And I got a bunch of HDTVs, and my chick is fit as a fiddle. [Laughs]”
It’s a long way from couch-stabbing acid trips, but for Bach, the spirit of rock and roll isn’t dead—it’s just evolved.
