Sebastian Bach Recalls Testy Car Ride with Axl Rose and David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth wasn’t kidding when he sang, “Well, that liquor in the nighttime leaves strange memories” in the Van Halen classic ‘Take Your Whiskey Home.’
Ex-Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach knows how true that lyric is, too, and he recently shared his vivid memory of when a Jack Daniels-fueled Roth wasted little time in getting under the skin of Guns N’ Roses leader Axl Rose.
Bach says it all went down one night when the singers were en route to the Rainbow Room in Los Angeles. On the drive, Roth kept himself refreshed with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
“With every shot, he’s getting a little more —jacked,” Bach recalls. “All of a sudden Dave turns around [and says], ‘Looks like I got a couple pretenders to my throne right here.’ ”
The feisty Rose immediately took issue with Roth’s comments. “I’m not a pretender to your throne. … I don’t pretend to be nothing,” Rose shot back, according to Bach.
The next day, Bach received a handwritten fax from Roth, who said it was his “pride in rock ‘n’ roll and [the] Jack Daniels” that influenced his choice of words. Bach then called Rose, who had received a fax from Roth, too.
“Dave wrote us both very heartfelt, cool letters saying that we’re not pretending to his throne — but I was kind of pretending to Dave’s throne,” Bach admits with a laugh.
Sebastian Bach Explains How He Got an Apology Letter from David Lee Roth