Bach back in the limelight with GNR dates

CLEVELAND (Billboard) - After reconnecting with

Axl Rose this past spring,

Sebastian Bach has been pegged as the opening act for the upcoming Guns N' Roses stateside tour that gets started October 20 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Bach told Billboard.com it's been one wild ride.

"Just like the rest of the world, I had not been in touch with him in a long, long time and there was a point five years ago (when) I wondered if I'd ever see him again in my life," Bach said. "I was really good friends with him."

After jumping on stage with Rose to join in on the GNR classic "My Michelle" three times during the band's New York run in May, Bach says he approached the reclusive singer about opening for his band on a few of its European dates.

"I said, 'I love doing "My Michelle" with you but if you really, really, really want to help me out, can my band, like, open for you?"' Bach said. "He's not really super-effusive. He doesn't gush like I do. My emotions are pretty upfront. But I could tell in some way he was trying to help me out and the phone was silent. Then he said, 'If we could work something out, we'll do it. That would be a lot of fun."'

That fun carried over to the European summer dates, which even found Bach filling in for an ailing Rose on "Nightrain" and "Paradise City" at Guns N' Roses' last London show in July.

As for his erstwhile band Skid Row, from which he was dismissed nearly a decade ago, Bach said there is absolutely no communication between him and his former bandmates. While he has no regrets about what happened with the '80s rock act, the New Jersey resident said he'd like to see the band's platinum-selling VHS videos (1991's "Oh Say Can You Scream" and 1993's "No Frills Video" and "Roadkill") released on DVD at some point.

Bach said his experience this past year with Damnocracy, the all-star hard-rock band formed on the VH1 reality show "Supergroup" with

Ted Nugent, Scott Ian, Evan Seinfeld and Jason Bonham, reminded him why it's best to be a solo act. "I'm going to control this one," Bach says. "This is working because I don't have to wait around for the Foreigner tour or some hunting expedition."

While a new album, tentatively titled "Angel Down," already written, Bach, who recently split from Artemis Records, is currently shopping the album with some "major labels," he said. He hopes to have the project out next year.

Among the new tracks that could get stage time for Bach's GNR sets are "Stuck Inside" and "Take You Down With Me." Naturally, he'll also be performing his Skid Row hits, as well as the track "Blade," which he recorded as a member of progressive metal band Frameshift for its 2005 album "Absence of Empathy." And with news that Guns N' Roses' November 10 show at Madison Square Garden has sold out, Bach can hardly hide his enthusiasm.

"I've been waiting to do this and it's just an unbelievable feeling for me to do 36 dates with Guns N' Roses now as a solo artist," he said. "And selling out the Garden is just blowing my mind."

Reuters/Billboard