Onetime SKID ROW drummer Rob Affuso says a reunion of the band’s classic lineup was very close to happening
Speaking with Shawn Ratches of Laughingmonkeymusic, ex-SKID ROW drummer Rob Affuso discussed the attempts to bring the band’s classic lineup back together. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “There almost was a SKID ROW reunion. It was very close, actually. We all had our calendars blocked off and a summer scheduled, and there were dates being put out there, and it was really disappointing when it blew up. I think the reasons why it blew up are really stupid. I think they could have been avoided and not… I think things could have been fixed and changed and worked through. But here we are. That was about five or six years ago.”
Touching on why it’s so difficult to reunite all the members of the classic SKID ROW lineup, Rob said: Some of the guys there just really don’t want it to be. So that’s their right.”
Affuso, who vacated his spot behind the drum kit for SKID ROW back in 1998, claims to be “the only former member that keeps in contact with all former SKID ROW bandmates and is still good friends with them all”. He also added that he is no longer investing his time and energy into trying to make the SKID ROW reunion happen.
He said”I really, really was hoping and trying for years to make that all happen, and I feel like part of me, in hoping that would all happen, sort of lost a part of my life, not being present in my life and not enjoying my current life because I was looking in the past and looking forward and hoping that I could bring the past back and was missing things in my own life because I was too worried about hoping that would happen,” he explained.
“And I think after failure of the last attempt, the only attempt, I just said, ‘This is taking too much of a toll on me. I have to enjoy life. I have to do what I love. And I have no control over this and just do what I do and have fun. And if this ever comes around and comes together, then I’m gonna be there all in a thousand percent, but for now I have to love my own life and love myself and move forward thinking like that.’ And hopefully it will, but I can’t look back and I can’t look forward anymore.”
Sebastian Bach led SKID ROW until 1996 when he was dismissed. Rather than giving up, the remaining members took a break and briefly played together in a band named OZONE MONDAY. In 1999, SKID ROW reunited, and after some lineup changes over the years, the band included bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Dave “Snake” Sabo and Scotti Hill, drummer Rob Hammersmith, and vocalist Johnny Solinger.
SKID ROW parted ways with Solinger over the phone in April 2015, just a few hours before introducing ex-TNT vocalist Tony Harnell as his successor. Harnell left the band eight months later, leading to the recruitment of South African-born, British-based singer ZP Theart, known for his roles in DRAGONFORCE, TANK, and I AM I. Theart‘s tenure with SKID ROW ended in February 2022, and he was succeeded by Erik Grönwall, a former member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T.