SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan is set to release his debut solo album, “Gargoyle Of The Garden State”, on June 12 through earMUSIC. The record was produced by Nick Raskulinecz, who also handled production duties on SKID ROW’s 2022 comeback album “The Gang’s All Here.”
The LP comes loaded with special guests, including SKID ROW bandmates Dave “Snake” Sabo and Scotti Hill on guitars, and Rob Hammersmith on drums. Joining them are Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), Danko Jones, Steve Conte (New York Dolls), and Damon Johnson (Brother Cane, Lynyrd Skynyrd), making Bolan’s first solo effort a seriously star-studded affair.
Bolan spoke about “Gargoyle Of The Garden State” in a recent appearance on the Rockstrap podcast, hosted by rock and roll comedian Don Jamieson alongside radio veteran and musician Keith Roth. He said: “It doesn’t sound like SKID ROW. I’m doing most of the singing. I’ve got a few guests on there. Our buddy Steve Conte is singing a song. The first single Danko Jones is singing with me. And then there’s another song that Corey Taylor sang. So there’s that. Snake played a solo. Scotti played a solo. Damon Johnson played a bunch of solos. Nuno Bettencourt played a solo. Hammersmith played drums on the whole thing. It’s a whole bunch of buds on there, and it’s cool, man. I’m really happy with the way it turned out. Nick produced it. He produced the [last] SKID ROW record, and every worth-a-shit Active Rock band that’s out there, he produced. He’s so great to work with because he is such a fan of music.”
And continued: “When we did my solo record, I played most of the guitars, most of the singing, all the bass. I didn’t do drums and I didn’t do some of the solos, so most of the solos. So it was a whole different dynamic that way [from making a SKID ROW album with Nick], because he was just talking to me. So it made it go a lot quicker. Stuff didn’t have to clear the committee’s vote and stuff and shit like that. So it was cool, man. And to see him excited about something that I wrote again, it was awesome, man. It was a really, really fun process”.
