DEADWOOD, S.D. (12/06/22) – Two of the seminal rock bands of the 90’s and 2000’s are joining forces when Skid Row and Buckcherry get together and co-headline ‘The Gang’s All Here’ tour in 2023 with a stop at Deadwood Mountain Grand on Saturday, March 11th.
Remember that first time you heard Skid Row?
“Youth Gone Wild” was on MTV. “18 and Life” was a summertime hit single and the band was on the covers of Hit Parader, Circus, and Metal Edge magazines. That exhilarating sound of being young was everywhere.
Rob Hammersmith saw himself in that gang mentality. “I was looking for that,” he remembers. “Everybody goes through that phase of me against the world, where you just have to stand up and assert yourself. Every kid goes through that, and Skid Row made you realize that you’re not alone.”
Snake Sabo realized he wasn’t alone after striking up a songwriting partnership with Rachel Bolan. “I saw all this talent he had — and has — and he brought something out of me. It made me go, man, this is the start of something. I’m like, yeah, this is where we’re supposed to be at this moment in our lives. It was the birth of what would be Skid Row.”
That something — and that name — represented the unrelenting impulse of rambunctious kids, channeling their love of punk and metal into something understood by a worldwide audience of other kids just like them.
“Right when we came up with the name — Skid Row — that’s when I realized we were going to build something really special that really drew on our influences,” Rachel remembers.
Their attitude and swagger was palpable in those songs. It was obvious. A demo of songs Rachel and Snake wrote together was the first time Scotti Hill heard Skid Row, and he wanted in. “It had three songs on it — including ‘Clock Strikes Midnight’ — and I loved all three of those songs. Right from the beginning, I loved where the music was going. I was like, I gotta be in this band!”
That band built something powerful and so timeless that years later, halfway around the world, it roused a young Swedish singer. “You’re young, a bit crazy — fist in the air and yeah — that kind of feeling,” recalls Erik Grönwall. “Skid Row are the youth gone wild, and I wanted the same thing. I wanted that lifestyle.”
It’s cliché́ to say that a band has all their lives to write a first album. The truth is that they spend the rest of their lives trying to understand how they did it. The Gang’s All Here is the octane of an attitude that’s been festering since the band formed in 1986. Producer Nick Raskulinecz lit a creative wildfire by challenging them to deconstruct good ideas and rebuild them into something even better. Something timeless. He became the arbiter of their legacy, daring them to revert to instinct and be the same rambunctious kids who made their first two albums.
“On ‘World On Fire,’ I had written this very cool riff. Nick said, play the chord up here, an octave up from the original notes. It created a difficult move, and I didn’t know how to physically do that, but he challenged me. The one time I got it right, he goes, now that’s Skid Row. That was a heavy moment for me, this guy having to bring something that is Skid Row out of me, yet I’m a founding member of the band!”
“We were kids,” Rachel says about writing songs that debuted Slave To The Grind at #1 on Billboard and made the self-titled album a #6 multi-platinum hit. “We wrote from a vastly different perspective. Nick got us back to that train of thought: what approach did we take on those first two records? What were we doing?”
“I wound up feeling the same as when we wrote “18 and Life” and “Youth Gone Wild,” he says. “I felt like, whoa! We’re doing something really cool here!”
Making a new album did feel just like the beginning, when the gang meticulously crafted songs together in a garage in New Jersey. “It’s so much fun doing it like that, in a room banging it out,” Scotti says. “This felt like we were back in that garage again, like the old days. The only difference is now we’ve got air conditioning and we’re not breathing kerosene heater exhaust.”
That old school style makes the album ‘The Gang’s All Here’ immediately familiar. It’s the sound of having a good time. “A lot of the songs are fun,” Rachel says. “They’re songs you can sing and move to, which is what our first two records did. You can fight to these songs. Drink to them. Strip to them. All the bases are covered.”
“A lot of people have taken this ride with us,” Snake says. “But even though we’ve all grown older — and somewhat wiser — the essence of who we all are still exists.”
Buckcherry is unique, complex, simple, passionate, explosive, original and always a good time. Lead Vocalist Josh Todd founded Buckcherry in the mid 90’s after bonding with guitarist Keith Nelson over a mutual appreciation of AC/DC in a California tattoo parlor. After recording music together, they added a bass player, Jonathan Brightman, and a drummer, Devon Glenn, and toured local bars and clubs in Hollywood, under the name Sparrow.
After gaining a local fan base due to their classic rock n roll style, they were quickly snapped up by Dreamsworks Records, and forced to change their name to legal reasons. The band claims they named themselves after a drag queen in Hollywood.
Buckcherry released their self-titled debut studio album in 1999, which was a commercial and critical success, with the album certified Gold. Following on from the album, the band toured extensively, with highlights including an opening slot for Lenny Kravitz and playing at Woodstock festival.
They quickly followed with a sophomore album “Time Bomb” in 2001, however they album was considered by fans and critics as a disappointment, and with various artistic differences and member changes within the group, the band eventually broke up in 2002
After Todd and Nelson flirted with a project with Guns N’ Roses member Slash, and wrote and produced records for other bands such as Velvet Revolver, they decided to reform Buckcherry for a second stint in 2005.
They unleashed their successful comeback album “15” in 2006, which marked the completion of a successful return for the group as it was certified platinum. Since their return, Buckcherry have continued to write fruitful albums, including 2013’s “Confessions”.
Since their comeback, the band have played on massive tours with rock behemoths KISS and Motley Crue, and contributed music to movie soundtracks such as the “Avengers Assemble”
Tickets for Skid Row and Buckcherry will go on sale on Friday, December 9th at 10am. The are available at the Deadwood Mountain Grand Box Office – The Spotlight Store – or at ticketmaster.com.
Beware of third party websites, ticketmaster.com is the only online ticket distributor for Deadwood Mountain Grand. Both hotel reservations and ticket arrangements can be made by calling 877-907-GRAND. For more information, visit www.deadwoodmountaingrand.com or call 605.559.0386.
To open your free Grand Rewards Center membership and enjoy the benefits of purchasing advance tickets ahead of the general public, bring a photo ID to the Grand Rewards Center counter, located in the Deadwood Mountain Grand Resort Casino.
Deadwood Mountain Grand Hotel, a Holiday Inn Resort is the restored 1906 Homestake Mining Co. ore processing plant that overlooks Historic Deadwood, which features a 98-room luxury hotel, full service restaurants, 210 state-of-the-art casino games, high stakes gaming action including Dale’s Sportsbook Bar & Grill, a 3,000 person entertainment and event center and a multi-level parking garage.
