Sebastian Bach's Voice: DEAD

His voice has been getting worse and worse over the years. Real nasally, you know. But what the hell is this shit? God, he sounds HORRIBLE!

Ouch.......

Probably same thing that's happened to Mark Slaughter. The guy could wail,now he sounds like crap.

Getting old is a bitch. The years are catching up to a lot to the singers of the era.

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His voice has been getting worse and worse over the years. Real nasally, you know. But what the hell is this shit? God, he sounds HORRIBLE!

Ya, it's shit if I've ever heard it before, that's it.  Too bad, his vocals are amazing on SR's self titled.  

I saw him perform Live, on one of those singing shows on TV.  Bach and the contestant, alternated singing, Contestant was a tad bit better.   I think they did YGW and 18 and life.  That was at least 5 years ago, and I couldn't watch it.  It sounded sooo bad.

Doen't sound too bad when he is actually singing and keeping control of his voice. It's when he starts screaming and tries to sound more aggresive that it sounds terrible.

He's still one of my favorite vocalists of all time. Saw him multiple times with Skid Row back in the day and a few years ago solo and he just sounded fantastic in the live setting.

Downtune!  

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

Downtune!  

Or Autotune! Haha

Is this because these guys were throat singing and not diaphragm singing.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Is this because these guys were throat singing and not diaphragm singing.

Very possible. Untrained singer + vocal style that constantly strains your voice = What Sebastian Bach sounds like in that video.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Is this because these guys were throat singing and not diaphragm singing.

That and a myriad of things. While it's true that Bach was a choirboy for some years and probably received some basic training as I did in choir, he's elected to employ throat dynamics for all the growling and screeching that we love. Since he could always hold a note for a radical amount of time there's no doubt he was using his diaphragm for the most part; it's just when he brought in his signature flourishes, which was a lot. [source: trained vocalist, wife is even better trained vocalist]

So those things have worn down his voice, but there's other factors: age, possibility of not warming up properly, substance abuse, drinking like a fish, and people forget that there is an overwhelming amount of larnyx usage that most professional singer try to avoid--interviews, mingling, shouting above crowds in noisy environments, shouting to the crowd from onstage, etc. So after twenty plus years of all this going on, it's no surprise he sounds like he does in the above video.

Of course, there are plenty of vocalists out there that don't sound any different than they did over twenty years ago...Bobby Ellsworth (untrained) and Rob Halford (trained?) comes to mind. I think he employs white magic, though.

Baz used to be my vocal god once upon a time; I used to tell people the man could scream underwater for ten minutes and the nearest continent could hear him. But his voice has been bugging me bad for a long time now. It sounds weak and annoying. But that's how it goes, I suppose.

This thread is a sequel to "Sebastian Bach's Career:  Dead", which has been ongoing since the mid 90s.  

He had an amazing voice at one time...but spent too much time screaming instead of singing and trying to be "rock and roll" and wore himself out.

He's also known to smoke copious amounts of weed. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

He's also known to smoke copious amounts of weed. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

There's not, but the moist folds of our vocal nodes are not meant for the hot, dry, and sustained smoke of cannabis, so good point.

I know a lot of singers that smoke weed and I know that a lot of real bigger names also smoked and I don't think it has anything to do with it.

Listening to this, he sounds like he's real worn out. Is he touring at the moment?

His voice has been raspy like that for a while now...

Lurideath wrote:

I know a lot of singers that smoke weed and I know that a lot of real bigger names also smoked and I don't think it has anything to do with it.

Some will be different than others, just like some people who smoke all their lives have picture perfect lungs and others have lungs that look like the Toxic Avenger. It's a matter of various genetic factors including cell density, white cell count, tissue regeneration etc. But the smoke in cannabis is four times hotter than that of tobacco cigarettes, and both dry the larynx out, stretching the tissue, causing micro-tears (remember these folds vibrate at an intense frequency; lots of activity going on in there) and eventually scar tissue forms, and vocal nodules appear from the increased irritation. Vocal folds are meant to be lubricated constantly, not dry, because friction is their worst enemy. Chords will not close well when nodules appear.

All in all, though, weed certainly isn't the only culprit at play here (and I hope no one is reading this as a PSA, 'cause I'm all for legalization). There are a myriad of factors--including road wear like you're talking about--that have contributed to his downfall, as I've described above. IMO he really forced his voice as it was so OTT and wrenching that with everything else it just whittled away. Sad, but also common.

S.D. wrote:

This thread is a sequel to "Sebastian Bach's Career:  Dead", which has been ongoing since the mid 90s.  

Yeah, his career is "dead". He puts out albums, tours the world, plays in front of thousands of people, hosts TV specials....I wish my music career was "dead".

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

S.D. wrote:

This thread is a sequel to "Sebastian Bach's Career:  Dead", which has been ongoing since the mid 90s.  

Yeah, his career is "dead". He puts out albums, tours the world, plays in front of thousands of people, hosts TV specials....I wish my music career was "dead".

Some people will always compare anything he does to Skid Row's glory days.

He's also very much a plausible representative of rock and metal. He still has that identity and is a likable guy. And he gave props to Neil Young on That Metal Show. I think he's cool.

Troublezone wrote:

His voice has been raspy like that for a while now...

Raspy? That's not the problem. Sounding like a drowning Muppet is.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

S.D. wrote:

This thread is a sequel to "Sebastian Bach's Career:  Dead", which has been ongoing since the mid 90s.  

Yeah, his career is "dead". He puts out albums, tours the world, plays in front of thousands of people, hosts TV specials....I wish my music career was "dead".

Me too.  

Yeah, raspy is what we miss. That and being able to sing one line in a single breath. In pitch.

I'd still rather hear what's on that video that Axl Rose on his best day.