Last week, Bob and Craig Wettner had the chance to meet with all of the members of Sebastian Bach's band. They were class acts and granted Blogs N' Roses 20 minute interviews each. We caught up with Drummer Bobby Jarzombek, who has played with acts such as Bach, Halford, Iced Earth, Riot, Juggernaut, Demons & Wizards and more.

You can also listen to the interview in its entirety at the bottom of this post.

BnR: So you've worked with a lot of artists from Iced Earth to Halford to now Sebastian Bach.  How's it working with Bach?

Bobby: Ah, it's cool.  I've been playing with Sebastian for a little over three years now.  It's a lot of fun.  he's definitely a character.  he's a great frontman.  It's very cool to play with someone who has that much charisma on stage and knows what he wants to do.

BnR: How is it collaborating with him in the studio.  I'm sure there's some butting of heads?

Bobby: No, actually when we did the Angel Down CD it was really cool.  Roy Z. (producer) laid everything down and we kind of did everything as a band.  We had two weeks.  Usually I go in and cut songs songs with a click track, even with Halford.  We cut the CD as a band live with Sebastian in there so we got to get a good vibe of the song and what the song should sound like as far as tempos, the tonality of guitars, the parts all the way around so it was a pretty cool process.  Sebastian would do his vocals and fix them later.  There was a little push and pull as far as how it was done.  Its great with everybody in the studio.

BnR: How has the crowd accepted the Angel Down record?

Bobby: I think they've been great with it and I think that's mainly due to the fact that Sebastian has shoved this down people's throat...and that's a great thing because when we did the Guns N' Roses tour we could have easily done a Skid Row greatest hits but he's not about that.  It's always been about the new songs.  I think doing that and coming along and playing some of the same venues, people have seen the songs for maybe two years on Youtube and stuff and they are familiar.  I think the response has been really good.

BnR: I wanted to ask about Back in The Saddle.  Sebastian said you recorded it in one shot.  Was it in one shot or was he just blowing smoke?

Bobby: I think that when we started working in pre production, Z sort of believes in recurring rhythms, and once we came up with a basic rhythm, it fell together pretty quick.  I don't know how many takes that was.  I remember one thing we did that was interesting when we checked out the Aerosmith version, we noticed they didn't record that with a click track.  We checked out the song and at the end it gradually speeds up.  The song started at 1/19 and ends up at 1/25-1/26 and what we did is took a click track to get that same vibe/feel.

BnR: Sounds awesome.  Have you enjoyed playing the songs live from the Angel Down record?

Bobby: Yeah, I definitely do.  I mean I like playing all the songs for different reasons.  You know the crowd is gonna get up for the classics, but I think that playing the new songs is cool.  I take a few liberties with the Skid Row songs.  You gotta stay a little bit...somewhere in that same sort of...you can't just play double bass.  Anytime you play a song that you created you feel more comfortable with it.

BnR: So you don't get tired of playing the same song over and over.

Bobby: No I don't.  For me its not like its an adventure.  I'm not a drummer like Keith Moon or one of these guys that has to create some artistic, something new.  Its all about playing the parts correctly.  Theres a couple of liberties that I take here and there.  You want to put on a good performance.

BnR: You're currently listed as the drummer for Sebastian Bach, Pain Museum and Demons & Wizards.  How do you balance?

Bobby: Demons and Wizards was just a one-off project.  We never did live shows.  It was just a side project with John Schaffer from Iced Earth.  I did the record with the intent that maybe we would do some live shows but what happened is John had some back problems and a baby.  When he called me back I was with Sebastian and he sort of gave me an ultimatum.  I said I can't drop what I've been doing for the last year.  I was just like, "what can I tell you?"  Besides the fact that he told me that in the middle of the Guns N' Roses tour.  I love working with John, its a great thing.  I'm doing some stuff with the band I started out with years ago, Riot.

BnR: Why did you choose the drums over the guitar, bass, or even the piccolo?

Bobby: Yeah, I never thought about the piccolo.  It's a long story but basically me and my brothers were interested in music when we were kids.  My mother bought us toy drums and toy keyboards for Christmas when I was ten.  My mom approached me and asked if I wanted to take drum lessons.  I said, alright, I'll give it a shot.  I didn't care for the lessons, but I did like playing drums.  My brother started playing guitar.  We formed a band.  I could have gone either way.

BnR: How did you become the drummer of Halford?  How is he to work with?

Bobby: Oh, Rob's awesome.  I had no idea what that was gonna be like.  I was with Riot for ten years.  I'd toured the world.  It was definitely on a whole different level with Rob.  I was recommended by a few people.  He had wanted me to work with him on a few projects.   A good friend of mine, a writer of Rock Hard Magazine was also instrumental in bringing me aboard.  He was a consultant to Rob's management.  I just basically...there was a limited audition.  I got a date to work with the band.  Rob came in the next day and walked in and was checking it out.  I didn't know he was outside the room listening for 15 minutes.  He walks in.  That put a little less pressure cause I know he was listening for a little while.  We played about 4 or 5 songs and Rob just kind of walked around the room and saw me playing.  I was still learning the song.  He was digging it, walked around, pumped his fists.  I guess he's digging it.  We played a few songs.  He said, let's go to dinner.  We went to dinner at some Mexican restautrant in North Hollywood or Burbank and I sat across from him.  We were just talking about basic, you know whatever.  He was great the whole time, working with him.  He's very easy to work with, very laid back.

BnR: Our final question, any embarrassing tour stories?

Bobby: No, not really embarrassing tour stories.  Just about a week ago we were at the Bret Michaels after party.  There's a band playing, we get up and play a few songs, Sebastian sings with a local band.  We're all having a good time.  We're drinking.  We have this private VIP area.  I'm sitting at one of the bar stools.  Johnny Chromatic (guitar player) decides that this is a good time to give me a jello shot.  There's these huge green jello shots in these syringes.  He sits across from me and is about to shoot this thing at me.  I'm like, "NO!".  I don't really recall exactly how it went.  Next thing I know, the table collapses.  I'm up on a bar stool, I fall down.  Boom!  I hit my head.  (shows Craig and Bob something, which apparently warranted an "oooh"). 

BnR: Does it affect your drumming?

Bobby: A little.  It didn't hurt the first couple of days, but it hurts a little more now.  My wife thinks I chipped a bone.  I have to stretch a little more.

BnR: I'm glad you didn't have to sit out of the tour, cause they would have had to explain that you were attacked by Jello shots.  Well thanks for talking with us.

Bobby: Sure.

The interview can be listened to in its entirety below.  Many thanks to Bobby and the rest of the band!

Played: 99 | Download | Duration: 00:17:19