Dave “Snake” Sabo feels Skid Row’s success assisted him conceal the psychological health concerns he was handling
Skid Row co-founder and guitar player Dave “Snake” Sabo was just recently talked to by Andrew Daly for Metal Edge Mag. Sabo spoke a fair bit about the psychological health concerns that he has actually been having problem with all his life which he opened about in the docuseries I Wanna Rock: The ’80s Metal Dream.
Photo by Christopher Carroll ROCK Photography
In regards to being extremely open about his psychological health concerns in I Wanna Rock: The ’80s Metal Dream, Sabo mentioned: “As far back as high school, it was clear that I had some psychological health concerns. I had actually seen psychologists and got some hope, however there wasn’t an entire hell of a great deal of responses. And back in the ’80s, there wasn’t a great deal of research study done, and it wasn’t something that wasn’t discussed. It was towered above and was thought about a family trick.
It was constantly like, “Oh, you don’t talk about crazy Uncle Snake,” you understand? I didn’t have those discussions with my family since that generation of World War II-period guys were the types who believed that there was no such thing as PTSD and injury. They didn’t wish to confess that being manic or bipolar affective disorder was genuine or a reason for things.”
With regard to how hard it was browsing through those battles with the spotlight continuously shining on him, Sabo showed: “It was tough. Back then, there wasn’t a clear definition of what any of that was or what the cause of it might be. And if there was, no one wanted to admit it, let alone talk about it. The understanding of why those things occurred to me only came fairly recently. So, back then, it was always a roller coaster when I would have my personal episodes. And because of the way it was looked down upon by society, to be honest, I just faked my way through it all. I always put on a happy face, made jokes and worked hard to take the focus off what might have been wrong with me. I worked hard to hide everything I was going through because I didn’t want people to know. I kept it a secret for as long as I could until my body and mind broke down, and I couldn’t anymore.”
On whether Skid Row‘s rise helped or hindered him to deal with his mental health issues, Sabo opined: “I always had an ego, so accepting that I had these issues was not easy. But all the while, I’d remain in a dark room at 4 o’clock in the early morning, thinking about methods not to get up tomorrow. But thank God I got up the next day, just to go through the exact same procedure. And often, it’s more severe and extreme, and often it passes. But that’s part of what I have actually gone through and still go through.
But it’s far more workable now than it was then. And like you said, success can be an excellent medication. Having success, honors and adulation most likely assisted me conceal what I was going through. But fortunately, I likewise understood that success was not a due; it was a fantastic present. And when that success started to subside, fortunately, it didn’t destroy me. It didn’t make whatever psychological health concerns I had didn’t take a nosedive into an endless pit. I had the ability to deal with that.”
You can check out the remainder of the interview with Dave “Snake” Sabo by means of Metal Edge Mag‘s website.
