Sebastian Bach Was Part of Several Supergroups, but This One Was a Hard Rock Star-Studded Venture

Sebastian Bach was famously known as the former frontman of the hard rock outfit Skid Row. He was also part of a handful of supergroups back in the day. One of those supergroups might be stuck in the heads of Millennials somewhere. Damnocracy, put together in 2006, was created for a VH1 reality show. That band featured Bach, Jason Bonham (son of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham), Ted Nugent (Amboy Dukes), Scott Ian (Anthrax), and Evan Seinfeld (Biohazard). The group was short-lived, naturally.

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However, Bach was also in another supergroup called The Gak. And that group wasn’t a scheme for a reality show.

The Gak, while mostly forgotten today, was packed with some mega-famous musicians in hard rock and heavy metal music. Outside of Sebastian Bach, the band also featured the talents of James Hetfield (Metallica), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses), Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), and Lars Ulrich (Metallica). 

With so much talent in one group, it might be surprising that so few people have heard of this band. However, there’s a reason for that. The band was only together in the year 1990, specifically to (allegedly) play two charity concerts as a RIP Magazine party. It wasn’t built to last, but it was glorious while it lasted.

The Gak Didn’t Last Long, and Evidence of Their Existence Is Slim Pickings

There really isn’t much information out there about The Gak. Considering how short-lived this supergroup was, that’s not surprising. All we really know is that the group formed and died out in 1990. Some sources alleged that the group was put together specifically by RIP Magazine in Los Angeles for a party, where the group performed. Other sources say that the group only performed together twice for two different charity events in 1990. 

There is some fuzzy video evidence of The Gak performing, but there’s little else. The above video appears to actually be the RIP Magazine party, which took place at The Palladium in Hollywood on November 9, 1990, per Ultimate Classic Rock. 

And, sadly, we can’t really ask the members what actually happened with this supergroup, how many times they performed, what the deal was with the alleged charity events, etc. The members were allegedly all so h*gh at the time that any memories of these decades-old performances are likely lost to time. They even named their band after a slang word for c*caine, after all.

The Gak was as short-lived as it gets. They released no recorded material. And it appears as though the group wasn’t even prepared with material for their set in Hollywood.

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