Ex-Skid Row Drummer Phil Varone Recalls Joining Vince Neil’s Band On His Solo Tour

During a recent appearance on Rock Interview Series, ex-Skid Row drummer Phil Varone remembered joining Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil for a tour and stated that it was a very special moment for him.

Phil Varone stepped into his professional music career when he formed Saigon Kick with some of his friends. The group broke up and reunited several times. When they decided to disband in 1996, Varone continued producing for other artists for a while, and then, he joined Skid Row in 2000. He contributed to the band’s 2003 album, ‘Thickskin’, and also had a chance to tour the world with various other bands. 

While he was still a member of Skid Row, Phil Varone played drums for Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil on his solo tour. Besides his career with Mötley Crüe, Neil also pursued a solo career and has released three solo studio albums so far. While he was touring in 2003, he invited also Phil Varone to play drums during his shows.

Varone remembered this special incident for him and said that he was super excited to play with Neil. The drummer recalled opening the show with the Mötley Crüe classic, ‘ Shout At The Devil.’ Then, he went back to the time he first saw Mötley Crüe live during their opening for Ozzy Osbourne. He then had the chance to play with the band he was a fan of so it was a very intense moment for him. He tried to enjoy every moment of it as much as he could.

Here is how Phil Varone recalled playing with Vince Neil:

“When I got to know Vince, I was still in Skid Row and I was off. He goes like ‘Hey man, throw the band together for me, let’s do this tour.’ I said cool, I put the band together and the first night, we opened up with ‘Shout At The Devil.’ I remembered the first time I saw Mötley Crüe live, they were opening for Ozzy with Jack Lee.

It is a full circle that comes around so I just remember being so excited that I was in the same building as Mötley Crüe. And then the doors opened, I lost my sh*t. I was like ‘This is great’ as every fan should. When I put my foot upon the riser, the beginning started with ‘Shout At The Devil.’

I stopped one second and ‘Oh, my God, I’m about to play this, wait a minute. This is weird.’ It was like this again this moment that I just had with myself that was pretty intense. It was like ‘Wow, this just came around full circle.’ You don’t even think about it but it was pretty heavy because Mötley changed my life. That was a pretty special moment for me to do that and it was fun. I knew those songs because that’s all I played to so it was pretty cool. It was a lot of fun.”

You can watch the entire conversation below.