BAD WOLVES Is Not A One-Hit Wonder: 'The Proof Is In The Shows,' Says TOMMY VEXT

BAD WOLVES was one of 2018's biggest breakouts, scoring a massive chart-topping hit with a cover of THE CRANBERRIES' "Zombie". CRANBERRIES singer Dolores O'Riordan was slated to appear on the track, but was found drowned in her hotel room bathtub at the age of 46 on the day she was supposed to record her vocals.

"Zombie" surfaced on BAD WOLVES' debut LP, "Disobey", which came out in May 2018 and has also yielded the follow-up single "Hear Me Now", featuring Diamante, which reached No. 2 on the rock chart.

Asked by Australia's Heavy if it's ever been a concern to him that people might see BAD WOLVES as a "one-trick pony" because of the popularity of the "Zombie" cover, singer Tommy Vext said: "I don't really consider that. I'm kind of one of those people, what other people think of me is none of my business. And if there were concerns about that, they've already kind of been squashed. 'Hear Me Now' was the second single. Right before Christmas, we got the call, it went No. 1 in the United States, so that was our second No. 1 hit. 'Remember When''s been out for, like, two weeks, and it's already at No. 21. So I guess we're here to stay. And it's exciting."

He continued: "The proof is in the shows. We tour and we tour, and then you hear the crowd singing the words. [And then you think] 'Oh, okay. We connected.' In the beginning of last year, we'd go out and we'd do some runs in the U.S., and then go on a headlining run. And we'd be playing small clubs [and it was] sold out, but the album had literally come out two weeks prior. People shout out different songs. So, yeah, people are into it and they like the record."

Vext added: "I think it's amazing what we were able to accomplish with 'Zombie' and what we've been able to give back to Dolores's family, and I think that it was kind of a gateway for a lot of people to discover the band and discover our original music.

"I couldn't try to come up with a formula, like, 'This is how it happened,' 'cause it was all happenstance. Everything seemed to just go the way that it went."

BAD WOLVES guitarist Doc Coyle recently told Australia's Loud that the band is working on "diverse" material for its second album, which is currently being recorded for release before the end of the year. Coyle explained: "There's stuff that's probably heavier, as or more heavy than the last record... And then there's some really catchy, kind of more mainstream stuff to cover that end of it, and a lot of stuff in the middle."

Coyle added: "For us, it's so great that we were able on our first album to be diverse out of the gate — have a lot of ups and downs, and have a ballad. Because that way you don't have to kind of warm your audience up to it; they already know what to expect. So we can kind of do whatever we want."

The guitarist told The Pulse Of Radio that he's inspired nowadays by both older and more modern rock acts. "Coming up, it was all a lot of extreme metal and stuff like that," he said. "But then I kind of got into my 20s and I kind of rediscovered, you know, classic rock, and even went back to a lot of stuff that I came up with, which is, was a lot of 90s stuff — getting back into PEARL JAM and rediscovering FAITH NO MORE and even like later, we're a big fan of MUSE. That was a band to me that really kind of pushed the boundaries. You can't predict what they would do and that was really inspiring."

BAD WOLVES was formed in 2017, comprised of former members of DEVILDRIVER, GOD FORBID, DIVINE HERESY and IN THIS MOMENT.

The band donated all proceeds from the sale of its cover of "Zombie" to O'Riordan's family.