SKID ROW's DAVE 'SNAKE' SABO Explains The Band's Split With Singer ERIK GRÖNWALL

In a new interview with Rockin' 101's "The Johnny Rock Show", SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo discussed the circumstances that led to the band's split with Swedish singer Erik Grönwall earlier this year. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Erik did 'The Gang's All Here' record, and then Erik was able to spend almost three years in the band. But whether you know or not, Erik's a cancer survivor, and he had a bone marrow transplant in order to put him in remission. And he immediately, once he was in remission and started getting some energy back, he immediately wanted to get back out and start singing again. And so we called him up and said, 'Hey, man, we just recorded a record and we'd love for you to sing on it.' And we sent him the music, and he did. Then all of a sudden we started touring. We could see early on that his health was still not there yet, and he knew it too. And so we did the best that we could with his situation, and he gave us all that he could, but it got to a point where it just was too much for his body at that particular point. And the way we tour, it's tough, it's a grind, and we attempted to compromise and come up with a situation where it would benefit his health. But after speaking with his doctors and him and his family and stuff, it turned out to be that we just wouldn't be able to work it out from a health perspective for him and from a sort of an economic standpoint for the band. We didn't wanna go and go in and have to go postpone more shows and things like that and then have to make them up later on down the road. It wasn't good for him and it wasn't good for the band and stuff. But we're thankful for the time that we got to spend with them. He's a great singer. And we were able to do two records that we're really, really proud of — 'The Gang's All Here', which we're extremely proud of, we all are. And then the live record."

Sabo also talked about "Live In London", SKID ROW's first official live album and concert film. earMUSIC released the concert — which took place on October 24, 2022, at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town — as a 2LP set and CD/DVD digipack worldwide on September 20.

"We had been toying with the idea forever of doing a live record, but it never felt right," Snake explained. "And then this situation, with going to London to play at the Forum, which is one of our favorite venues, and the way the band was hitting on all cylinders at that particular time and it just felt like, 'Yeah, let's capture this, 'cause we never know when we'll have an opportunity to do this again.' And it turns out that I'm so thankful that we did, because of Erik's health situation and where we are now. But it's a great representation of our time with him and the band and also a celebration of the music that we've created over the past 35 years."

Grönwall, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021, said in a video message that "the main reason" he decided to leave SKID ROW was "because it's been very hard and it's proved very challenging to prioritize my health and full recovery being the lead singer of the band. And it's not like I woke up yesterday and decided to go, 'Ooh. That's a horrible idea. What time?' This is something I've been considering for a long time. The first time I brought it up and requested a better balance in the touring was in 2022."

He added: "There's a lot of people that are relying on making a living from SKID ROW. And being on the road is mainly where the money is nowadays. So, I totally understand that people have to keep touring… But when I got sick on the road, we had to cancel, reschedule shows, and, honestly, it's not a fun position to be in. So, wait? All of this is happening because of me? It's not good for the band, it's not good for the crew, it's not good for the fans, it's not good for the promoters, it's not good for the SKID ROW team. All of that also made it less fun for me. I didn't really enjoy myself out there.

"I love singing," Erik concluded. "I love being an artist. I love touring, but I wasn't happy. I understand and respect that SKID ROW is a touring band, but like I told the guys, if I can't prioritize my health, then I'm not the right guy for the job."

SKID ROW's longtime friend Lzzy Hale (HALESTORM) handled lead vocals for the band's four concerts in late May and early June.

Grönwall, who was a member of the Swedish hard rock band H.E.A.T. for nearly a decade before exiting the group in October 2020, announced in September 2021 that he was cancer free after receiving a bone marrow transplant one month earlier.

Grönwall sang on four H.E.A.T. studio albums — "Address The Nation" (2012),"Tearing Down The Walls" (2014),"Into The Great Unknown" (2017) and "H.E.A.T II" (2020).

In September 2021, just four months before he joined SKID ROW, Grönwall released his new cover version of "18 And Life" via all streaming platforms.

In 2018, Grönwall debuted in the U.S. for 10 million viewers in NBC's live broadcast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's musical "Jesus Christ Superstar". Along with John Legend, Alice Cooper, Sara Bareilles and others, Erik played the key role of Simon Zealotes.

In late March 2022, SKID ROW released its first single with Grönwall, "The Gang's All Here". The song was the title track of the band's latest album, which arrived in October 2022 via earMUSIC.

SKID ROW played its first show with Grönwall on March 26, 2022 at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as the support act on the rescheduled dates for SCORPIONS' "Sin City Nights" residency.