SKID ROW's RACHEL BOLAN Still Takes COVID Precautions: 'I Wear A Mask On Airplanes Now'

In a new interview with J.J. Caithcart of Different Stages Radio, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan reflected on how he and his bandmates got through the early months of the pandemic, particularly as they were no longer able to perform in front of their fans. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That was crazy. Just seeing what was kind of coming down on everyone, especially if make your living traveling in whatever capacity, whether you're a musician or you're just a business guy that has to get on a plane every single day. It was a huge impact on us, as it was for everyone else.

"When we got into 2020, all of a sudden it was just like, boom. And we were terrified — we were terrified about getting sick, because no one had any idea of what was gonna happen with COVID," he continued. "And we don't have to even go through it — we saw what happened and all the people that passed and all that. So it was, like, okay, everything is shut down. It's okay. The supermarket, we could get food, but we can't go on the road. We can't play in front of people and we can't get in crowded places. And after doing it for as long as we — I mean, I've been doing it, professionally doing it since I was 22 years old, touring the world, and all of a sudden now we can't. It can't be done. But you just had to sit there and go, 'Okay, well, it's for good reason, obviously.' We're out of the woods, I think, but I think we're just on the edge of the woods, because I mean, we just got it, we just got sick."

Bolan added: "Granted, I'm not a scientist — I don't claim to be — but I know I had COVID twice and both times it felt different, so there's some kind of mutation going on now. I'm just glad we're able to go back out and we're able to play and we've just gotta be smart about it.

"I don't care what people say — I wear a mask on airplanes now," Rachel said. "I also haven't got the flu in a really long time from that. But it is what it is. Everyone does their own thing. I just wish we could all get on the same page and just kind of carry on with life."

This past January, Rachel discussed SKID ROW's decision to postpone a handful of shows on its December 2023 tour with BUCKCHERRY after several members of the band and crew contracted the flu and COVID-19. Asked how everyone is doing right now, Rachel told Neil Jones of TotalRock: "Everyone's getting there. I was one of the first ones to get sick, and it was just one of those things. It was a short run. It was the third leg of the SKID ROW-BUCKCHERRY tour. And it's just one of those things. You're on a tour bus and one guy gets sick and it just runs like wildfire. I woke up and — you know when you wake up and you're, like, 'I'm sick. I have something.' And I tried to tough it out and first thought it was a flu, then ended up with COVID and then a couple other guys got the flu. And when it started spreading like really fast to our crew and stuff, we're, like, 'Well, we need to reschedule shows.' So this band just needs a break. We got a hard restart for 2024."

Bolan also addressed some of the other health issues which forced SKID ROW to either cancel or postpone shows in recent months, including SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo's December 2022 neck surgery. He said: "Yeah, he had two discs replaced. And he's doing fine with that, but then he got sick on the road now."

Speaking specifically about SKID ROW singer Erik Grönwall, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021 and was declared cancer free six months later after receiving a bone marrow transplant, Rachel said: "He's good. He got a touch of the flu [this time around], I believe. I don't know whether he got COVID or the flu — I don't remember. But with him, we have to take extra precautions because he's immunocompromised. So, what could be the sniffles for you and I could turn out to be a really bad situation for him. So we have to take that into consideration. So we're, like, 'You know what? These shows, it sucks to have to reschedule, 'cause a lot of people made plans around it, but health has to come first.'"

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.

In late March 2022, SKID ROW released its first single with Grönwall, "The Gang's All Here". The song is 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.