When you need to replace one of your band members, you will undoubtedly have a list in hand that you need to check in detail: the voice, the instrumentation, the stage persona, the mannerism… Lately, one of those grounded bands, Skid Row, made a bold decision and decided to continue with Erik Grönwall as the new lead singer. As Dave ‘Snake’ Sabo recently revealed to Blabbermouth, he put the list aside and left it to his instincts when it came to hiring the young vocalist.
“It’s funny: We met him four days before the Scorpions residency started,” he recalled the first time he encountered Grönwall. “We were never in the same room. This whole thing was based on gut instinct and nothing more. We knew we were taking a big chance. We were done with the record musically and had about two or three songs cut vocally when we decided we needed to make a change.”
He continued, “We all looked at each other, ‘What are we doing?’ Instinctually, we knew. It sucked to come to that realization. We all liked ZP [Theart]. We had a lot of fun with him. He’s a good guy, and there was no ill will or anything. In reality, we really were moving in different directions. He was moving in one direction; the rest of the band was moving in another.”
Sabo also revealed that things were going well with their previous vocalist and that they actually didn’t want to part ways. However, the fact that he went in different directions musically necessitated a member change. The guitarist noted, “We hoped those paths would converge through discussion and spending time together. They just didn’t. We realized this record isn’t what we wanted it to be and had to make a change.”
Erik Grönwall announced last March that he was joining Skid Row. Swedish hard rock and heavy metal singer, who has made a name for himself in the music world with different bands since 2009, came to Skid Row to replace ZP Theart. After Erik joined them, the band immediately made the online premiere of ‘The Gang’s All Here’ and released their new album with the same name in October. So far, Grönwall received pretty good feedback with the fresh touch he added to the band’s sound, and thus, it is fair to say that Sabo had solid instincts.
