Dave “Snake” Sabo: “It Doesn’t Necessarily Have to Be a Male Singer in Skid Row”
Back in March, Skid Row vocalist and Swedish Idol winner Erik Grönwall stepped down from his place in the band to focus on his ongoing recovery from leukemia. The band, rightfully, parted ways with Grönwall amicably, as the correct party to blame in all of this is cancer. Can I get a “Fuck Cancer” from the back row?
Following the departure of Grönwall, Halestorm vocalist Lzzy Hale was generous enough to step into the position of lead vocalist for a handful of upcoming dates that the band had scheduled already. Hale was later made an official touring member and said in April that she would be sticking around for a while. It looks like the band may be slowly moving towards making that arrangement more permanent.
In a recent interview with The Hook Rocks podcast, founding guitarist Dave “The Snake” Sabo said that they hadn’t officially targeted anyone for the position of lead singer yet, but that they were not tying themselves to a male singer necessarily, especially after how impressed they’ve been with Lzzy Hale. Here’s what he had to say, as transcribed by Blabbermouth:
“We haven’t targeted anybody. If we wanna continue as SKID ROW, we’re gonna have to get another singer. But we haven’t targeted anybody. There’s a lot of great singers out there. But Lzzy [Hale of HALESTORM who recently played two shows with SKID ROW as a stand-in singer] just raised the bar, man. And Erik is a great singer. He raised the bar as well. And then Lzzy just came in here and just really raised the bar and showed us another side of what this band could be. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a male singer in SKID ROW. The options are wide open. And like I said, there’s so much talent out there, but we just wanna make sure that we make the right choice and that we can bring the band to another level. That’s the hope.”
I know he says that he hasn’t targeted anyone, but it seems to be obvious who he’s leaning towards. Skid Row and Lzzy Hale seem almost like they’re in a really shy romance where neither one wants to call it a “thing” yet for fear of scaring off the other, but it’s pretty clearly a thing at this point.
As for the potential for a Sebastian Bach reunion, Sabo seemed almost annoyed by the question.
“Well, the answer has been the same for — I don’t know — 20,000 years now. It’s not gonna happen. And I say the same thing every time.”
For now, Lzzy Hale has two more dates with Skid Row that are scheduled, but it certainly seems like they won’t be her last. You can catch her at the dates below.
5/31 – Nugget Casino Resort – Sparks, NV [Tickets]
6/1 – Hard Rock Live Sacramento – Wheatland, CA [Tickets]
