In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global Swedish vocalist Erik Grönwall who is promoting his upcoming solo album "Bad Bones" spoke about his decision to leave SKID ROW in March 2024 after a two-year stint as the band's frontman Asked why he decided to go solo at this point in his career Erik said "Well first of all I played with H.E.A.T the Swedish band H.E.A.T for 10 years But then after 10 years I felt like it was time for me to do something else I just wanted to explore what was out there But then I got really sick So I got leukemia — I had leukemia five years ago And at that point when I was at the hospital I realized that the only thing I wanna do is get back on stage and sing for the rest of my life And then the incredible thing happened that SKID ROW reached out to me and asked me to become the singer of the band That's one of the bands I grew up listening to so it was surreal — it was surreal" Reflecting on his exit from SKID ROW more than two years ago Erik said "The reason why I decided to leave that was because I could feel that I still needed more time to really properly recover after all my treatments and I felt like it became too much to be on the road as much as the other members of SKID ROW wanted So my proposal was to do a little less touring but we couldn't find common ground and that's fine That's totally fine And then I started touring with legendary German guitarist Michael Schenker and then I guess some people ask But why can you tour with Michael and not SKID ROW Well because when I told Michael about my situation a year after so I had a lot of time to really recover but when I told Michael about my situation he said Don't worry I'll just get a stand-in singer ready to fill in for you if you feel like you have to sit one out which made me feel really comfortable about trying to tour again So yeah I couldn't say no to that Michael is very good at finding solutions so I went for it And I haven't left Michael I mean the door is always open for Michael to reach out to me and ask me to play more shows with him It's just something I have to do for me and I'm sure you understand Because he's always been doing his own thing So yeah that's the answer" Elaborating on why it was necessary for him to leave SKID ROW Erik said "For me coming from that very strange place having had that illness and everything that that comes with it takes a long time for the body to I have a new immune system I have a new blood type — all these things I have to redo all the vaccinations Being on a world tour while that is going on is hard But the reason why I did it was because I really wanted it to work out I really wanted to still be in SKID ROW But for me my necklace here says Health always comes first And that's just the way it has to be — I mean for everyone But especially when I got that health scare it's obviously more important for me than ever to really take care of myself So that comes first" With two sold-out hometown shows at Cirkus in Stockholm and a growing list of festival appearances across Scandinavia and the rest of Europe Erik continues to build momentum leading up to the release of "Bad Bones" on May 22 "