In a new interview with Finland’s Chaoszine, former SKID ROW singer Erik Grönwall has opened up about his decision to exit the band less than a year ago.The 37-year-old Swedish-born musician, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2021, announced his departure from SKID ROW in March 2024, saying that it had become increasingly “difficult to prioritize” his health and full recovery as the lead singer of the group.Addressing the circumstances that led to his exit from SKID ROW, Erik told Chaoszine (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Leaving the band was one of the toughest career decisions I ever had to make. I loved being in that band. It didn’t hurt waking up being the lead singer of SKID ROW. But I would still be in the band if that was an option.”I left to respect the person who went through the leukemia — I mean, the person at the hospital,” he explained. “I promised myself that I would always put my health first. And when I felt like I couldn’t do that being in the band, I just had to make that decision.”I loved my time in the band. I had so much fun with the guys. We clicked right away, and I will always look back at that time with a smile, for sure. And I would have loved to stay in the band. But given the circumstances, we just couldn’t find common ground in terms of how much we should tour.”Grönwall went on to clarify that he was always open to continuing with SKID ROW if an agreement had been reached regarding how much time to spend on the road.”I’m not sure if it’s been said in any interview, but, for me, it was never about not touring at all,” he said. “I just wanted to have more time in between to recover. So, my suggestion was three weeks on the road, including traveling, and then one month off, three weeks on the road, including traveling, one month off, just to have that time in between. But they didn’t find that feasible, and that’s totally fine. I mean, SKID ROW has been doing this since before I was born. [Laughs] They have a recipe. I totally respect that they didn’t find out feasible at all. But it was what I needed, and here we are.”According to Erik, leaving SKID ROW has given him “a lot of freedom” to pursue other projects.”I won’t stop being an artist,” he said. “I can pretty much do whatever I want. And I like that. I’m not signed to any label right now. I don’t wanna be. I like that kind of independence, freedom. Maybe there will come a time when it makes sense to sign with someone, but right now I’m doing everything from [my home]. It’s nice to wake up, just go downstairs, put on some coffee, get in here and sing, and then go to the next room here and record the video and put it on YouTube. It’s kind of convenient.”As for how he plans to release his new music, Erik said:  ”I’m actually writing a lot of music now, because I wanna release something on my own. To be honest, I haven’t decided if I’m gonna do it solo or in a band. But I think I wanna start a band and just release new music. I still feel like I haven’t done my own thing 100 percent. I will always join bands who already had an established sound. So I’m working a lot on that, actually — writing new music and focusing on the future.”Erik went from auditioning for the competition show “Swedish Idol” back in 2009 by singing a cover of SKID ROW’s “18 And Life” to fronting the band 13 years later.SKID ROW’s longtime friend Lzzy Hale (HALESTORM) handled lead vocals for the band’s four concerts in late May 2024 and early June 2024, two months after Erik’s exit from the group.At the time of Grönwall’s departure, SKID ROW members said in a statement that they were “proud” of what they had “created and accomplished with Erik” over the previous two years” and wished “nothing but the best to him and his health.”In a November 2024 interview with Chris Akin Presents, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo addressed Erik’s exit from the group. When host Chris Akin noted that Grönwall’s explanation for exiting SKID ROW sounded a little “fishy” to him and other SKID ROW fans in light of the fact that Erik had immediately announced that he was releasing his autobiography and was planning to go on tour with Michael Schenker in 2025, Rachel said: “Well, I’ll put it this way: we understand exactly what you’re saying. And I’d be a liar if I said sometimes I don’t feel the same way. We were told exactly what he announced to the rest of the world via his YouTube channel. That’s exactly what we were told. That’s exactly what he sent in a text to Snake. I’m not gonna sit here and shit talk the guy because it’s not gonna do anything. But we had a really, really, really good thing going, and we’re here now.”Bolan continued: “You’re not the first person to say this to any of us. We’ve all been DMed and a lot of fans thought think the same thing, and, like I said, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I thought the same thing at times, but we’re just going by what he told to us.”Snake chimed in: “Obviously, we had to postpone and cancel some shows. There was definitely some health issues with him while we were out there. But what Rachel is saying is 100 percent true. This is what we were told, and we made attempts to figure it out, how we could do this where we could cut way back on the touring, but it just wasn’t economically feasible for anybody — it just couldn’t be done. And, yeah, we had a really, really good situation, but he was the one who left.”Bolan and Sabo also touched upon the fact that Grönwall released a demo version of a song called “Can’t Kill What’s Dead” which Erik said he co-wrote with his producer Jona Tee for possible inclusion on a new SKID ROW album while he was still in the band.”Yeah, I heard the song for the first time in [Erik’s October 2024] post,” Rachel said. “So I’m not even sure what he was talking about.”After Akin clarified that Erik said “Can’t Kill What’s Dead” was one of three songs Grönwall co-wrote with Tee for potential inclusion on a new SKID ROW album, Rachel said: “That’s creative wording. That’s for sure.”Added Snake: “That’s news to us. I mean, I guess we would have to play on it for it to be on a SKID ROW record.”Rachel continued: “Yeah, I saw the post and I was, like, ‘Huh. Okay.’ I was as confused as everyone else. I’m, like, ‘Okay.'”The English version of Grönwall’s autobiography, “Power – Music, Death, Life”, was made available on December 6 via HarperCollins.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 joining 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 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.Grönwall lives in Knivsta, a city in Uppsala County in east central Sweden, with his wife and their son.[embedded content]