It was a bad week for Bad Wolves. A couple of months ago, the LA metal band released "Paint It Red" and announced Sara "Killboy" Skinner as their new singer. Skinner replaced D.L. Laskiewicz, who left to play bass in Falling In Reverse (Laskiewicz himself had replaced Tommy Vext, who left Bad Wolves amid a rift with founder/drummer John Boecklin tied to Vext's MAGA support). Skinner's first shows with Bad Wolves were supposed to be on tour with Christian rockers Skillet and alt-metal group Escape The Fate, but Skillet fans apparently got Bad Wolves dropped from the tour because of Skinner's involvement.
In a video shared on Tuesday, Skinner explained, "I have gathered you all here today to inform you that Bad Wolves will no longer be joining Skillet on their upcoming tour. Now, Skillet's camp did not want me to say anything, but apparently a statement has to be made. And I'm not someone who's ever hidden who the fuck I am, so let's not leave you to speculate, okay?"
"Here's the truth," she continued. "Skillet announced us on their tour and their fans had a field day doing very extensive research that their booking agents and management did not do. Upon their findings, I am a trans OnlyFans bitch. Now, unfortunately, only one of those things is true. Have fun finding out and we will see you on the next tour."
But that's not the only drama for Bad Wolves. On Friday, guitarist AJ Rebollo announced that he's leaving the band. In a statement, he wrote that they'd recorded a metal cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" months ago, and the country icon was reportedly going to add her vocals to it, but some members were not happy that their label, Better Noise Music, decided to release it next week. Rebollo says the single is scheduled despite the fact that "more than one member, myself included" opposed its release. "We felt it would (understandably) be interpreted as somewhat of a capitalization on her passing," he wrote:
This will be a long one, so if you don’t want to stay for the whole thing, the main point is - I am making the decision to step away as a member of Bad Wolves. In short, I can no longer in good faith remain a member and co-sign the decisions constantly being made FOR this band by the label, among other issues I have with the inner workings of the business.
When I stepped into the picture, a part of me knew what I was getting into, but the full extent of it was unknown to me. I have been at odds with one too many decisions being made for the band for quite some time, but the final nail in the coffin was the label’s decision to move forward with the upcoming Dolly Parton cover, after we blatantly expressed our opposition. We, as an entity, told the label we had no interest in releasing the cover after learning of Dolly’s unfortunate passing as her collaboration on the song was no longer a possibility, and we felt it would (understandably) be interpreted as somewhat of a capitalization on her passing from an outside perspective. They went ahead and posted that we were releasing it anyway, despite efforts from more than one member, myself included, to oppose it.
With the label completely disregarding numerous decisions we make out of passion, and ultimately just unknowingly exhausting the band’s attempts to fully enjoy being here, I am no longer happy here. The amount of hate, negativity, and harassment we receive on a daily basis due to decisions made outside of our control has taken a massive toll on our sanity.
Coming from Issues made me appreciate the autonomy we had as a band. We were fortunate enough to have worked with a label that cared for us, not only as musicians, but as people. They trusted our vision, never pushed anything on us that we didn’t want to do for ourselves, and ultimately felt like team members, not bosses. That’s been a dynamic that I have strived for within Bad Wolves for quite some time. There are some undeniably incredible people at Better Noise, but I will not stand by as yet another decision is being made for us that we are entirely opposed to, one that we - as the faces of this band - will receive the brunt of the scrutiny and ridicule for. While the donation to her Imagination Library is an incredible choice to do something good with the profits, I can’t help but feel there is ill intent behind the decision to release the song.
I would like to acknowledge and thank the label and John specifically for helping me sustain a living as much as possible while being off the road. There was a level of care there that is definitely not lost on me, but I have never been one to allow my art and decisions within the music world to be compromised, and I have no interest in being a vessel for what I believe to be terrible decisions.
Music is my job, my livelihood, and most importantly, my passion. Stepping away from this is absolutely terrifying as I am sacrificing what little I have left when it comes to stability within the music world. I do not know what the future holds for me regarding that.
This is not, by any means, some sort of call to arms against anyone, nor do I wish ill will on anyone involved in the label’s decision making. I absolutely loved the time I got to spend with the band. I love them all (the old and new members) as bandmates, people, and friends. I loved creating this upcoming album with them as I think it is a genuinely incredible piece of art, but this is a decision I just have to make.
Bad Wolves, incidentally, are best known for "Zombie," the Cranberries cover released three days after Dolores O'Riordan died in 2018. (Like Parton, the Cranberries vocalist was planning to record vocals for Bad Wolves’ cover.) AJ Rebollo was not in the band then — he joined as a touring guitarist in 2023 and became a full-time member the following year.
The "Jolene" cover comes out Monday (Aug. 31). Here's a quote from Boecklin about it:
Our singer is a big fan of Dolly and had posted a bunch of videos of her covering "Jolene." So, we decided to make a Heavy Metal cover version for our next album. On hearing our version, our label CEO Dan Waite sent the finished demo to Dolly's Manager Danny Nozell with a request for Dolly to guest feature on our version. We heard back that Danny had played the track to Dolly, and that Dolly loved our version, and that Dolly was going to go into the studio and add her vocals very soon. We then sent over the stems for Dolly's studio engineers to work with. Like everyone, we were devastated of this week's news of Dolly's passing. We will honor Dolly’s incredible legacy by donating proceeds from "Jolene" to the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
Dolly Parton's manager, Danny Nozell, shared a statement as well: "Dolly was a champion of artists pushing musical boundaries. She listened to the Bad Wolves arrangement of 'Jolene' weeks ago, gave it her full blessing, and was incredibly excited to collaborate on it. Releasing this track on Monday as a tribute — with proceeds directly supporting her beloved Imagination Library — is exactly what Dolly and her team wanted."
UPDATE: On Sept. 1, Rebollo shared a followup statement in a joint Instagram post with the Bad Wolves account. In it, he acknowledges that Boecklin, "the contractually-obligated owner of the band," wanted to release the cover: "This is something that was unknown to me, which inadvertently made my statement regarding the band being a united front in opposing the release, frankly, false." He also points out that Parton’s team was on board with the release. "I dropped the ball on gathering all necessary information," he writes. That full statement is below.
I would like to follow up on my post the other day regarding my leave from Bad Wolves and say, once again, that this was NOT in any way a call to arms against Bad Wolves, or Better Noise. I would like to clarify some discrepancies regarding the flow of information and try to shift the focus to the positives here.
My stated stance and beliefs surrounding the matter were never meant to take away from the GOOD that will undeniably come of this - that being the fact that the proceeds from the cover of “Jolene” will go to Dolly’s Imagination Library. The point was to state my decision to leave, nothing more, nothing less, but I am now aware of the fact that my words have caused something far greater than the original intent.
At the end of the day, the band and label did, in fact, have the blessing of Dolly’s team to move forward with the cover, despite the fact that Dolly could no longer be involved, as previously planned. On top of that, John, who is the head of Bad Wolves pertaining to all things business-related, and the contractually-obligated owner of the band, did give the green light to move forward with the release when the time came. This is something that was unknown to me, which inadvertently made my statement regarding the band being a united front in opposing the release, frankly, false. The communication within this band has always been a hindrance, but I also must acknowledge the fact that I dropped the ball on gathering all necessary information, when I honestly could have done so by just calling Allan Kovac (chairman of Better Noise) directly. I will absolutely take full responsibility for that.
Now, regardless of any disagreements I may have had with the label prior, or me leaving the band, there is no denying the fact that the proceeds from this track will bring about something great for Imagination Library and the kids who will receive books from the foundation. After a lengthy and very productive conversation with Allan Kovac, I see how my statement is unintentionally taking away from a cause that is far greater than any disagreement.
I am not retracting my departure, but I would like to, once again, encourage everybody upset by this to acknowledge the fact that Dolly’s team, wanted this decision to come to fruition. So, at the end of the day, it is no one else’s place to oppose that.
I did not intend for this to spark some sort of outright conflict. In a time where people tend to see things as black and white in regards to politics, social issues, etc., we should not constantly allow ourselves to be blind to the positives that can undoubtedly coexist among the discourse.
UPDATE: Here's the full track.
