Gargoyle of the Garden State

The first solo album Rachel Bolan — co-founder, bassist and songwriter of Skid Row — has released under his own name in some forty years. He works here as BOLAN, just the surname, printed in lower case on the sleeve, and earMUSIC, part of Edel Music & Entertainment, put it out on 12 June 2026. Nick Raskulinecz, a multiple Grammy winner whose credits include Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice in Chains, Evanescence and Skid Row themselves, produced it. Bolan sings most of the lead vocals and plays all the bass and much of the guitar; Rob Hammersmith of Skid Row plays drums throughout. The guest list is deep: Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Danko Jones, Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, Damon Johnson of Brother Cane and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Conte of the New York Dolls, and, from Skid Row, Dave “Snake” Sabo and Scotti Hill. The label describes a record rooted in the gritty temperament and storytelling spirit of his New Jersey upbringing — and the Garden State of the title is, of course, New Jersey's own nickname. Of the eleven songs, the ninth, “Rock and Roll Star”, is an Oasis cover, with Scotti Hill again taking part. Three songs came out ahead of it: “At War with Myself” featuring Danko Jones on 25 March 2026, “Anything But You” on 22 April and “Memory” on 20 May, each with a video on the earMUSIC channel. In Bolan's own words, the record is not a project — it is every bit of his soul. Victor Entertainment issues the Japanese edition on 7 October 2026 as VICP-65658. It carries the eleven songs of the international release plus one Japanese bonus track — an early demo version of “At War With Myself” — for twelve in all.