On October 29, Skid Row announced on their website that Justin Sargent is their new lead singer. A singer and actor who played Drew, the lead in the Broadway rock musical Rock of Ages, and Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, he fills the place Erik Grönwall left in March 2024, two years and seven months earlier. The band's first recording with him is a cover of The Who's 1971 song Won't Get Fooled Again; its music video came out the same day, and the single followed on October 30.

A Broadway lead

According to the band, Sargent first caught their attention in 2025, and months of conversations and rehearsals followed before the decision. After searching around the world, the band says, it found its new voice in its home state, New Jersey, and it presents the announcement as the start of a new era in its 40th anniversary year.

Sargent studied musical theatre at the University of Central Florida, graduating in 2008. On Broadway he was in the original cast of Bonnie & Clyde in 2011, took over Drew, the lead in Rock of Ages, at the Helen Hayes Theatre on March 26, 2012, and in 2013 played the title role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Rachel Bolan, the band's bassist, says it felt as if Sargent had been in the band from the start the moment he walked into the room, and guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo says they all knew he was the one as soon as he came through the door. Sargent himself says he had sung Skid Row songs for years without ever imagining he would join the band.

First up, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again

The band's first recording with Sargent is a cover of Won't Get Fooled Again, the Pete Townshend song that closes The Who's Who's Next, released in August 1971. Nick Raskulinecz, who produced the band's 2022 album The Gang's All Here, produced and recorded it. Guitarist Scotti Hill calls it a song you turn up whenever it comes on the radio and an anthem across generations, and drummer Rob Hammersmith describes it as a statement, a launchpad for the band's new era that stands on The Who's shoulders.

The music video went up on the band's YouTube channel on October 29, directed by Dale "Rage" Resteghini, and the single came out on earMUSIC on October 30; in Japan it streams on Spotify and Apple Music (one track, 6:28). A hand-signed 7-inch single limited to 500 copies went on pre-order on October 29.

Two years and seven months after Erik Grönwall

Skid Row announced on March 27, 2024 that they had parted ways amicably with Erik Grönwall, their singer since 2022. Grönwall, who had joined after treatment for leukaemia, explained that touring the world with an immune system weakened by his bone marrow transplant had proved hard, and that after consulting his doctor he was stepping aside to put his health and recovery first. Halestorm's Lzzy Hale sang the four shows already booked for May and June 2024, and afterwards said she could not take on a permanent role in the band at this point in her life.

The band then stayed off the stage while it searched. On February 5, 2026 it teamed up with the music retailer Sweetwater for a worldwide call for singers, who sent in videos of themselves singing 18 and Life and Monkey Business; Bolan put the submissions at about 300 in April and said in September that a few singers were being taken to a second phase. The band says Sargent first caught its attention in 2025, before that call opened, and the announcement does not say whether he took part in it.

North America in 2027 — no Japan date yet

Sargent's first shows with the band are North American dates from March 5, 2027 at The Show at Agua Caliente in Rancho Mirage, California, to September 25 in French Lick, Indiana, including Welcome To Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida on May 9 and Sonic Temple in Columbus, Ohio on May 14; the band says more dates are coming. Before that come a 2026 remaster of the best-of 40 Seasons: The Best of Skid Row, on November 6 in the US and December 4 elsewhere, and the band's first Record Store Day release on November 27, songs from its set at the Moscow Music Peace Festival on a picture disc.

In Japan, Udo Artists had booked two shows for May 2023, in Osaka and Tokyo; they were postponed when Grönwall's flu-like symptoms persisted and cancelled that August. No Japan date with the new line-up has been announced. Erik Grönwall himself plays his first solo headline shows in Japan, the Bad Bones Japan Tour 2026, at Ebisu The Garden Hall in Tokyo on November 4 and Umeda Club Quattro in Osaka on November 5.

Sources