Leatherwolf warn that fans will run out of bands to follow if the number one criteria is original members

Leatherwolf warn that fans will run out of bands to follow if the number one criteria is original members

One day ago (on July 27, 2023), Sleaze Roxx posted an article about Leatherwolf‘s video for their remake of their 1989 track “Thunder (MMXXII)”. Leatherwolf‘s current line-up consists of lead vocalist Keith Adamiak, guitarists Rob Math and Luke Man, guitarist and keyboardist Wayne Findlay, drummer Dean Roberts, bassists Brice Snyder (live) and Barry Sparks (studio). Only Roberts remains from the original Leatherwolf line-up that started in 1981 and also included frontman Michael Olivieri, guitarists Geoff Gayer and Carey Howe, and bassist Matt Hurich. Olivieri, Gayer and Howe recently moved on together to form the band Hail Mary which released its debut album Disturbing The Peace via Eönian Records on July 8, 2022.

In the Facebook comments section for the Sleaze Roxx article, one person named Don noted “Who the heck is in Leatherwolf? The triple axe attack (and singer) are all in HailMary“. After someone replied that Roberts is still in Leatherwolf and the new line-up sounds great, the individual named Don exclaimed in part: “…. that’s cool, but they should really drop the Leatherwolf name……. It’s not Leatherwolf.”

This prompted a number of Facebook comments from Leatherwolf in response including:

“Yeah, Don, we should really drop our name. Just like Riot (0 original members), Metal Church (1 original member), Savatage (0 original members, 1 if Jon is singing), Vicious Rumors (1 original member, about 50 line-up changes)… And the list goes on and on. You may not like it but we ARE Leatherwolf. And we will remain Leatherwolf.”

“… Exactly. Life means change. Bands are like families in a way – sometimes people get divorced and move on. FWIW, there are VERY good reasons why certain people are no longer on this band but we will spare the public the details. We have a strong line-up that does the Leatherwolf legacy justice. If that’s not good enough for the Don‘s of this world – move on.”

“That’s your choice, Don. But, you’re gonna run out of bands to see pretty soon if your #1 criteria is original members and not the quality of the live performance. Because original members are gonna continue to drop off at an increasingly faster rate for one reason or another in the years to come.”