Bad Wolves guitarist AJ Rebollo quit the band on Friday after the planned release of a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” became the final break. He said he could no longer stay with a group making decisions he believed were being driven by Better Noise Music.
“I am making the decision to step away as a member of Bad Wolves,” Rebollo wrote in an Instagram statement. After two years in the band, he said he could no longer in good faith remain and co-sign decisions “constantly being made FOR this band by the label, among other issues I have with the inner workings of the business.”
Friday’s Bad Wolves split
Rebollo tied his exit directly to the song release, saying the cover became “the final nail in the coffin.” He said the band told the label it had no interest in releasing the song after learning of Dolly’s passing, because her collaboration was no longer possible and the release could be read as capitalizing on her death.
He also said the group had been dealing with daily hate, negativity, and harassment because of decisions made outside its control. That kind of pressure can turn a release plan into a personnel issue fast, and here it pushed one of the band’s guitarists out the door rather than letting the argument stay private.
Better Noise Music and Jolene
Better Noise Music planned to release the song on Monday without Parton’s vocals, with proceeds going to her Imagination Library. Rebollo said the label posted that the release would go ahead anyway, despite efforts from more than one member, including him, to oppose it.
Bad Wolves had teased the cover as recently as Friday afternoon, which makes the move look less like a quiet label decision and more like a public split over who controls the band’s output. Rebollo said there was “ill intent” behind the release, even while acknowledging the donation to Imagination Library.
Bad Wolves has faced this kind of posthumous-release problem before. In 2018, Dolores O'Riordan died the day she was meant to record vocals for the band’s cover of “Zombie,” and the song was released without her; it became the group’s breakout hit, topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart for three weeks, and eventually went three-times platinum in the US.
The new argument lands in the same place: a release strategy built around a death, a label still moving ahead, and a band member deciding the business is no longer his to sign off on. Whether the rest of Bad Wolves supports Rebollo’s resignation or answers the label’s plan for Monday is the next thing worth watching.
