Archive | That’s Unfortunate
As cool as the Death To All Tour, featuring former members of Death and special guests paying tribute to the late Chuck Schuldiner, appeared to be this past summer, there were many problems that popped up along the way. First there was the matter of two dates getting postponed (and scrapped altogether). Then there’s the issue of VIP Merch orders, which many fans claim they’ve yet to receive. All of this has caused lots of tension between tour sponsor Sick Drummer Magazine and Eric Greif (former manager of Death and current president of Perseverance Holdings Ltd./ lawyer of Chuck’s intellectual property). And via two statements that came out yesterday, it’s safe to say that these problems are far from being resolved.
Last night, Sick Drummer addressed the matter via the following statement:
“We have seen everything online regarding the Death To All Tour and the negative light being shined upon us. There are always two sides to every story and we assure you that we did nothing more than tried to the best of our abilities to put on a great tour for all involved. The tour was (from what we understand) one of the best shows the majority of those who attended have ever seen, but unfortunately the tour just did not make as much money as originally projected.
As for the talk of VIP merch orders not being filled or money from merch orders being held, we never held that money at all, as it was collected by a third party and all the post-tour orders have shipped. We personally made replies on the DTA facebook regarding the post-tour merch orders and when they all shipped, but are no longer able to post on that page as we have been removed, even though we created it. Regarding the CD/LP for the VIP package holders, if our recordings are never able to be released, we have another exclusive item to make it up to all of you. The Atlanta and Dallas dates that were postponed were changed to cancelled so that general admission/VIP ticket holders could get their refunds if they wanted them, rather than wait for new dates. We always had the intent of making up those shows. If you have not received a VIP package refund for those dates, please send us a message and we will take care of you in short order.
We can assure you that everyone on the tour has received full or partial payment and we have entered into individual agreements to resolve all payments remaining. As far as Sweet Relief is concerned, they will receive the full amount that was originally pledged, based on the agreement we have in place with them. We are the only ones to walk away from this tour making nothing and that’s fine with us. We lost money on the tour and to imply otherwise is simply false. We have spent the last 4 years promoting music for next to nothing and know our true fans understand our dedication, loyalty and sacrifice. Seeing recent posts on Facebook pages and other websites that have garnered physical threats of violence against us is both shocking and sad. Were there mistakes made? Yes, there are mistakes made on most tours. Do tours fail on a regular basis? Yes. Was this a huge tour to put together? Yes. Do we deserve to have violent threats made against us? Absolutely not.
In the end we are still happy and honored to have been the ones to conceive, create and bring this tour to all the fans that were able to see it. We stand by all of our commitments/responsibilities and have never ventured from that ground.”
It didn’t take long for Greif to respond and throw more gasoline onto the fire. Though a full statement is expected shortly, the Death manager posted the following message along with Sick Drummer’s statement on Facebook last night:
“OK – I guess I shall now do a press release of my own on what actually happened with Sick Drummer Magazine and the DEATH TO ALL Tour (tomorrow). Stuff like the fact they never gave the charity Sweet Relief ONE PENNY, despite claiming that 20% of ticket sales & merch would go straight to Sweet Relief – they owe close to $30K and think a promise to pay somehow puts them in the clear! Or that they gave a bit of cash to the musicians and then handed them all bouncing checks in Orlando. Or that they never paid a nickel to us (the Schuldiners). Or that they haven’t given ten cents to the booking agency. Oh, and they owe the crew money, too. They refused to relinquish their ‘claim’ on the name DEATH TO ALL. How mega pathetic – and all in Chuck’s name. This has been an awful time. 
“
He then went on to clarify in a comment on the post that “I am not saying they are fraudsters. They are simply idiot businessmen of the highest order. Despite bringing in a crazy amount of money, they somehow owe everyone. It is horrid.” However, even though Greif definitely makes some damaging accusations against the magazine, he does state in another comment that “DEATH TO ALL shows were great and I think we shall be continuing DEATH TO ALL in the future…once we get past this shit.”
Hard to imagine how exactly Death To All would exactly be able to continue in the future. As cool as the concept was, and even with different sponsors, it’s fair to say that all of this business turmoil (now made very public) doesn’t leave one with high hopes for the tour’s return. Furthermore, it’s safe to say that things are only going to get uglier between Grief and Sick Drummer Magazine. We reached out to Sick Drummer (who is a partner in Metal Insider’s ad network) for comment, but hadn’t heard back yet. Regardless of what’s happening, the site is still worth checking out, and we’ve had no issues whatsoever with them. Greif hadn’t issued his statement at press time. Hopefully things will work out without too much more negativitiy and mud-slinging.
The KISS song “Detroit Rock City” is a true story about a KISS fan killed in a car accident on his way to the band’s concert in Detroit. Thankfully no one was killed, but there was an accident involving a truck transporting some of the pyro equipment on the way to the KISS and Mötley Crüe show tonight (5) in Clarkston, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The show has been moved back until tomorrow (6), and the two bands released the joint statement as follows:
“On its way to Detroit, our pyro truck was involved in an accident and flipped, spilling our gear all along the freeway.
“We owe you the show you expect and deserve, so we’ve jointly decided to give our crews the 24 hours necessary to piece everything together to make it possible.
“The party is now Thursday night, September 6th. See you there!”
The truck apparently was Mötley Crüe’s, as Nikki Sixx took to his Twitter account to let fans know that the show was pushed back a day, saying “Thank god our driver is OK.” It could have been way worse than it was, and if the accident only means that there’s a few less explosions for the rest of the tour, that’s perfectly acceptable.
He may be best known for playing bass on “Holy Diver,” but now he has many saying “holy crap.” According to TMZ, former Dio and Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain was arrested Tuesday night (August 28) for DUI and illegally possessing prescription meds.
Bain was reportedly in a minor car accident in Burbank, CA around 9:30 that night. Not only had Bain failed a field sobriety test, but police on the scene found Vicodin pills that were not prescribed to him. And as it turned out, the bassist already had an outstanding drug warrant on him. After getting arrested and booked for misdemeanor DUI and felony possession of prescription medication, Bain was released on a $60,000 bail. According to The Burbank Leader, Bain is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles County Superior courtroom on Sept. 19.
As we mentioned before, Bain is best known for his time in Dio (having played in the group from 1982-1989 and again from 1999-2004). In fact, Bain has most recently been jamming with some of his former Dio bandmates on a new “tribute” project. How or if his recent DUI will affect those plans has yet to be seen.
[via TMZ by way of Loudwire and Blabbermouth]
We’re sure this isn’t how Matt Pike wanted to kick off his first week out of rehab. Last night, High On Fire alerted fans that one of Pike’s prized guitars (believed to be the one seen in the picture off to the side) has gone missing.
High On Fire posted the following message on Facebook:
“Matt Pike’s Les Paul guitar has gone missing from a Santa Rosa studio. The color is Tobacco Sunburst and has Matt Pike signature pickups, and the case has PIKE written on it in large white letters. If you have any information on the guitar, please contact info@thersegroup.com.”
Though they use the term “gone missing,” it seems like a more cautious way of saying that the guitar was stolen. Either way, here’s hoping that Pike will be able to retrieve his guitar soon. And by all means, definitely contact info@thersegroup.com if you have any information on the guitar.
[picture via Lambgoat]
Slash is a legend. As the guitar-slinging perennial top hat-wearer of Guns N’ Roses, the man born as Saul Hudson played a major part in one of the best debut albums ever. He was the yin to Axl Rose’s yang, and while he’s had a successful career since leaving the band in 1996, it hasn’t come close to reaching the heights of GN’R, even though he’s seemingly popped up everywhere. Well, good luck getting him to talk about any of those days, since he’s just issued some new rules about interviews.
The New Zealand Herald recently published some new conditions that are to be followed when interviewing Slash. They are as follows:
* Guns N’ Roses is a topic that Slash can briefly touch on.
* You can briefly discuss the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Induction – but only to the extent of the honour of that.
* You can’t talk about the ceremony itself and Axl not showing up and their performance etc.
* No questions about Axl whatsoever.
* No questions about a possible Guns N’ Roses reunion.
* No “on the road” stories or historic infamous type stories based around Guns N’ Roses.
* There has to be a focus on what he’s doing now and forthcoming events/plans.
OK then, so all the burning questions you have about Velvet Revolver are fair game. And anything about Slash’s Snakepit is as well. And if you’re dying to know all about the worst Super Bowl halftime we’ve seen in ages, feel free to ask away. But if you want to ask about what everyone wants to know, you’re out of luck. I mean, we get it – he probably gets asked about Guns N’ Roses constantly, and as he gets ready to record his third solo album, he doesn’t want to rehash stuff that happened 25 years ago. That’s understandable. But it’s also something that most journalists would understand without being issued non-talking points. But good luck to any journalists trying to make yet another solo album sound compelling.
[Via Classic Rock Magazine]
One of the high points of the excellent Summer Slaughter tour we got to see earlier this month was Periphery’s rock solid set. It was great to hear songs from Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal played live, and while they’re more or less the gods of the djent movement, this proved that they could hang with traditional metal fans as well. That’s why it’s disappointing to hear that they’ll be missing the last five dates of the tour. From their Facebook page:
It is with great regret that we must announce Periphery’s withdrawal from the rest of the Summer Slaughter tour, due to a family emergency we are unable to continue onto the west coast. We also want to take this moment to thank all the amazing fans old and new who came out to support us on this awesome tour and we also want to thank all the bands we played with, Cerebral Bore, Exhumed, Goatwhore, Job For A Cowboy, Veil of Maya, The Faceless, Between The Buried And Me, and Cannibal Corpse as well as all the amazing crew who made this tour happen – we miss all of you and we had the greatest summer ever hanging and jamming out with all of you.
While it’s unfortunate that Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Anaheim will miss out on Periphery, the album’s only a month old, so there will likely be a lot more touring behind it. And there’s still a whole lot of awesome on the Summer Slaughter tour regardless.
The most popular Iwrestledabearonce shirt claims “Metal Just Got Gay.” This is probably also the best way to sum up the picture weight loss guru Richard Simmons tweeted out to his followers this past Sunday (5). Under the caption “KISS ME!,” the “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” instructor attached a picture of him in a getup that’s mostly glam, a little bit black metal and a whole lot terrifying. The makeup is a little more Alice Cooper than KISS, but the upside down cross spandex pants he’s wearing cancel out the right-side up crosses he’s got on, and the shirt looks like something Ozzy Osbourne would wear at his mid-80s worst. Granted, Richard is still in great shape for a 64 year-old, but he needs to either hire a stylist or fire the one he’s got immediately.
[SeriouslyOMG via Zena Metal]
While Bram went to the System of a Down and Deftones show on Saturday night (8/4) at the PNC Center in Holmdel, NJ, I went to see System Of A Down kick off their mini East Coast tour in Camden, NJ last Thursday (2). However, it appears that guitarist Daron Malakian didn’t have as great of an experience in Camden as I did.
While on stage at the PNC Center, Malakian reportedly told the crowd that his while Gibson SG had been stolen in Philadelphia (though he likely meant to say Camden, NJ since the Susquehanna Bank Center is usually noted as the Philly date on tours). Though it’s hard to tell which guitar exactly was stolen, it’s safe to assume it was or at least resembled the guitar Daron is playing in the picture above. Furthermore, no update on the stolen guitar has been given since SOAD’s show Saturday night.
So if you’re in the Camden, NJ/Philadelphia area, keep an eye out for a white Gibson SG with gold hardware. Chances are it belongs to Malakian, and considering yesterday’s judgement against Gibson, it’s not like he’ll be able to pick up an exact replica anytime soon. And if drummer John Dolmayan’s proposed timeline comes true, Malakian will need a few guitars to record a new System Of A Down album.
According to Metal Injection, the Summer Slaughter Tour’s stop in Tampa, FL tonight was delayed due to a shooting threat. Police evacuated The Ritz Theater earlier today after one attendee reported to security that they had overheard someone threaten to “shoot the singer of Job For A Cowboy.” After re-examining each attendee, police reportedly found no weapon and the show (a few hours behind) went back to normal.
Granted, this situation may have been made into a bigger deal than it needed to. However, considering the recent movie theater shootings Aurora, CO (and not to mention all of the recent concert related violence), you can’t blame security and the venue for being overly cautious. It’s simply a shame to hear of yet another incident happening at a metal show. On the plus side, the venue reportedly made it up to attendees by offering free drinks.
UPDATE: Job For A Cowboy drummer Jon “Charn” Rice has released the following statement to Blabbermouth, indicating that there was more to the threat than originally believed:
“Just to clarify the events that happened this evening, a note was passed to the bartender stating that during our set a man with two knives and a gun was going to hurt people. Cops were called and after the proper precautions were taken, the show set off again, albeit a bit behind. No one was hurt and everyone involved is safe.”
We’ll keep you posted as more develops.
[picture via Periphery’s Jake Bowen]
Not cool. Not cool at all. Someone stole Doc Coyle’s backpack out of the band’s dressing room while God Forbid were playing a show in San Antonio, TX. The backpack had pretty much everything in it that all of us would cry in pain over losing – laptop, cell phone, passport, and the list is longer. Doc, whom we had the great pleasure of interviewing back in May, tweeted about the incident:
So two days ago in San Antonio, someone stole my bag out of our dressing room with my MacBook pro laptop, iPod, hard drive, headphones, passport, toiletries, etc. It was in a beat up Swiss Gear backpack. If anyone who was there saw anything suspicious or lives in the area recognizes any of these items, please let me know. I do everything with my computer. Communicate, create music. This sucks big time,but it’s just stuff. I am lucky I have my health. So many are less fortunate. #gratitude
Well spoken, Doc! Still, we have yet to see if the backpack, or more importantly it’s contents, will ever turn up again. If you live nearby keep your eyes open, we sure don’t want to give God Forbid any reason to cut their current Trespass America Festival tour stint short – they will be on the road for another month.
As cool as the Death To All Tour, featuring former members of Death and special guests paying tribute to the late Chuck Schuldiner, appeared to be this past summer, there were many problems that popped up along the way. First there was the matter of two dates getting postponed (and scrapped altogether). Then there’s the issue of VIP Merch orders, which many fans claim they’ve yet to receive. All of this has caused lots of tension between tour sponsor Sick Drummer Magazine and Eric Greif (former manager of Death and current president of Perseverance Holdings Ltd./ lawyer of Chuck’s intellectual property). And via two statements that came out yesterday, it’s safe to say that these problems are far from being resolved.
Posted by Zach Shaw on Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 3:15 pm
That's Unfortunate