In the eyes of many, the music genre of heavy metal can seem like loud noises and edgy costumes. As it turns out, the inside workings of bands and their management can be just as scary, which the public recently discovered with the band “Cradle of Filth”. Marek “Ashok” Šmerda, the former guitarist, was let go from the band during their tour.
The firing of Marek came after the comments he made about the band when Zoe Federoff, the keyboardist and Marek’s wife, left the lineup. Two days after her departure, Marek went on to say that he plans to leave the band as well and made various comments about the Cradle’s management and the frontman, Dani Filth. The complaints centered on the levels of stress the band endured and the low pay for their work. He also commented that the band itself doesn’t care about its members and that everyone is only out for themselves. There has also been a lot of confusion with the intentions for a collaboration with Ed Sheeran, for which Marek has asked for his music to be removed from.
Screenshots of Zoe’s contract with the band were added with their posts, showing the low amount of money they were making from their work and how they were not allowed to play with other bands. Dani came out on social media to announce that Marek has been fired, as well as to call out the accusations as defamatory and completely false. The band has no intentions of stopping the tour and will continue to play until they find a replacement for Marek.
Currently, I believe Marek and Zoe’s side more, based on the screenshots of their contract. However, unless further evidence is provided from either side, nobody will know for sure.
