The Death To All shows that happened in July were a landmark for death metal fans everywhere. I can't think of one person who didn't have glowing things to say about the shows. However, now that the dust has settled controversy has arisen.
Last week, there were reports surfacing online that fans who ordered tickets to the cancelled Atlanta and Dallas shows were not getting their refunds, that bands were not being paid and worse yet, the charity, Sweet Relief that this whole thing was set up for did not get a penny yet, and the blame was being placed on the show promoters, Sick Drummer Magazine.
Seeing as though there are two sides to any story, before we published anything, we wanted to get word from Sick Drummer. In the interest of full disclosure, we have worked with Sick Drummer in the past and we are both members of the Blast Beat ad network, and thus wanted to get his side, as we have had nothing but good dealings with him in the past and for me, personally, this seemed out of character.
Late last night, Sick Drummer issued their official statement. In speaking with Ian MacDonald of Sick Drummer on the phone last night, he assured me that he is fully intent on refunding all cancelled show tickets, he said musicians had been paid and he's been in contact with Sweet Relief and they will still be donating money to the charity.
After Ian released his statement, Death's manager, Eric Greif issued a response basically knocking all the claims.
At this point, it's sort of hard to follow the story. Everybody has their own interests in mind, and who knows where the truth lies. The ultimate truth in this is that this party cost somebody a lot of money that will never be recouped. At least we have the memories.
