Yesterday, we posted a shocking story that showed that Metallica sent a cease and desist a group of fans in a tribute band to the legendary thrashers who go by the name Sandman. The cause of the issue was the band's logo was too similar to Metallica's logo and the band were just trying to protect their copyright, by sending a 41-page cease and desist letter.
Here's the problem. According to Metallica, they knew nothing about it and it was all the work of an overzealous attorney.
The band spoke to Rolling Stone saying they had no idea about the lawsuit until it was posted online, and as a band who has released multiple cover albums, they are all for tribute bands:
"We hear that a Canadian Metallica tribute band is a little upset with us and with a little digging, figured out why," the band tells Rolling Stone. "It turns out that a certain letter was delivered to the band Sandman that neither we nor our management were aware of until it surfaced online. Lucky for us, the band was kind enough to post it for us to see, and it turns out that we have a very overzealous attorney who sent this letter without our knowledge."
The group pointed to Garage Inc., their 1998 covers album, as proof of their support of groups covering other artists' work. "We have a long history of not only enjoying tribute bands, but we started as one," the group says. "Heck, we even recorded a two-disc album of covers! We will always remember those days and continue to enjoy tribute bands, even inviting them to support us on various tours over the years."
The story notes that drummer Lars Ulrich personally called up the cover band and gave them Metallica's blessing to keep going.
As for this overzealous attorney, Metallica insinuated that they fired him by joking that "our attorney can be found at SFO catching a flight to go permanently ice fishing in Alaska."
Whether or not you choose to believe if Metallica knew about this or not beforehand (personally, I totally believe them as the cease and desist didn't make sense to begin with), I give the band full credit for making things right.
