Amen-drummer verdedigt frontman
Artist news 16-11-2004 16:21
Joe Letz, de nieuwe drummer van Amen, heeft frontman Casey Chaos (echte naam: Casey Chmielinski, zie foto) verdedigd tegen verbale aanvallen van voormalige bandleden. Rich Jones, voormalig gitarist van de groep, verklaarde dat Casey Chaos onder andere geld zou achterhouden.
In zijn verklaring zegt Letz dat de beschuldigingen niet fideel zijn. Letz verving Shannon Larkin eerder dit jaar. Volgens de nieuwe Amen-drummer zijn de inkomsten van de groep nauwelijks voldoende om de huur, gas, water en licht te kunnen betalen:
"I'd like for you to explain to me why we have flashlights in every room of the house so that when the electricity goes off, 'cause SoundScan and record sales aint payin the bills, we can still see enough to get to the shitter. Don't you think that if Casey was spending all this money on CDs and cars and shit that he would consider paying the electric bill before all of it so that he could live in his house? I'm not complaining about the fact that I basically moved into a squat to join this band. I am just stating the obvious..."
Daarnaast is er een manager die de financiële zaken afhandelt. Joe Letz vertelt hoe Casey hem zelf bij de manager introduceerde en aangaf altijd met problemen te mogen aankloppen. Dat de vorige bandleden dit hebben nagelaten, is dus vooral aan henzelf te wijten:
"Upon my arrival, Casey introduced me to the bands business manager, which is the person who takes care of all the personal and business bills for the band and himself. Casey made sure that I understood that I could have the same open lines of communication with them as he did. It's been explained to me that everyone in the band always had this option, and has been confirmed by numerous sources that they were never interested enough to seek out the truth, only to accuse. (...) What I see is a group of guys who got involved with something that they thought was cool, and then realized that it was a fuckin' mess and decided to blame Casey instead of themselves for their decision to join. "
Bovendien zijn alle bandleden van te voren gewaarschuwd voor Casey's karakter. Letz vindt dan ook dat de Amen-muzikanten niet achteraf moeten klagen, maar gewoon de nadelen van hun keuze moeten aanvaarden. Letz:
"As far as Casey goes, he is a fuckin mess. He will never deny this to anyone. I can honestly say that Casey Chaos is out of his mind, and yes, sometimes it is scary, and sometimes it is sad. (...) Not only did I leave Theo to come out here, which was a band that i was in that I loved to death, but I also passed up two offers which I received the same week Casey called me, which were both huge opportunities and would have paid very well. I chose Amen. I expect to be hurt onstage and to not make any money at all. I expect to get frustrated with dealing with Casey because he is a mess, and let's face it, I am a part of his life now. But I also understand that I made the decision to be here, and if I ever feel that it is time to move on, no matter what the reason is, I simply move on. None of this high-school garbage press bullshit. That is what is not fair to you all. Not the fact that Casey put up a contract to show you all legal proof to defend himself against certain accusations and to try and show you all the truth."
Volgens Casey Chaos zelf, zijn alle vertrokken bandleden uit de groep gestapt omdat ze van te voren dachten met Amen rijk te worden en het leven van een rockster te kunnen leven. Toen de werkelijkheid bleek tegen te vallen, was dat een bitter pil.
