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| Warning: Demob troubles
by Brian/Grand Theft Audio and Mish/Sado-nation I try to give people the benefit of the doubt but when they burn you no less than twice and also burn the people you introduce them to, there is no excuse whatsoever. Back in 2001 I tracked the old UK band Demob down and they were long removed from the punk scene. The band got back together due to my interest and I hooked them up with various people to get things rolling for them. An agreement was made with my label but the band tried to set up a deal behind my back and cut me out of the picture. I found out and Terry and Andy apologized,promising to carry out our agreement. Next thing I knew I was being told by Andy that they changed their minds again, would be releasing the cd themselves, they would not reimburse me for any of my expenses on the project, and that there was nothing I could do about it. I ended up sending an email to their booking agent telling her that if the band arrived in the States they were going straight back. Andy posted the email on the internet to try to gain sympathy and began a c ampaign to smear me which eventually backfired on him. After many exchanges Terry and Andy both apologized numerous times for how they had treated me and below is just one of several of them. "I would personally like to express my apologies for the on-going scenario and any inconvenience that we have caused to you/ GTA, I know that running a business is hard enough without having to deal with unnecessary delays that only waste time and money. I am sure that you will do the band justice in the end product that you will produce, I only hope that we can learn from our erroneous ways and look forward to better things." Andy told me he had turned his life around, becoming a devoutly spiritual Christian family man with 7 children and was becoming a counselor for troubled youth. I figured forgive and forget, we moved forward and I released the cd. The band came to Los Angeles and we had a great time as I helped drive them around to site see and helped sell their merch. Terry "Well it was a pleasure meeting you and I hope we can do the same next year. ake Care, Best Wishes from Terry and the rest of the band." In 2006 Demob bought plane tickets for a US West Coast tour. I told Andy that I was not a booker and unable to book their tour but I would assist them in any other way possible. It was agreed upon that I would help manage their tour and run their merch, and they in turn would take me on the tour, looking after my travel expenses. Tour kept getting closer but no club dates were set. I would ask Andy if he had contacted any clubs and he would say he met this girl or that girl online and she will take care of it. Each time I asked him if he bothered to contact the club I was told someone else was handling it. Eventually Andy said that all the people who promised to book dates never delivered. I hooked Andy up with Mish from Sado-nation because I knew she got things done, figuring that she could help them with some Northwest dates. I was soon informed that Andy's only true love was Mish and she would be booking their entire tour. With the tour even closer and being dumped into Mish's lap, I worked closely with Mish to aid her in any way possible apart from booking the shows, which consumed many hours of my time. I have no doubt that Mish could have easily done it all on her own given reasonable time and did an incredible job of booking their tour within the time constraints handed to her. I asked Andy what his plans were for a tour vehicle and they had none. An awesome driver, Davey Quinn, fell through when Andy tried to negotiate his already low fee in half. Andy claimed he would have done it for that price had the Skeptix not told Davey not to do it. When I said he could not expect Davey to lose money, Andy came back that his band would be losing money. I responded that this was Davey's work and Andy countered that they were giving up their work so Davey should be willing to sacrifice. I told Andy that Davey did not owe his band but fell on deaf ears. I mentioned them renting a van and Andy told me that I should put it on my credit card. When I told Andy that it was their tour and the band members needed to pay for it he responded that they would not be willing to do it so I should. I repeated myself and with that Andy rudely ordered me to "look into it". I told Andy I did not appreciate his tone and he said "I meant we will all look into it". "We" turned out to be me even though Andy was not working after he left his job awhile back for "medical" reasons (which strangely enough were not stopping him from traveling around with friends and partying). Mish was also tiring of his disinterest in the tour and let him know she was aware that Andy had been talking up other women. Andy tried to convince me that it was Mish just being quote "jealous" and "hysterical". I made a call and told Andy he needed to pull his own weight. He said he was doing everything and that his bandmates were doing nothing. I said he needed to decide on a tour driver/van as there were two waiting to hear back. He said he would let them know in a week,which would be a week before the tour kicked off,so I told him it was unfair to keep people waiting and he needed to do it now. I spoke with Andy again, was informed that they had secured a van through Nat at Puke And Vomit and that the other guys in the band had thrown me off the tour. I told Andy to be a man about it and take responsibility but he kept blaming it on the others. I called up guitarist Terry, he told me that it was a lie and the first he had heard of me being kicked off the tour. He also told me that Andy was trying to make waves about kicking Terry out of his own band. Part of it was that Andy had tried to pressure Terry into giving the band members their gig money instead of saving it for their tour because Andy needed spending money and doesn't work. Terry said I was still on the tour and he would put an abrupt end to all of the nonsense at the next band meeting and if it meant no tour then so be it. I felt bad for Terry potentially losing his ticket money and offered to drive him around to Vegas ect so he could at least have a vacation if his tour fell through and Terry told me how much he really appreciated it. I also started looking into making sure that bassist Richie (Richie also told me he knew nothing of me being kicked off the tour) and drummer Marcus (who I did not know at all) would enjoy their time out here should the tour fall through. When I next spoke with Andy and told him what Terry said, Andy changed his story claiming that he never said it was the other band members but that it was Nat from Puke N Vomit and Mike the van driver. I spoke with Nat, whom I have dealt with for years problem free. Nat told me that Andy was blaming the other members of Demob and that he (Nat) had no reason to kick me off the tour. I also spoke with the driver Mike from Threatening Verse and RF7 (a band on my label) whom I know well,he had no problem with me either. I called Andy again and he still tried to insist that Nat and Mike had personal issues with me and not him. At this point I did not wish to be stuck in van with Andy but I said if Nat and Mike tell you its ok and since you say nobody else has a problem then I am back on just to see what he would say. He said it still could not happen at which point I knew he was a liar. Then Andy started telling me Mish had been bad mouthing me and that I was out to ruin their relationship by telling her that he was going to have sex with other women. I told Andy that I never told her that as she was smart enough to figure it out on her own but his ego could not accept it. I told him that I did not appreciate how he worked over women and especially that he would do it to a friend that I had introduced him to and he tried to tell me he was not like that. That was also later proven to be a lie when Nat pulled the van out from under Demob less than a week before the tour because he was annoyed with Andy causing trouble, and another women who was more than just friends with Andy paid to rent them another van. Andy also started claiming that other people I knew were bad mouthing me as well. I asked how come they did not say it to my face and he suggested that maybe they were not so honest like him. I asked him if he had a problem with me calling these people and telling them what he said and Andy said go ahead. I then asked him if he had been treated well by me when Demob toured last time and he said yes. I also asked him who was going to pay me for all of my hard work and out of pocket expenses and Andy said he would reimburse my phone calls as long as I supplied him with a list of numbers and information on who they were. I knew he had no intention of paying and was trying to get a list of names and numbers of my friends in other cities, and there was no way I was going to give him that info. Then I was told he was going to do what he felt like doing and there was nothing I could do about it. I spoke with Terry again and he told me that Andy should have acted more like a friend if all of these people were supposedly attacking me and stick up for me because without my help Demob would not be around. Andy and I exchanged some emails to where he started complaining about me speaking to other people about him so I told him that if he had taken responsibility for his own actions instead of trying to bring other people into it I would not have to speak with them. What kind of person would rather try to trick me into fighting with my friends than just apologize and offer to pay me for my work. The rest of the emails contents were just a bunch of stuff about how he tries to do what is right, cares about the punk scene ect and the best part was where he said he had "thanked" me, as if a thanks could make up for everything else. I called Terry about his band meeting and he was going on tour so then I said what about what he pulled on me and Terry tried to act like he did not know what I was talking about. Finally after pushing on Terry he tried to tell me that Nat at Puke N Vomit was to blame and then told me there was nothing he could do. After their tour was over and Terry was back in England I emailed him about getting paid for my work and the email was sent back supposedly telling me that it was not a working address. Less than an hour later I get an email from Terry telling me to show up for the tour. I emailed Terry back and told him I was not stupid enough to believe that an email that should have arrived in my inbox two weeks ago would mysteriously show up less than an hour after I sent my email asking to be paid. Then Terry tried to pull the "i thought we were friends" line and so then I reminded him of his own hypocritical words about friends sticking up for friends and that he needed to pay me. Terry kept trying to tell me that it had nothing to do with him even though he controls the band's finances and kept trying to blame it all on Andy but I reminded him that it was his band and if he wanted the all the bullshit to stop then it would have instantly. Terry responded that I had a mental problem, was obsessed with money, and other nonsense that I let him know was pure rubbish. He stopped responding and as it stands now neither myself nor Mish (who was given the old checks in the mail, didnt it arrive ? line) have not been paid for our work or reimbursed for any out of pocket expenses and now Mish will tell her side of things: Mish's Statement: Brian asked me to help Demob book some shows for their tour, and Andy got in touch with me asking for help. I originally was going to do my usual and book the Oregon/Washington side of things for them, which are my local areas of expertise as far as clubs and promoters go. After speaking with Andy a bit, I realized he was all over the place with this tour, was not very organized and was relying on several friends to set shows up for him in different places. I offered to help where I could. I started by organizing the dates into a project management software online where both he and Brian could access the details of the gigs, and any contacts made with clubs/promoters. I did this so that Andy at some point could take the reigns of his own tour, and all of my work would be documented and organized and easily accessible in one place for him. After working with Andy for a few weeks, I found him to be a generally likable guy, of course both fronting punk bands and being of a similar age, we had a bit in common. He told me he he cared deeply for me. Hey, he can be a likable guy. I noticed he was playing alot of shows back in the UK, partying with friends out of town, and was becoming increasingly hard to contact regarding the last minute details of this tour. I know he was acting like we were an item, but there seemed to be a few girls who were intimately friendly with him. I asked him about them, telling him to be honest with me regarding his life/relationships. I wouldnt be hurt at all if he was interested in someone else, hell we had never met in person, just talked. He insisted they were just friends. He told Brian that I was jealous and hysterical. Hardly, Andy, but I am not stupid, either. Remember, I have been a front person for a band for over 25 years. I know what life on the road is like. I guess I justed wanted to call him out on his BS. At this point, I decided to concentrate on the tour. Because I am professional in my music life, I continued to try to hold the organizing of the tour together because I had given my word, he seemed to be unwilling to do any of it, or take any of the load of it off of me. Andy had offered to pay my airfare to LA so that I could come along for the two weeks and help Brian manage things on the road. I later asked him to pay me for my time instead, as I had put in over 200 hours of time I could have been working to organize this for him. I am a single mom and run a business from home besides managing all of Sado-Nation's business, and helping people with their web needs. I put alot of this aside to do the tour for Demob. It was becoming quite a job with no help from Demob. I noticed Andy trying to put a wedge between Brian and me, because Brian and I spoke about the situation in depth. By this time I only wanted to distance myself from all of this, but we still had two gigs to play with Demob in Portland and Seattle, so I had to maintain some semblance of professionalism until the gigs were over. I was worried that Andy was not arranging the transportation, which I told him I was not willing to do. Ultimately I told him I could not use another two weeks worth of work, or the time away from my kids to go on the tour, and he quickly found a replacement for me with a female friend of his in LA who he had met at the Wasted fest. I believe he also had her use her credit card to pay for a rental van for the tour transportation, since he had burned bridges with both Davey and Gnat, because he was not willing to pay what they requested. I have to interject here that he wanted all of us to make sacrifices so he could do this tour, however he seemed unwilling to make any sacrifice to do any of the work to organize or manage his own tour. I make plenty of sacrifices playing shows for free with my own band/scene, I don't see why I also have to make sacrifices for his band as well. I think that the $150.00 he offered to pay me for my time, is well below the going price for tour promotion and booking. My typical rate of pay for my administrative services on the low end is 13.00 an hour which would have cost them $ 2600.00 for the time I spent working for them. Demob had a guarantee at almost every show, they were going to get paid to do this tour. I had a hard time trying to get any of the clubs to agree to anything over 200.00 a night since they felt Demob was not a big enough name to draw a crowd here, but I did manage to get them guarantees anyway, some over 400.00 . I told Andy several times that this was HIS tour and he needed to be responsible for it, that I had spent over 200 hours of my personal time organizing and promoting it for him and that I really needed to get back to my own life. Upon their arrival I received a call from a mutual acquaintance telling me that Andy had been bad mouthing my handling of the tour booking to someone there.I immediately emailed Andy and asked him to at least give me the respect of not speaking ill of me behind my back, specially after all the work i did for them to put this tour together. Andy offered several times to pay me for my time, both in emails and in person. Here is his last email to me regarding payment: From: Demob Date: Oct 22, 2006 5:50 AM Hi Mish sorry you haven't received payment yet but I did send $150 cash a week last monday, I hope it gets to you as it should of by now, let me know in the next couple of days if it gets to you then. Andy To date i have received NO MONEY from him. I don't believe he ever sent it. He no longer responds to my emails, because he says he doesn't LIKE MY ATTITUDE. well I dont like being played or lied to by someone who I spent so much time working to help. Here is an email from Terry, Demob's guitar player responding to my request for him to check into the money Andy says he sent me: Hi Mich I never knew that Andy had agreed to pay you for any work you did he implied that you were very good friends. You maybe aware that Andy has recently gone through a breakdown with his marriage and he has been doing things totally out of character. I will ask about the money he says he has sent, it seems a bit of an insult for all the work and hours you have put in, I personally appreciate what you did and our tour wouldn't have happened without your help. Hope we can link up again in the future and that Andy's actions will not make you think all the band are the same.... Take Care Terry I don't blame the rest of the band for Andy's actions, however I would hope at least they would get together and make it right. After all it is their good name he is ruining by this behavior. Mish Bondage Sado-Nation I think Andy and Demob owe Mish,myself and the others they tried to cause problems for a public apology as I have no doubt Andy has been shooting his mouth off about us to others. Demob also need to pay both Mish and myself a reasonable fee for all of the work and trouble they put us through. Demob need to learn that the punk scene is not their personal grab bag to use and abuse however they please, and that the people in it do not appreciate said ruthless behavior. Thanks for your time - Brian / Grand Theft Audio |
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