Heavycore

Roosters Roadhouse (Alameda California)
This was submitted by the band Skitzo:

These cocksuckers didn't want Skitzo to play after seeing Lance on Judge Judy involving an incident at a show where he puked on stage and some chick sued him over it. The club took Skitzo off the bill because of it. These fuckers are lame.

The Anarchy Library (Downey California)
This was submitted by the band Womb Raiders:

Which is tickets sell for $5, first 5 people that show up for you the club keeps that money, everyone else after 5 you keep 4 of the 5 dollars. Show is 21 and over. We asked the booker for tickets and he said just have people say your name at the door. So we show up and there are people there (this is a small bar, that holds about 85 people total) No one is at the door! Once inside the first band that was playing looked like they were 16-18 years old. And a few people there were about the same age..

Thankfully several bands dropped off the bill due to whatever reasons and there ended up only being 4 bands including us. We had a few people come for us, enough to where we would have made some money. The crowd was not good! The sound system was probably the worse we have EVER heard. Right away we could tell that the fans there and the people working the club were not looking forward to us as they looked at us with shame on their faces. (this is one of those peppy crowds who do the whole straight edge no violence thing)

Long story short we ended up only doing about half our songs because people were very upset by our music, and they told us to stop playing due to offensive content! So we stopped. We asked management about getting paid and they said since it was an all ages show there was no money and we only got money if we sold tickets. I explained what the booker had told me and they said they do not make deals like that. So we got shit. Just today after weeks of talking with the booker said that he was told we were out back drinking as we were loading our shit. Which that is total shit. All we had that night was water!

And get this even though they said we had to stop playing due to us being too offensive, and they didn't pay us! They invited us back to play another Sunday night punk/metal show! TOTAL BULLSHIT!

FOLLOW UP!

This is a follow up to the post made by the Womb Raiders. I was there that night the Womb Raiders played. Being good friends with the members, I went out to support them. First off it is a small ass club. More of a Rock/Punk club not a grind crowd at all. There is a small ass stage, the first band almost fell off. And the big thing the fuckin PA sucked ass. I've seen home stereo systems with better speakers. To much fuckin fed back and you could not hear shit. By the time the Womb Raiders hit all the bitch pop punks were outside smoking there cloves. Did not want anything to do with the guys on stage. Fuck that pussy crowd. Those guys played there hearts out to a bullshit club. We helped the guys load there gear, and never drank beer. Not that we did want to, but we did not want to fuck shit up for our friends. So all in all everything that was said by the Womb Raiders was the truth. If your pop pussy punk then the Anarchy Library is a great place for you to play. Brutal Fuckin Music!!

Rockin' R (St. Roberts Missouri)
This was submitted by Tatt of Verbal Narcotic

The place is called the Rockin R, in St Robert, MO, located at 819 Hwy Z on the I-44 frontage road, and in my opinion, and everyone else who went to see heavy metal there last night, this is a place that should forever be banned and blackballed by anyone with any decency and or sense of brotherhood, and I hope this letter serves as a warning to anyone who travels through that the Rockin R is a blight on the face of the planet, if you play there you will be screwed in some fashion, and we wholeheartedly nominate this fucking shithole for the SHIT LIST.

Here's what happened there last night(shortened version)I guess I should begin by telling you that this isn’t an isolated event to our show last night. A few years ago, Verbal Narcotic played a Battle of the Bands there, as we played, our vocalist said the word pussy. The next thing we knew,they were cutting us off due to obscenity, and we were ejected.

So we didn’t try to get any shows there, but we did go to a boxing match held there a few weeks later and guess what? The fights were alright, but at intermission, this RAP group hits the spotlight, no music, just the backup beat box stuff done vocally by a whole slew of wannabe gangstas, and said more cuss words in two minutes than I know in my entire vocabulary, a constant barrage of nothing but, “Jack ass nigga, motherfucking homey, suck my dick, pussy ass bitch, yo cracker pussies we be fucking yo wife, raping yo chillens, whore bitch ass fuck pussy lip dicksuck…blah, blah, blah..” WHATEVER. I bitched to the owner and was told that it was different, because it was a different culture and so it was okay. Yeah, right, sounds two faced to me.

Anyway, we never went back until this opportunity to get metal back there came up, and here’s what happened. First of all, once the show was actually booked, I was lectured that there was to be no obscene language and no mosh pit. 2 nights before the show, we find out that we can’t use our own shit, they want a permanent back-line. Okay, not that big a deal, but unexpected, but we agreed. That night, we find out they booked a poker game too, which meant, they wanted the sound turned way down. The two sound men working the show, had exactly two days between them working sound at this venue. The sound sucked ass. When I said something, I got the response that they didn’t hear it like I did, it must just be me, but hey, I’m just a musician, what do I know? You could actually speak without having to raise your voice while standing right in front of the band. We kept trying to make this show good. My wife’s cell phone rings, and it’s a couple of fans who were supposed to come to the show, and they inform us that they were sorry, but they weren’t going to be able to afford to get in. I thought, okay, what the hell? Six bucks. A little steep but not too bad, and hey, the cost had been on the thousands of flyers we’d passed out, so it shouldn’t have come as a shock right? I almost shit my pants when I found out the very few people who were actually there paid SEVENTEEN DOLLARS to get in. They raised the price to $12 or $17 with four drinks included. Holy shit! No wonder there was almost nobody here!!!! Then, I find out that they billed the show as Battle of the Bands, instead of what we agreed on, The First Heavy Metal show in the Area. Topping it off, after Black Buffalo played, the bouncers told the bass player his shirt was obscene and they wanted him to turn it inside out or leave. Well, that raised all kinds of bullshit because that’s what it was…bullshit.

In short, we played by their rules, no cursing onstage, we kept the fans from pitting, which ended up happening anyway during Verbal Narcotic’s set, and yeah, they threatened to throw out the “offenders” for doing it, they changed the price on us after all our promotions, they had a poker tournament while we played, none of whom appreciated that there was metal playing, they even had quite a few people screaming “You Suck” during one of the band’s set, their tech guy was a fucking dork and after going over exactly what we wanted as far as lights, fog, etc…he didn’t do shit…just a half-hearted flip of a knob every now and then and a pathetic burst of fog no where near where we asked for it, the sound sucked, the bouncers and staff were way over the edge, actually grilling and interrogating the few diehard fans that were willing to give up that much money to come in, and then, actually asking one of the band members to turn his fucking shirt inside out or leave because it was offensive, and then when I asked what the fuck, I was told, “Well son, this IS the Bible Belt” BULLSHIT! We fucking live here, play all over this damn state and never once have we been in a godamned bar that played heavy metal that was offended by any kind of t-shirt! And check this out…..though we didn’t have the greatest of turnouts, we sold a shitload of merchandise, including the Verbal Narcotic shirts that reads very clearly across the back, “If it ain’t Hardcore, It ain’t Shit” and these fuckers actually told me that they had contemplated making EVERYONE wearing one of these shirts to turn it inside out or leave as well, and that then they told me if they had known that our merchandise had that kind of content displayed on it, they wouldn’t have allowed us to sell it there.

To top the night off, although they charged $17 bucks to almost everyone who came in, when it came down to pay, I was told…”We agreed on paying half of the door to the bands, and the other half to the sound guy right? Well, the price we agreed on was $6.” I hit the roof! Mother fuckers! I went through the roof and told them exactly what was on my mind, all about the whole damn show, the stupid changes that we knew nothing about, the stupid obscenity crap that us white folk had to abide by when the rappers could cuss all they wanted, the fact that they used the Bible Belt excuse and yet they own a bar and are hosting Poker upstairs, the fact that they had Tech Nine just a couple nights before us and got a kick that they had an RV outside with a constant parade of women going in and out all night and that was okay, the fact that we had sound guys who had never even used the equipment there, and didn’t even know there was a metal show until that night, the lack of the promised advertising on the part of the Rockin R, the lies, the deceit, the hypocrisy, and the fucking bullshit.

I know this was a long description and I’m sorry for that. Truthfully there was more I could have said, but I can’t possibly say enough bad things about this place to make me feel better. And, since I never publicly bash a place, I really wanted to hear some feedback and opinions on whether or not this place deserves to be nominated for the SHIT LIST.

Pathos was finishing off the first leg of our tour with fellow metal heads from Portland, Fall of the Bastards and the two of us were scheduled to play with Kalibas (NYC) and a local band and fellow heavycore member, Rutah at this place. We booked the show months earlier and had received guarantees of money and food for all the bands...this did not happen. I got a call on the road from Kalibas that they had called the venue and been told that the show was cancelled - no explanation. So I call the venue and they tell me they don't know why the show is cancelled or who cancelled it...it's just not going on...maybe I should try the guy who does their booking. So I try this guy and guess what? No answer. I leave him multiple pissed off messages and never receive a call back, not that I was all that surprised.

Finally we get into town and arrive at the show to meet the other bands and the doors are locked. A little later one of the guys who works at this shit hole trys to slip out into his car, through the crowd of heads there for the show, unnoticed and when we catch him he gives us some flimsy excuse about the owner and speeds away.

End result? Three touring bands getting totally fucked...four bands getting fucking pissed off...one killer show cancelled. No apology...no gas money compensation...not even an explanation. No one even had the fucking balls to talk to our faces. FUCK Ray and Sam's...do not play there unless you want a scheduled night off.

The Bethel Tavern (Washington)
This was submitted by the band Nasty Jack:

The Olympia police beat my ass for no reason at the Abrasive Rock on August 3rd 2002. I got massed 3 times and I did not even struggle or resist. They have a reputation for beating metal brothers from what I here. The Braindead and Forced Entry saw the whole thing go down and the heat threatened them as well if they did not leave. Beware of the Olympia Washington P.D. They are known to be bad. Check Seattlemetal.com to confirm my story.

Nikki Camp from Don HIll's nite club in NYC. He tried to rob us after fuckin up the entire time schedule for a show we played. He also made 4 bands use Goatwhore's gear to play, even drums. (We were playing with Immolation, Goatwhore, Grave, Crematorium that night) the guy lied and said that we sold about 15 more tickets than we gave him the money for (gay ass pay to play... i mean ticket system). He tried to get one of our guitars, but we packed the van, and took off.
Warn bands not to book with him, and DO NOT PLAY DON HILL's in NYC. 20 min sets as well, as every other club gives everyone at least 30 min.

As a manager and promoter in the live music scene, I believe it is necessary to relay a sequence of events to bands that may soon become a victim of this club.

Our firm recently booked two of our Baltimore bands in the PONTIAC GRILLE in Philadelphia for a gig on Sunday night. When the night was originally booked we were told that it would be billed as an all ages show. The bands got to work and began selling their tickets for their show...which included taking multiple charter buses to the show. On Thursday we confirmed with the venue and inquired as to what the surcharge would be for persons under the age of 21. At that time...3 days before the show...she tells us that it's not an all ages show. We were now faced with cancelling some of our buses. However, being people of our word...we decided to do the gig.

Skip ahead to Sunday. After a final check on the bands to make sure the buses were on the road...we began our trip to Philadelphia. The buses left at 4 PM as we were told that load in was at 6:30, with four bands playing. The bands arrived prior to us and were prepared to load in on time. Imagine my surprise when I receive a panicked phone call from two bands sitting there with charter buses...because the venue had a sign on the door "CLOSED TONIGHT." (However, posted beside the door is the schedule with the two bands names on it!) I made multiple calls to the venue and the booking agent. I got the voice mail for the booking agent...and for the venue owners I got a message that said "mailbox full." Meanwhile, a cop strolls by and informs the bands that it had just happened a few nights before to four other bands. They got to sit in the rain and he didn't think the bar ever opened that night!

When I got there I found that the cleaning guy had unlocked the door for the bands. Very nice. Now they weren't sitting in front of the venue in pouring down rain with dozens of fans. The cleaning guy started trying to get up with the venue owner. Finally a bartender (with a poor attitude) showed up. Still no sound guy. We waited hours for a sound guy to arrive. Meanwhile, we all endured the crumby attitude of the bartender who kept telling us that they might not open and he was pissed because he had been called in from a bbq. Nice.

Finally the sound guy showed up. We would have done just as well with our own sound. He refused to make the necessary adjustments so the bands could even get good sound.

Meanwhile...the fans were tired of waiting around in a closed bar so they started disappearing to other bars. So when the bands finally did get to play it was for a very empty bar. Nice after they bused people in, huh? We can't blame the fans though...they paid for a good time. It surely wasn't happening in the Pontiac Grille!

At the end of the night we were informed that we needed to PAY the venue $50 per band for playing! FOR WHAT? After everything that they had done. Finally they agreed to wave that fee but refused to pay the bands what was made from the door. After a call to the police (which was a first for us in 12 years) they finally paid us the door and we left. By the way, during one of our conversations with the venue owner we were told that bands are a dime a dozen.

Trust me...this is the short version of what happened there that night.

If you ever want to play a nightmare gig...do it at the PONTIAC GRILLE! You'll be sure to have one there! Not to mention....you can be added to their list of bands that are a dime a dozen.

I think the bands work too hard to bring good music to the live scene to be treated like that. Watch your back when you schedule something there!

The Satyricon Club
A fellow Heavycore brother told us that this club in Portand Oregon fucked them bad while on tour. They were in the middle of playing and the club put a "show canceled" sign on the door, and didn't pay anyone. This same Core brother said another band he knew had a similar experience and got a whopping $3.45 for doing the show.

Rally Alley
To make a long story short, we were doing a death metal festival with a bunch of other bands, and we drove 150 miles one way trying to follow the labyrinth of directions they had on their site. Upon arriving, we find out the place has no heat, the bathroom is destroyed, and theirs literally dog crap everywhere... including on the stage. Shortly later, the guy in charge of the place gets in a fight with the cops, gets arrested, and everybody had to drive home. It's a damn shame that the Rally Ally closed for good the following day. Submitted by Chris Tingley with Criminally Insane.

Wired Frog Concert Theater
First off, there's the Hired Frog....er....Stiff Log....er....Wired Frog concert theater in Detroit, MI. who charged 150 kids 8 bux for a show and not only doesn't give a single burrito or gallon of gas to GROG, but charges every single roadie with them 8 bux too...and then tries charging GROG FIFTEEN DOLLARS for a cd that had been already recorded live that night, of GROG
themselves. Not to mention none of the other bands booked that night were even any good, and were just a bunch of whining emo bands (i hate that crap). To be honest I am shocked that bands even play this scam at all. We will NOT be going
back to a place that makes well over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS & doesn't even give the out of town headlining band SOME
gas money. Now THERE'S some frog legs I'd LOVE to dismember. Just a warning to future bands (and hopes of a boycott ....MWUAHHAHA). There's plenty of other places to play in the Detroit area. Now remember folks this place looked to be a great place to play and it really let us down. 300 hundred miles round trip and nothing in return. This was submitted buy Chad Overdose and J.J. Jizzum of GROG (battle creek michigan).

It's been a while since I checked the shit list, but I was fairly amused to find The Wired Frog among it. Skin Casket has played a few shows at this venue. They charge $8 a person, band members get in free, roadies have to pay. They are not very willing to give money back to the bands. On top of that, every time we play there is usually something asinine like 5 o'clock on Sunday or 1 am on Saturday when everyone has already left. On top of that, they won't book you again if you don't fill the 25 person quota. Sorry, but I'm in this to expand my fan base, not make the Wired Frog money. I am with GROG on this one. Fuck the Wired Frog.

Dragon's Wing Entertainment
This was submitted by Rob of the band Necrodemon:

If these people contact you for a show, refuse. They will promise you the moon and give you a pile of shit. They have caused Necrodemon and their label a lot of problems. Especially for those bands in CT. They will try to get you into the "Playroom". Don't do it. you'll regret it. Just a helpful tip for all of you. Stay true all my brothers and sisters!

I just have to add that I helped manage a few bands a few years back and that I was contacted by them. They ripped that band off for $500, and a bunch of stickers, cds, and shirts. It went to court and the band won the case in 2003 and was awarded over $1,000. However last time I spoke with the band they said they never received anything from the settlement and the people responsible are nowhere to be found.

Like a lot of the bands on the bill, we traveled across the country to play this JOKE. Three other bands besides us actually stayed and played while the other six turned around and went home. Hell, we didn't drive 1,800 miles to NOT PLAY. The club's booking guy, Pual (who is also on the shit list) actually was very mature and level headed. He even was considerate enough to give us a warning that we should turn around and head home instead of coming another mile. I personally talked to this guy THE ENFORCER (Barry Drake), basically, after giving me a lame excuse about a broken ankle, he passed me off to Pual who had the burden of confronting all the let down and pissed off bands, DUMPED on him. Barry didn't send the venue fliers nor did he post any in the town. He did run a radio add but only paid for about 5 airings ($350 worth) which we personally know is a total waste of money because that will amount to nothing. This guy was avoiding the venue with his ankle excuse because he knew he would have his ass kicked by 140+, pissed off musicians. Has he never heard of a fucking CRUTCH !?!?

A promoter's job is a hell of a lot more than just booking bands, you need to PROMOTE. It's YOUR job to get a show advertised ESPECIALLY when it's jam packed with national bands. This fucker actually had the gall to take band's money to play the show and give them a performance contract. If we paid anything to this piece of shit we would sue his ass if not go to his house and take the money back from him.

Paul Riley - Transfusion Productions
This was submitted by Paul of the band Pain Link:

We recently had a huge piece of drama here locally over a guy by the name of Paul Riley who calls himself a Booking agent. His company is called Transfusion Productions. This local hack is trying to screw local bands here in the Cincinnati area, a few of which are Heavycore members. We have been repeatedly robbed at the door of this venue by this fuck. We have decided to rally the whole city to refuse to work with this prick, because of theft and general incompetence. We have also decided to boycott the venue because the old tight ass owner will not turn on a.c.......he raises prices for drinks as the night goes on....etc. The point is that we have other Heavycore members who will back us up on this. For example our boys Kill The Messenger....they have been fucked by this hack also. I could site you numerous posts to read about this ass but the Cincymetal board got pulled from proboards for filthy content.....so the new board is only a week old.

So we want this bastard Paul Riley put on the shit list for trying to bend over HEAVYCORE bands here in Cincinnati Ohio.....Transfusion Productions is his company....and the cheap crooked venue is NEVER ON SUNDAYS in Silverton Ohio. We just want to make it harder for this guy to branch out & fuck other bands....he's trying to bring bands from Detroit here as we speak. For all I know, some of them may be HEAVYCORE members. We need some help from the CORE to warn people about this douche bag.

Here's one promoter to definitely stay the FUCK away from. He organized the debacle that was also known as the May Day Metal Fest in Lafayette Indiana in 2004. He fucked up multiple times, but in short - he charged bands $500 to play a show that was promised some national headliners. Those headliners changed two and three times, ranging from Gwar, to Rob Zombie, to MOD - when in reality it was no one. Someone in MOD supposedly got the chicken pox before the show and they couldn't make it.

The singer of Mastodon nearly tore him up before they played, when he fucked up and let bands go over on sets to push Mastodon's set to nearly 3am. It was a fucking mess and this fool shouldn't even organize a birthday party let alone a big metal show. The security guards wanted to kick his ass, the sound man was jacked off, the bands were steamed - and basically . . . everyone hated him. He promised to feed the bands, but in total only laid out approx 10 pizzas for a dozen or more bands and crews. It was pathetic. Bands were paying $2 for water.

To top things off - he tried to get bands a cheaper rate at a local Knight's Inn - who fucked things up so bad by double booking rooms, and even my personal bags were taken from my room and the room booked to someone else while I was playing at the show. What a disaster.

update: in early June the band Low Twelve actually got a $30 money order in the mail from this fool, to cover our hotel. That was after we sent him letters threatening to sick a lawyer after him. It still doesn't negate the bullshit he put all those bands through!

But I have one guy in Pennsylvania that needs his ass kicked. He goes by the name Maurice Green, or Greeny. This guy fucked us out of 600 bucks. He says he is booking for Fred's Lobster Garden In Pennsylvania but the club was never contacted when we showed. The club informed us that he was fired and now seeking revenge on the club. The club it-self is an awesome venue and the people seemed all right. Bands in that area need to know that name. He has been fucking bands left and right.

Here is an asshole promoter from albany new york , who runs a company called step up presents, this assholes name is ted etoll , this guy is constantly fucking bands out of money, 400 people @12 bux a pop, and he will turn around and give bands 150 bux , and then cry that he has expenses when the real story is he gets the door money and the venue profits off the bar sales, and if any bands speak out against him in the albany ny area ,they become blackballed and then find it extremely hard to book a show, mostly because this guy has a monopoly on the bar scene in the area, he could care less about the music but swears to christ that he is "true to the scene", bands in albany have been fighting an uphill battle with this guy for years, so i guess you could say that this comes from all the bands in the albany area, except the emo pop punk fag bands that get catered to constantly.

Atlantic Pacific Entertainment
This was submitted by the manager of the band Brick Bath:

I'm the manager for the band BRICK BATH on Pavement/Crash Music. The band was just getting ready to release their 2nd CD titled REBUILT and I was talking to booking agents about setting up some tours.

An agent from Atlantic Pacific Ent. contacted me and said he would like a package for the company to review. I sent him a package and followed up 2 weeks later. The agent there said he loved the CD and had the perfect US tour to add the band to over the summer. He said he was going to have a meeting with the head of the company the following week and to call him back, but he was so sure that the band would get picked up that he faxed contracts to me and wanted the band to sign them basically confirming we would now be represented by their company so he could confirm the tour. Nothing more.

When I called again, I found out the agent I was previously talking to had left the company and I had to explain everything all over again to another agent there. This new guy said he needed to look for our package and would call me back in a few days. Never heard anything. I called again to follow up and this Robert Devine cat answers the phone. I asked for the new agent I was talking to last and he tells me he left the company as well. Robert continues to explain to me how he's excited about working with us and tells me the first thing he's gonna do is set up a showcase at SXSW and get a bunch of labels there to get the band a record deal. I said..."Dude, the band already has a deal! I sent you their CD! It's their 2nd album on the label and they are already on the radio nationwide! They just need a tour booked!" He apologizes and tells me to call back in a few days to see what tours he can get the band on.

I call Robert the following week and a secretary answers. He wouldn't take my calls. After trying to contact him 3 or 4 more times, the last time I tried calling I didn't mention the bands name when I asked to speak with him, just my name. He comes on the phone laughing and says he's trying to avoid calls from this "pain in the ass" manager that keeps nagging him to get his band Brick Bath on a tour. I said,"That's me, dumb ass." Feeling like a fool...he tells me that he can't do anything for the band and hangs up on me.

Robert Devine from ATLANTIC PACIFIC ENTERTAINMENT!!!..SCAM ARTIST....luckily our attorney prevented us from being ripped off by this guy...totally unprofessional and weak...do not deal with this company!

AMJ Concerts
This was submitted by an anonymous member who wanted to warn any brothers on tour:

We were required to help sell tickets for a show when we opened for the genitorturers. we personally paid for printed and passed out over 10,000 flyers and drove over $700 worth of tickets around the city, (ticket delivery service was done by our manager). that night the club was sold out we packed the fuckin place and made sure everyone in phx knew about this show. let me tell you a lot of $$$$ was made @ this show we personally made over $700 for them before flyers were passed all over phoenix , tempe, and mesa AZ. in the end the guy gave us a 30 min set and $100 and has blew us off ever since. every other band i have talked to around phx also says not to ever trust AMJ or CAP. you might recognize CAP as the owner of the Nile theater in mesa AZ featured on 60 min as the club where the caught the owner selling special K, ecstacy, ruffies and all sorts of other weird shit to 14 and 15 year old boys and girls at his $35 raves.. his club is currently shut down but he still fucks bands with his production companies. i have never met anyone that has been paid fairly when he ran the Nile theater.

This is my own personal opinion of this guy - which last time I checked I'm entitled to. This guy emailed me with an attitude about how "big of a promoter" he was and how he wanted some free promotional materials from Heavycore. He was trying to get bands for a big show in New Jersey. This is one of the pay-to-play fests - you sell tickets and try to re-coup your money. Anyway - I told him if he wanted one of our Heavycore compilations he would have to buy it like anyone else. He said "since I'm a huge promoter I don't pay for promo sorry". I thought it was bullshit. Of course I didn't send it to him. He got all pissed off with me not sending him one for free, and speaking my mind, that he started calling me a "piece of shit" and stuff like that. He even claims to be the half brother of David Grohl (Foo Fighters) - as if anyone would give a fuck about that. This fool was even using a webtv account - which seems to be pretty bush league for a "big promoter and half brother of such a huge star." I'm personally sick and tired of people with attitudes in this business and so I'm using this to vent.

Terry Nelson
This was submitted by Dustin from Of the Fallen in Kansas City . . .

A guy named Terry Nelson ran a company called "Paradise Stadium" and tried putting together a major Battle of the Bands called the "Tournament of Rock" which acted in an NCAA style Tournament Bracket. The show was supposed to promise every band cash prizes, even for bands that didn't make it past the 1st round. He booked 64 bands, from various Genres in the Kansas City/Topeka/Lawrence/Warrensburg, etc areas and each band sponsored a school of their choice, which was also promised to receive a cash donation to fund to their music departments. Each band had to pay $500 as an entry fee. They received 50 tickets they were to sell for $16 to make $6 profit on per ticket. Then they could buy another set of 50 for $500 if they wanted and continue the process. Day one of the show was suppoed to play the first 32 bands that would represent 32 schools from Kansas. Day two was supposed to play the second half, that represented 32 schools from Missouri. After that, they would continue the tournament with the winners for a matter of a few days until someone finally won a grand prize of $25,000. After Day One, Terry cancelled the rest of the event, not allowing the 2nd half of the bands to play their show. No one was paid their money back, the bands on the first day received no prizes. And any ticket holder who bought their tickets from bands had to go to the bands to get their money back. Most of the bands had already spent their profits and a lot of crap ensued between fans wanting their money back from bands, and bands who never got their entree fees back. To this day, over a year later, no band has received their money. Rumor has it he lives in California, I'm not sure, though. If you anyone sees this fuck, don't trust him, and be sure to spit on him and tell him "That one is for the Kansas City Metal scene that you fucked over!"

This guy did a review for them in Metal Maniacs and it got ugly real quick. Here at the Core, we dig Disarray and what they stand for. We also love artist Jeff Gaither, and he even dragged him into the fray. It's total bullshit and sometimes a reviewer can get way out of control just to read his own words. If he didn't like it, that's cool - but I think they can do it in a more professional manner, instead of dogging on what t-shirt size someone wears and that kind of thing. Read it for yourself and see what you think.
www.disarrayonline.com/preamble1.html

Levita
This was submitted by Todd of Kryoburn:

A promoter in Odessa, Texas named Levita. She is now managing a band called thick. Odessa was on the last of our tour and we didn't show due to lack of promotion and our money problem. In the past, every show she has put on she has fucked us on money and no one showed up which is she never promoted like she should of. We have always been nice to her but now she is talking shit about us being pussies and not showing up and all kinds of shit. Levita in Odessa Texas,her band, Thick. Shit list man. Shit fuckin list.

Dave "Snoop" Carmona
This was submitted by Dean of Skin Casket:

His name is Dave Carmona or "Snoop". He just got fired from Harpo's Concert Theater in Detroit. Basically, he fucked someone big out of money and got canned. Thing is that Harpo's is one of those pay-to-play venues where you can play with your favorite national bands so long as you sell x amount of tickets. Sounds fair to me...... But over the years, there have been countless "service charges" added to the ticket sales. $20 here and $20 there on top of selling the tickets. We call these the "buy Snoop a Bag O' Weed Fund". He even made compilation cds where bands send in $120 each to be on it, then made all the bands sell x amount of tickets to play the cd release party with all other fees included. On top of all that, I found out that over the years that he's been doing this, each band was supposed to be paid $2 from every ticket they sell. Let's see, my band sold $750 worth of tickets there over 2 shows soooooo...... Snoop owes me $150. I just cringe at how much he owes the bands that were regulars at Harpo's. So to all the bands that have ever played at Harpo's, I would hunt this cocksucker down and get your money.

Currently Dave Carmona or "Snoop" is doing the band promotion thing. DO NOT agree to be backed by Powergroove Entertainment or Dave "Snoop" Carmona.

Tim Gerwitz
This one was submitted by hardcore legend Gary Meskil of Pro-fuckin-Pain:

He's a promoter from Buffalo NY. This dumb ass mullet head decided to risk the lives of himself and his family by ripping off PRO-PAIN. The cowardly douche bag Gerwitz (sounds like a bowel movement) even sent his 9 year old son to answer the door when PRO-PAIN came a knockin'. Do not, I repeat DO NOT work with this fool. If you do, one of two things will happen:

1) He will rip you off
2) You will be doing time for murder

Jason Durbin
This dick head acts like a promoter near the Chicago area, but all he does is fuck the bands that play his shows. He was putting on Durbin's Demolition shows, and taking all the money for himself. A few Core bands played a show he did and the place was packed. Rumor has it he took in over $2,000 and didn't pay anyone. Last we heard, he was still living in Aurora Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.

We signed a one year distribution contract with Statue Records, mostly for the highlight in our bio and for the notch in our belt. They came across as very professional, their old website laid claim to them being one of the oldest and respected independent labels in California. So we figured 'why not?' and released a cd through them.

As part of the contractual agreement we could pay $3.00 a cd for copies of our cd--NOT BAD!! We placed an order for 30 cd's which set us back $90+$5.00 shipping. Aesthetically, they were a train wreck. Our band name was misspelled on the cd spine and disk (as well as on their website--that's weak!), the tray cards were inconsistent from cd to cd, some were printed on high gloss paper others on matte finish paper, the shrink wrapping looked like a home job or a trip to Office Depot. We were willing to excuse these flaws, since correspondence with the A&R had become as futile as a dog chasing his tail.

We began selling and giving away copies, then the real kicker was brought to our attention. Some cds stopped working half way through, others were scratched all to hell, and the dumbest thing of all, some weren't even finalized!!! So were pretty much left with a stack of useless cds-- maybe half will work, if we're lucky.

I attempted to contact the A&R and the VP of the company to receive radio silence from both. Our contract ended last month. We felt the need to post our complaint about these unprofessional lackeys so other bands won't bother with them or at least will know what to expect upon signing

This prick is actually on the Supporters list on Heavycore (webmaster's note - not anymore). Wiande is his name. Womb Raiders signed a deal with him in 2003. We sent him material and he kept saying he never got it, and that we need to send it to his new address. We had 4 different address to send it to so we sent it to each place. He then said he would have to wait to put stuff out because he had no money. There was a time when the members of Womb Raiders were busy with other projects and because we never heard back from him about the release womb raiders was put on hold.

Once we started doing shit again we contacted him and he said to send in more stuff, and that he has money now because he does duplication, and shirts for bands, the way he does this is he uses cheap companies in France and then adds on a few hundred euros to the price for himself. He wanted us to send bands to him so "he would have more money for our releases" We told him we were not going to do that and we just wanted to put out our album. So again we sent him a copy of the new music.

Months went by AGAIN and no word from him. In 2004 we had only heard from him a few times. Now in march-may 2005 we sent him our full length 2 more times. He claimed he never got it again yet it was the exact address he gave, and it was something that he had to sign for so we know he got the package. With that news he started to complain about there was no bass in our music, and we did not give him a metal album (by the way the mp3s on our site are the some of the songs on the album we sent)

But as shitty as the rest of that was several distros, and fans from Europe contacted me and told me that they loved the album, and shirts. I had no idea what they were talking about and asked. They said that they had bought copies of the album and some shirts from meat 5000 records. Right away I contacted him and he never responded. Months passed and he posted a message in our guestbook saying "since i never got your material our deal is over"

We are in the process of taking this to court, as we are members of ascap they are trying to help us get compensation. MEAT 5000 RECORDS IS A TOTAL RIP OFF! Another band that we know was working with them back in 2003-2004 and we talked to them recently and the ytold us he did something similar to them. They sent him copies of their album and just recently found shirts and their album in a distro in the UK saying "just in from meat 5000 records."

Meat 5000 Records also claims that Roger from Mortician ripped him off for 20+cds. I know Roger and he told me that Wiande's band submitted material to his label and he rejected them because he had swastikas and other Nazi material on the disc, and on/in the cover/book. He said that he would not list them in his distro with that on the cover and that he would not work with his band.

Nighthawk Records - Jessie James
This was submitted by the band Tinnitus:

Night Hawk Records is run by a guy with the name Jessie James (we should have seen it coming by the name alone). I believe his real name is Lindy James (he claims that's his wife's name, but he has all the bands send money to that name.) He claims to be a former member of The James Band and had a solo career under the name Jessie James (which there was a couple 70's bands by that name so when you check it our he seems legit).

He will come of legit at first he will send you stuff to sign up for A.S.C.A.P. and send stuff for you to start a fan club (just cheap photocopied cards that you still have to stamp with your address). He will ask for $1000 to represent you but cut you a "deal" for like $400, because he thinks your band is great. Then he will start asking for more money for stuff like printing T-Shirts for your big tour he's "booking" for you, or money for studio time or for props to shoot a video that will always fall through at the last minute after your bands already made travel plans.

He suckered us for about a grand back in 2001 and did the same to other bands in our town, after the fact I heard back from several other bands in the area and he's feeding them all the same line of shit and tells each band not to discuss what he's doing for them with each other to stifle any jealousy between bands, but he's really just fucking everyone with the same story.

He claims to have an office in Nashville, Tennessee but will have you send every thing to a P.O box in Collinsville, IL. He has a cell phone that's registered in Nashville so it seems legit when you get your phone bill for call to him to Nashville.

If you happen to cross his path kick the fuck out of him than hold him hostage and call me I will gladly travel as far as it takes to take our $1000 back out of his ass and I'm sure several other local bands will carpool with me to lend a hand.

Dez
This was submitted by Jake from Stage Seven:

If anyone is around the Cleveland area be sure to stop by a Puppet show and kick the fuck out of their lead singer Dez. This midget piece of shit ripped off about 9 bands for a total of about 2,000. The bands were supposed to be placed on a soundtrack for a class b movie from Columbia Pictures. Long story short, no soundtrack, no money returned. Punks like this need to get a fucking beating.

Steve Helmer
This was submitted by Heavycore founder Pete Altieri & multiple Illinois bands who got screwed:

This fuck face ran a small indie label called D-Day Records. He demanded pre-payment from a couple of bands he was planning to record, and then skipped town. He was last seen in Central Illinois, but rumor is that he may be hiding out in California. He's also been known to live in Wisconsin.

update: After posting this, another Heavycore brother from Virginia said he got screwed out of $3,000 from Steve for pre-payment of a recording and a spot on a compilation cd. Also, a band from California is in the process of getting fucked in a very similar situation. We're assisting him in identifying if Steve Helmer is operating under a new name in California. This guy is taking legal action against whoever fucked him. We'll keep you posted.

update: In March 2002 his former partner from Madison WI said he believes this shit bag is living in California. Be on the look-out!

Sindo Lamas
Sindo Lamas (aka Sin) ran a small indie @ntidote Records in NY. He swindled two Heavycore Bands for a spot on the compilation Ghoul’s Night Out not to mention the other bands that would appear on the comp. After months of excuses and seeing the release date come and go he moved to Colorado . We later learned after receiving a forwarded e-mail from a band that was to appear on the comp, that Sindo Lamas claimed “heas the victim of a scam and that’s why the comp never came out”. To our knowledge he has never refunded anyone's $100 (the payment to appear on the comp). Last we heard, Sin currently resides in Colorado.

update: This was sent in anonymously - Sin is currently living in Colorado and is still running @ntidote records. He's managed to lure in quite a few bands, even though he refuses to sign contracts or pay royalties. He co-hosted a concert in August of 2003 and ran into trouble because he left before paying some of the bands their guarantees. He also ripped off another member of a well-known band for more than $500 in t-shirts that he had made but is refusing to pay for. Sin has a website for @ntidote and moderates the message board for @ntidote records. He is well known for kicking off anyone who dares to question his "business practices" or his dubious ethics.

update: This was sent in from Will Harper - I've personally been ripped off by Sin of Antidote Records. I believe I was already mentioned in the last statement about him, but here's my story. I'm in the band The Independents, but I also print t-shirts on the side for other bands, labels, etc. Sin called me and needed some shirts printed for that Antifest show in TN. I printed them, overnighted them to him so they would be there on time. I haven't heard anything from that guy since. He owes me $580. I've called, and emailed but no reply. I hear he lost a lot of money on the show, but he doesn't have the decency to even contact me. You think he would want to work out some kind of payment plan or something, but I feel that he doesn't give a damn. I was just trying to help the guy out. I feel sorry for the bands on that guys label, I'm sure he's taking most of the money from sales of their records

Rob Maske with 420 Productions out of the northwest Indiana area, fucked Low Twelve out of $50 to appear on a compilation called Badass Bands From Chicagoland. He promised to put them on his compilation and that he guaranteed each band on the comp a spot on the various showcases around Chicago. Low Twelve never saw the comp cd, and the show 420 set up was canceled and never re-scheduled. This fuck wad never returns their calls or emails.

Our Bassist/Webmaster ROSS WALTER GLAVE,of WILLITS, CA Decided to Quit the Band As of Last Week. Along with Quitting the Band he Deleted the Bands Entire Site, and replaced it with what looks like a 3 Year Old Scribbling on a wall , It say " Welcome to Mendocide.tk, Ross quits the band"... see for yourself what he has done to my Bands Site.... www.mendocide.tk

Ross has totally Dissed Us and Our Scene, Not only are we a small HeavyCore,NCMU,HCHA, not to memetion we were just added to Zombie Flesh, It makes Us and and the people that help represent us look bad.

On top of all this other shit, I found out last night that the fuckin Tweaker brought an fuckin Hack Saw to my Studio and removed locks, to take his shit, meanwhile leaving thousands of Dollars worth the equipment up for grabs for anyone to take.

This Fucker Is The Fakest Poserish Mother Fucker To Ever Try To Enter The Scene.

This fool used to help out with Heavycore as our original webmaster. After neglecting the site for months on end, and admitting bands that were not Heavycore material, he was fired from his post. Soon after, he hijacked the dot org re-direct and sent it to a page that defamed Heavycore. This new page made all kinds of false statements about Heavycore, comparing it to the KKK. He then started a new organization, but it crashed and burned in a week or so. Luckily, we were able to get the dot org back and the last we heard, he was living in Macomb Illinois.

update: We were forwarded an email from Corey that said he now lives in Pekin Illinois and is still trying to run his new organization. He was upset he wasn't "number one" on the shit list.

update: Heavycore founder Pete Altieri ran into Corey at a show in Pekin Illinois in August 2003 and the two actually spoke and were civil to each other. Hopefully Corey has chilled out on the stupid shit.

update: a Heavycore band forwarded an email they got from Corey in August of 2004. He was trying to get bands to check out a new site he's got going on. The site looks good and we'll have to see how Corey makes a go of it. Bands should still be careful based on his track record with us.

We put in an order with Branders (t shirt manufacturer) for 130 t-shirts with specific numbers of different sizes. About 10 million years later we got 3 boxes of T-shirts on the fucking sidewalk for anyone to pick up but that’s UPS. We love UPS too. Let me tell ya. But we got our 130 T-shirts. Only thing is they sent us 130 XXL shirts with shit quality. What the fuck are we gonna do with that? Play a show at a fat camp? We had a show the next night with Psychopathic records bands who would hopefully be morbidly obese so we might sell something. When we tried to fix the problem they tried to fuck us. They wanted us to keep the shirts. OK No problem. They also wanted to keep the money and have us pay for our correct order. Fuck that. They then proceeded to play “musical representatives” with us. A lot like musical chairs. You know the one where they say oh he doesn’t work here anymore let me transfer you to my supervisor who is always either A.) Out to lunch B.) Sick C.) With fake or about to be fucked customers or D.) Pretending he's the guy we just talked to or not to have anything on file. Needless to say we got our way and we now use Cinderblock and haven’t had a problem yet.

There are way too many bands to mention here. It has been a Heavycore custom to never mention the band names of our enemies. Why give them any publicity? Fuck 'em. Posers will always be posers. They know we bury their asses, that's why they hate us so!