Over the weekend, Cradle Of Filth vocalist and keyboardist Zoë M. Federoff announced she was leaving the band in the middle of their tour. Today, her husband/the group's guitarist Marek "Ashok" Šmerda exited as well.
On social media, Šmerda shared the following statement:
Dear fans and friends,
I ask you to please respect my wife and myself in this transitional period. I am indeed leaving Cradle Of Filth at the end of this current tour, and the reasons behind this are conclusions my wife and I came together at long before this week. We simply do not feel like Cradle can provide for our future, and in fact hinders it. Among other reasons it is a lot of work for relatively low pay, the stress is quite high, and we haven’t felt for a while like this band actually prioritizing/caring about members. It has been years of unprofessional behavior from people above us that led to our decision.
I have also asked all compositions of mine removed from upcoming releases including Ed Sheeran collab. This song feels like foolish clown antics for me at this point anyways — first it was charity single for kids, then for profit single, then on next album, and now who knows and I just do not want to be involved anymore, no disrespect to Ed Sheeran.
And meanwhile so many “brilliant” Internet brains trying to speculate on personal affairs between me and Zoe — just stop this, please. We are trying to start new chapter.
And I am going to finish this tour strong! For the fans and for my friends in this band and crew! It is my last ride with Cradle and I am proud to give it my best. I am sad to not share the stage with my wife these last times but I respect why she left and I am happy our friend Kelsey Peters has been given opportunity to shine.
This is all I have to say for now. Leave my wife alone. NEVER insult her or her choices in my presence… or else
Here was Federoff's statement from Sunday (Aug. 24):
It is with deep regret I share that for personal reasons I am unable to continue this tour and continue in general with Cradle Of Filth.
Please respect my privacy and my family’s privacy. I will answer no further questions. Be kind to my successor. I wish her and my now former bandmates well.
At least, like Roy Khan said over a decade ago, God was there after all.
Yours,
Zoe
Founding vocalist Dani Filth posted a response: "A strange turn of events have manifested out here on tour for CRADLE OF FILTH in South America," he said. "Our keyboardist/backing singer Zoe Smerda has chosen to leave the band mid-tour, effective immediately. We, of course, wish her all the best for the future. And we as a band will continue onward and upward as always, with a replacement singer here in Kelsey Peters, one of the very talented CREWDLE members."
And today, Federoff expanded on what happened in a lengthy statement about mistreatment from management and Dani Filth:
A further statement on the departure of myself and Ashok from Cradle Of Filth and a warning to our successors — READ THE CONTRACT.
We planned this transition out of Cradle Of Filth months ago. Management is dishonest and manipulative and tries to take money that belongs to us with no contract between us session musicians and him. When I called them out on this attempted theft of album advance money from Screaming Of The Valkyries, they called me "cancer" and "dead horse" and threatened to fire me. The frontman does nothing to stop them and hides behind them while they belittle and steal. We hold the frontman responsible for hiring this management and never advocating for his team, only himself. Other ex members try to tiptoe around this and only blame management — management works for the frontman.
He might not get his hands dirty, but in the end, he directs them. The atmosphere he creates is threatening and abusive and constantly exploits us for very low wages yet also demands exclusivity to Cradle's schedule. We do not make even the bare cost of living, yet we are told not to tour with other bands to supplement income. It is madness to keep people locked in poverty for the ego of one person.
We attach the contract they attempted to trap all session members in for a 25% raise (The first raise in 7 years.) Our lawyer called it the most psychopathic contract a session musician could ever be handed. We did not sign and made a decision to leave this year instead.
So we left because we were being used and paid less than the cost of living, the environment is toxic and threatening, and the toll this was all taking on our lives and our marriage grew too great. The health toll it took on us also led me to miscarry our first pregnancy on tour. We chose to leave to save ourselves and create a better future for our family. Now that we are out — the sun is shining, our family has hope, and we hope every session musician who thinks about joining Cradle reads this contract and talks to a lawyer.
Good luck to whoever tries to make it work next. And remember — we all know the guy who says "All" his exes are crazy — are you sure ALL of them? Or could the problem be you, 40+ people later?
Farewell to the fans and our fellow session members and crew. They were the only part of this that remain good memories.
Dani Filth shared another statement, claiming Šmerda was fired:
It is with a grave heart that Cradle Of Filth officially announce the firing of guitarist Marek ‘Ashok’ Smerda from the band, effective immediately.
Despite all attempts to illegally defame and derail the band, Cradle Of Filth WILL NOT cancel any of our South American shows, though fans will have to bear with us being a band with only one guitarist live, that is of course until Ashok’s temporary replacement is flown out to join the tour in a few days time.
Thankyou for your understanding in this horrible matter, we are all in a state of shock over proceedings and will share our side to these unfortunate events in due course. Please, respect our decision to part with Ashok now rather than at the end of the tour and avoid speculation as more clarity on the situation will be provided.
The rest of the band are cool, even if taken aback, and accusations toward management, who work very closely with me and the band are completely unjust and unfounded.
Patience is a virtue and the truth will always out.
Thank you once again fellow Filthlings and we look forward to the rest of ‘The Screaming Of The Américas’ tour here in Uruguay and beyond. 🤘🏻
Your fiend, Dani
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