This past weekend, two band members quit Cradle Of Filth, the long-running symphonic black metal band, while they were mid-tour. Singer/keyboardist Zoë M. Federoff was the first to leave, and her guitarist husband Marek “Ashok” Šmerda followed a few days later. Šmerda cited "unprofessional ehavior" from frontman Dani Filth and derided their long-planned Ed Sheeran collab as "foolish clown antics," while Dani Filth claimed that Šmerda had actually been fired. Now, Federoff has shared her side of the story.
In a long Instagram statement, Zoë M. Federoff complains of a "threatening and abusive" work environment, "dishonest and manipulative" management, a "psychopathic" session contract, and pay that was "less than the cost of living." She even says that the stress of Cradle Of Filth membership led her to miscarry. She also includes scans of what appears to be a band-member contract. Here's what she wrote:
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.
