60
13
2908

About the Author

sarahanne

view my other 2587 articles

www.fasterlouder.com.au

Closure In Moscow not playingSoundwave

Fri 19th Feb, 2010 in Local News

Soundwave Festival has released the following statement ( of sorts ) on their official forums, announcing the withdrawal of Closure In Moscow from the line-up.

We are guessing the band probably won’t be playing the festival again anytime soon:

It is amazing how the one band you book on the festival only as a favour to their manager; whom you are paying 10 times what they are worth as a gesture of goodwill; and you bill way above their station, turn out to be the only demanding and rude people amongst a star-studded line up.

Here are some tips for other local bands hoping to keep a spot on a national festival:

1.Having a band member call the festival admin manager 2 days out from the festival with a new list of demands and being aggressive, rude and yelling at her only works if you are holding hostages.

2. Don’t demand that festival vehicles and drivers pick band members up from their homes and then drop them off after the festival. Specially if you live on an island off the Gold Coast!

3. Don’t demand that the festival should book and pay for your accommodation on top of the $25,000 you’re being paid to pay for your own lodgings.

I could go on and on. Maybe publish a book some day…
Revised timetables will be posted shortly.

Get in the mood for all things Soundwave with our photo retrospective.

Comments

www.fasterlouder.com.au

arrow left

Add Another | View all the comments in forum »

30575

JackT

JackT said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Righhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht

Braveheart81

Braveheart81 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Sounds like someone had a bit of a tanty.

lukey26

lukey26 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Ha! They looked rather arrogant when I saw them a few years ago.

grattan

grattan said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Woah - classic. Your move Moscow...

Dexter Ramone

Dexter Ramone said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Who was really going to go see them on the day anyhow.

deanoss

deanoss said on the 19th Feb, 2010

sarahanne

sarahanne said on the 19th Feb, 2010

HAHAHAHAHAHA AWESOME

DougieAndJayney

DougieAndJayney said on the 19th Feb, 2010

That is fricken brilliant. I need to write a book on this shit one day....

Braveheart81

Braveheart81 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

There'll be six or seven people who are really upset right now.

Sunnyboyz

Sunnyboyz said on the 19th Feb, 2010

The band... and manager.

mooney88

mooney88 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

awesome avatar. very jealous.

stantos

stantos said on the 19th Feb, 2010

i def would have seen them. their album is really solid.

Dexter Ramone

Dexter Ramone said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Says the guy with Lil John as an avatar.

gumbuoy

gumbuoy said on the 19th Feb, 2010

I can't believe I'm the first person to suggest...

Bluejuice to take their spot?

brianward81

brianward81 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

bastards - i was really looking forward to seeing them for the first time after getting their cd last month. now i find out they're douches.

mooney88

mooney88 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Closure in Moscow DJ Set

MMRR said on the 19th Feb, 2010

holy crap....... closure in moscow not good at all...

Braveheart81

Braveheart81 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

I've never listened to them, but if I was to take a guess, this is what I'd have come up with also.

mooney88

mooney88 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

My friend in the industry reckons its that AJ dudes fault. Apparently he is just a massive nutter.

yeoman

yeoman said on the 19th Feb, 2010

I find this pretty unprofessional on Soundwave's behalf, but thats why i like it so much.

deanoss

deanoss said on the 19th Feb, 2010

mondo22

mondo22 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

haha fully. but very entertaining and i dont think any less of the organizers.

lucky RX Bandits are on at the same time in brisbane

MorningAfterboy

MorningAfterboy said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Anyone got word on the new timetables?

Dexter Ramone

Dexter Ramone said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Later today seems tobe the go.

knate

knate said on the 19th Feb, 2010

The only thing unprofessional on soundwaves behalf was giving them 25k to play...

tyler07

tyler07 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Lololololol. Shit band, anybody thinking about seeing them should have a closer look of the timetable and see that, for Brisbane anyways, This is Hell, Rx Bandits and Rolo Tomassi are all on at the same time, and are all far better bands.

Longer sets for all on mainstage? Alexisonfire and Paramore getting one hour sets? Hmm...

death_in_vogue

death_in_vogue said on the 19th Feb, 2010

it is unprofessional but what sw has pretty much always done (not bsed around the fans and kept them in the loop unlike bdo a lot of the time). closure in moscow sound like a bunch of arseholes anyway. better off without them.

craig123

craig123 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

a response is posted here for all that care.

http://modlife.com/closureinmoscow/blog

Sunnyboyz

Sunnyboyz said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Woah.

shit just got real.

Braveheart81

Braveheart81 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Dissapointing. I was hoping for more of a Muscles style rant.

ThatDude123

ThatDude123 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Spoke too soon Bravey. Even more hilarious responses from account CIM.

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/3878766

grattan

grattan said on the 19th Feb, 2010

a response is posted here for all that care.

http://modlife.com/closureinmoscow/blog

We have been absolutely devastated since being told that we couldn't perform at Soundwave this year. We've heard it's because we acted like "a bunch of rude ungrateful cunts" as AJ articulated ever so warmly in an email to us.

We'd like to take a moment and address briefly the outrageous claims by Mr. Maddah. With only days before the beginning of the festival, we still didn't have any information. They were booking our flights as part of our deal and we still hadn't received any flight details or tour details. We were also under the impression that they'd be paying for our hotels the same that they do for all of the other Soundwave artists. Finding out that we were responsible for that ourselves was perfectly fine. Nobody even challenged it. We simply said okay and moved on. They were also providing ground transportation. Seeing as how we live in Australia and are already in Brisbane rehearsing for the tour, it seems a logical question to want to know if we should meet them somewhere central or if they'd be picking us up where we currently were. We were told they could pick us up and that was the end of that conversation. If they had a problem with any of those things they should have spoken up. We didn't demand or even request anything. We simply asked them questions for things that were still unanswered. Nobody raised their voice or even got upset. Minutes after hanging up what we felt was a normal routine conversation, we get a call from AJ. Keep in mind this is the first time that we are speaking to AJ about ANYTHING. After listening to a mouthful of profanity and being belittled, he ended his sentence with "you're off the festival" and then hung up on us without the slightest opportunity for discussion. You can imagine our shock. It's impossible to entertain the thought that we offended someone so deeply by asking logistical touring questions.

Obviously we were and still are confused over what happened. Had we been in the wrong, we would have promptly apologized. But we are not in the wrong in this matter. Mr. Maddah is clearly in the wrong and we won't beg forgiveness for something we didn't do.

Judging by the behavior so far, I'm certain we'll be painted as some ungrateful punks. The truth is we were very honored to have been included in the festival. We were blown away when we found out we'd be playing Main Stage. We are well aware that AJ was doing a favor to our manager but nobody asked him to put us on the main stage and nobody asked him to offer us as much as he did which he's now complaining about. He's the one that offered us the money. We expected much less and were again very grateful when we got the offer. We demanded nothing through this process and have been thankful each step of the way. He's the one that offered us these great opportunities and then took them all away. Anyone that knows us will tell you that we aren't the type of band this man has suggested we are.

All we ever wanted from day one is to play our music for people. It's truly a shame that our fate on this tour has been decided by the whims of one man's lofty imagination. We aren't about to let this dictate our future though. We will be making plans immediately to play a handful of FREE shows for those that went to Soundwave hoping to see us play. While it isn't our choice not to play, it isn't yours either. We will do everything we can to make this right for those that wanted to see us play. We'll also be making plans to do a full headline tour before leaving for Warped Tour this year.

We're grateful to have so many supportive friends and fans that know how absolutely childish and absurd this is. It's sad that this type of behavior exists and is tolerated in an industry designed to promote positivity, creativity and artistic expression through music. Let's not allow one person's negativity keep us from remembering that music is meant to be a catalyst for good; to uplift and encourage. If there's ever a time to remember that, it's now.

JackT

JackT said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Weren't Closure In Moscow only playing at midday for half an hour?

MorningAfterboy

MorningAfterboy said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Yes, but they said they'll be revising the timetables.

tyler07

tyler07 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

AJ sounds like a sweet dude...
Didn't he crack the shits last year with The Audition or someone, in a very similar style rant about money and playing times?
Maybe it's his yearly pre-soundwave ritual

craig123

craig123 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

thanks Grattan - i just don't have that marketing mentatility today to keep everyone here !!:)

Napoleon Solo

Napoleon Solo said on the 19th Feb, 2010

AJ is a cocksmoker. If you have got a problem with a band on your tour who you need to kick off, you do that without turing it into a slagfest. What does the juvenile moron do? Posts a rant in a public forum and has a cry on twitter. I think Closure in Moscow are shit but I am still more inclined to believe their side of the story.

JackT

JackT said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Spoke too soon Bravey. Even more hilarious responses from account CIM.

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/3878766

I am dumbfounded people in that thread seemed to believe that account was real, at least a couple of them?

grattan

grattan said on the 19th Feb, 2010

haha - wasn't really thinking of that... just thought some punters might not be able to click through.

craig123

craig123 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

oh shit - yeah sometimes I forget that as well !!!

Brail

Brail said on the 19th Feb, 2010

so you are more inclined to believe their story... based solely on the irrelevant fact that aj make the altercation public?

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/3878766

cim said 1 hour ago:
and, az far az the accom and stuff goes, we have no say, itz our manager that does the talking so to slight us az a unproffesh band just sux and makes us feel not part of the scene. itz just cruel and hurtz

i hope this isn't real. who would talk like this on behalf of any band?

tyler07

tyler07 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Brail = AJ's FL account

Brail

Brail said on the 19th Feb, 2010

i take that as a compliment. :d

JackT

JackT said on the 19th Feb, 2010

so you are more inclined to believe their story... based solely on the irrelevant fact that aj make the altercation public?

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/3878766

i hope this isn't real. who would talk like this on behalf of any band?

Certaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinly not real.

tyler07

tyler07 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

You shouldn't be..

brittles

brittles said on the 19th Feb, 2010

I think everyone needs to relax. All Time Low will provide more than enough of bed hair for everyone.

meltrev said on the 19th Feb, 2010

lol "industry".

mooney88

mooney88 said on the 19th Feb, 2010

sup mel!
sif diss me on fl in front of my internet friends.

MorningAfterboy

MorningAfterboy said on the 19th Feb, 2010

Friend of yours, Moondog?

meltrev said on the 19th Feb, 2010

hahaha <3 ily. just giving you shit!

clashpalace said on the 19th Feb, 2010

It was on JJJ HACK today.

Aj sounds like an utter douche, but then he made CIM sound like utter douches in his post

so either AJ is an UBER douche or theyre all a bunch of douches.

I refuse to believe that CIM got kicked off the tour in that manner. For asking questions?

They HAD to be whinging to him atleast slightly about the things he mentioned.

Either that or he really is somesort of bipolar coke snorting mental case.

he said she said

SharpShooter

SharpShooter said on the 20th Feb, 2010

why would you put a band on a bill if you don't think that they belong there and why would you do it as a favour to their manager? bad call all-round.

ItsJustEsther

ItsJustEsther said on the 22nd Feb, 2010

pffffft!! i know these guys and they would never take anything for granted.

they were so stoked to even be given the opportunity, and are now organizing free shows for people who'd wanted to see them.

they're pure music and just want to play for people and have a good time with everyone.

don't make them out to be assholes because they're anything but that!!

mondo22

mondo22 said on the 22nd Feb, 2010

post count makes post questionable.
but im likely to believe CIM's story anyway

Braveheart81

Braveheart81 said on the 23rd Feb, 2010

pffffft!! i know these guys and they would never take anything for granted.

they were so stoked to even be given the opportunity, and are now organizing free shows for people who'd wanted to see them.

they're pure music and just want to play for people and have a good time with everyone.

don't make them out to be assholes because they're anything but that!!

THEY'RE PURE MUSIC

gumbuoy

gumbuoy said on the 23rd Feb, 2010

de-tec-tive

de-tec-tive said on the 24th Feb, 2010

there were fliers being handed out after the Placebo sideshow for Closure In Moscow headlining a SW after-party (don't think it was the official one) - hilarious

Dexter Ramone

Dexter Ramone said on the 24th Feb, 2010

yeah it was the official one

bellaroo

bellaroo said on the 24th Feb, 2010

this aj guys sounds like a total wank. on the point that he apparently "did them a favour" by posting them on the main stage as a "favour to their manager" and paying "ten times their worth" is a major managerial mistake which has put unnecessary pressure on himself, the festival and its reputation, and put the band in an unfair predicament which is wholly and entirely not their fault or decision. the rumours that cim were asking unreasonable requests at the last minute sounds like a bit of a chinese-whispered cop out as a means of explanation for aj to axe the band's bill and get himself out of the shit... has douche written all over it

Siamesedreamer

Siamesedreamer said on the 24th Feb, 2010

maybe he could have spent all that money he was going to pay closure on an adequate water supply.