DEICIDE's GLEN BENTON: Booking Agency Is Solely Responsible For European Tour Cancellation

DEICIDE frontman Glen Benton has sent the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET regarding the Metallysee Booking Agency's claim that the group's greed was to blame for the abrupt end of their European tour:

"To all the fans & local promoters in Europe,

"In regards to the mess that just occurred in Europe: I just read what the promoter Johan [head of Metallysee] has written and I am able to respond....

"First off we have dealt with Metallysee for many years and didn't work with them for years because of their treatment of the band. In the last few years we started working with them again, with the understanding that certain things must change, one of which was the transportation... First off let me say that the 'huge amount' we demanded was $400 u.s. dollars per show.....which is nothing compared to the ridiculously low money we were being offered per show, and we felt that to live on a bus with 20 other people for four weeks we deserved it for the inconvenience of having no room to even stand.

"Now the bus....we spent the night in a parking lot waiting for the bus to start the tour, the promoter Johan lied to me several times during this ordeal. I'll break it down so it's easy to understand.... spend as little money as possible to make the most amount of money with nothing but total disregard for the safety of the band and crew. The bus shows up .....7 and a half hours late.... and it has no air conditioning, not faulty ....it didn't exist..... it is dirty beyond description, there is dead bugs in the bunks, the bunks smelt of the last band that left the bus that day, with no cleaning, we were told we would have a 'nice' bus in the agreement, what we got was embarrassing to the band and would have put everyone in risk of serious respiratory sickness and possible death. I myself returned home with a serious respiratory infection and will be seeking medical attention today....

"The bus had a serious exhaust leak which was filling it up with toxic fumes, carbon monoxide....within the few hours on the bus everyone including myself were ill from the poisonous gas...I expressed myself to Johan many times over the years that we cannot ride on these kind of buses...because they are old and are extremely dirty and a risk to our health, I personally have contracted head lice on two occasions on this same bus along with skin disorders from sleeping on a filthy bus....when we did get on the bus it was 100 degrees, with no ventilation....

"We here at DEICIDE are not in the business of ripping off promoters and this ordeal cost us over $5,000 to return home, we do not like having to leave a tour, any tour. At no time were we offered alternate transportation or to even clean the bunks for that matter....when I confronted Johan he had nothing to offer except for us to leave, never once did I demand more money from Johan, so he is the one who ended this tour with his attitude and lack of respect to the band and crew...If we had known this to be the case we would never have agreed to do this tour, bottom line. We would not have spent the night on the airport floor and spent $5,000 of our own money if the bus was habitable.

"Johan has been ripping this band off every chance he has gotten, from charging the clubs large purchase prices, then paying the band a dollar amount I am too embarrassed to mention, or bootlegging our merchandise. Not once has he shown me any contracts between him and the venues to prove me wrong, we know the fans are the ones who suffer and on behalf of myself I apologize to you the fans and the venues, as for Metallyse they got what they deserved for trying to put a fucking to DEICIDE...

"Each one of us lost out on this tour in every way and my promise to you the fans is that we will never work with this asshole again. Everyone in the band was excited about this tour, not for the money but to return to Ireland and to play Finland for the first time... All four of us feel disappointed and disturbed by this and will be contacting real agents in Europe to establish a real tour as soon as possible.

"Once again to the fans and promoters I apologize and will make this up to you ASAP. Metallysee is the responsible party for the abrupt end of this tour not DEICIDE...and I can assure you that we are not the only band to ever be fucked by that asshole... Thank you and hope to see you soon..."