Sevendust And Soundwave War Of Words Heats Up

By Nastassia Baroni

UPDATE: The third Soundwave 2014 lineup announcement has finally dropped — full details here!

The Sevendust vs. AJ Maddah saga seems far from over as this morning the Soundwave 2014 promoter engaged in a Twitter war of words with the lead singer’s wife, after the heavy metal act explained via Facebook the circumstances surrounding their decision to pull out of Soundwave 2014.

Sevendust guitarist John Connolly took to Facebook a day ago to respond to AJ Maddah’s barrage of tweets labelling Sevendust as “pissweak” and “terrorists” for pulling out of Soundwave 2014 due to a dispute over money.

Connolly hit back, writing that the band were asking for help with the costs of travelling to Australia and alleged that they have yet to speak with Maddah personally about the dispute. “We asked for help with the travel costs and explained that we were in a really tight spot and might have to cancel if we couldn’t figure it out,” he wrote. “AJ responded, with : “No more money….you’re cancelled”. I have the actual email in front of me…”

In the post, which you can read in full below, Connolly also implied that Maddah’s reaction forced their cancellation, saying they had contingency plans to tour Australia anyway. “The ironic part is we actually did have a backup plan to come over anyways,” he explained. “but in this case he never even let us offer up a possible alternative solution…….which we had and still do……”

The Sevendust guitarist apologised to fans for the way events have unfolded but reiterated that, despite Maddah’s claims to the contrary, the decision to cancel was not theirs, “Im deeply sorry to all of our fans. This was really not our call,” he wrote.

Maddah was not content with letting sleeping dogs lie, emphasising in an early morning Twitter conversation that the band “held a gun to his head”, threatening cancellation if they weren’t given more money. “They said give us a load more money or we’ll cancel. I don’t believe it came w a question mark,” he tweeted.

The twitter battle escalated quickly when it was revealed that Ashley Witherspoon, the wife of Sevendust lead singer Lajon Witherspoon, had joined the conversation. “So the band hides behind the singer’s wife! That’s priceless!,” wrote Maddah. To which Witherspooon responded, “they aren’t hiding!”

The two then went head to head in a brutal crossfire of tweets, which you can read below, each blaming the other for the events that unfolded. Maddah inundated Witherspooon with a series of tweets outlining the non-refundable expenses, like Visa fees and flights, that he’s been left with. Adding, “But more than any of those it is a tone of give us more money or we’ll cancel.”

The bitter turn this saga has taken suggests it may be a while before Australian stages will host a Sevendust gig, with Maddah clearly announcing he will not work with the band again, “they have now done this to me 3 times at considerable cost and as such I choose not to work w them again.”

Post by John Connolly.

Nastassia Baroni
Nastassia Baroni

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