Bands get a bad reputation for cancelling tours and shows, but promoters can be just as flaky as German metal band The Ocean have found out ahead of their planned Australian tour.
Spotted by Music Feeds, The Ocean appealed to fans earlier this week to help save their unannounced Australian tour in January. According to a statement posted on their Facebook page they “were supposed to tour Australia in early 2015, but unfortunately, the promoter proved to be a flake… at a stage when we are already very far into planning details of the logistics of this tour.”
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The band reveal that a number of dates had already been put on hold around the country, including The Zoo in Brisbane, Oxford Arts Factory in Sydney, and The Espy in Melbourne.
“we would really like to come and play, but need to find a reliable agency/promoter to commit to making this happen,” the exacerbated band told fans as they uploaded a photo of the tour poster which they covered in the word “cancelled?” in big red lettering
Fans quickly took to social media to help the band’s cause, with some suggesting they get in contact with Metropolis Touring or Soundwave.
Metropolis are currently touring Dreamtheater and Sepultura around Australia and have a proven track record with metal bands. Soundwave of course run the ever popular Soundwave Festival which in 2015 is expanding to two dates in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne.
@OceanCollective Contact Soundwave Touring or Metropolis Touring @iamnotshouting @soundwavetours @MetropolisTour1
— Christian J Perry (@cj_periperi) September 13, 2014
Soundwave Promoter and Twitter aficionado AJ Maddah responded to the suggestions, tweeting that the German group should send him their contact details. “We’ll try and help you… Will contact you over the weekend.” When a fan asked about the possibility of the group being added to the Soundwave Festival lineup, Maddah replied only with a smile.
@ghost_patrol @OceanCollective @soundwavetours DM me your contacts and we'll try and help you.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) September 13, 2014
A war of words had since erupted about the suitability of certain local promoters in Australia on the band’s Facebook page, with local promoter Robert McManus from Heathenskulls who brought the band to Australia for their first tour coping the beating from the band.
Responding to a now deleted comment by McManus on The Ocean’s page, the band wrote “Robert MacManus, promoter of our first Australian tour disaster: stop spamming our wall with your bullshit. I can’t believe you are still alive, after fucking so many bands in the ass hard and dry.”
“To quote Stephen O’Malley on the cancellation of their Australian tour, “The Australian promoter Robert Macmanus / Heathenskulls has shown complete inconsideration towards the basic requirements of our agreement together; in regards to preproduction, planning and structure of business” – We can only confirm this for our own experience with you!”
“As a matter of fact, the Perth show was the ONLY show of our first Australian Tour which was successful for both us and the promoter, and you know why? Because Life Is Noise ran the show, and because YOU were not involved. So stop trying to form alliances which won’t back you up, and go back to where you belong. This is not a place for you, you’re not invited to this party.”
