We’ve known for some time now that seemingly none of the bands on the Soundwave 2015 lineup have been paid for their performances at the now defunct event, but it’s only been recently that bands have begun speaking out about it.

As Tone Deaf reported yesterday, in a recent interview Fear Factory frontman Burton C Bell claimed Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah should be behind bars for stiffing both the industrial metal veterans and the other bands on the 2015 lineup.

“The owner ripp[ed] everyone off. None of the bands ever got paid,” Bell told Sticks For Stones. “The best thing that could happen is that man goes to jail. He deserves to go to jail for ripping so many people off.”

“Not just bands from ‘out of the country’ but local bands as well, he ripped off local contractors also. We needed that money to survive until the record came out and when that didn’t happen, my family suffered because of it. He should just hope that he never comes across me, ever.”

Previously, British progressive band Monuments had been the only act to speak out when they were forced to launch a crowdfunding campaign to make ends meet following Soundwave 2015. “There is no reason to think he will ever pay us,” they wrote.

Now, speaking to News Corp, Millencolin lead guitarist Mathias Farm had said he was “not really” surprised when he heard news that Soundwave had been cancelled and the company wound up, saying the band sensed there was trouble when they didn’t get paid.

“I loved that festival and we had such a good time playing it but we kind of noticed something was wrong just afterwards because we never got paid,” he said. “We got some money but we got screwed over kind of bad.”

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“For us to get down to Australia costs a lot of money and also the crew have to get paid, they always get paid. But we never really got the money we were promised. Some other bands got hit much harder than we were but still, we noticed something was wrong.”

“It’s a pity because I liked that festival and also the guys that ran it were good people. I guess there will probably be some other big tour that will fill that space. We used to do that thing called Big Day Out and (Maddah) bought Big Day Out, too. We survived but it was kind of bad.”

According to documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Comission, Soundwave Festival Pty Ltd, a company now in administration, owes Fear Factory some $78,000, Monuments just over $19,000, and Millencolin almost $100,000.

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