Despite maintaining a good relationship with Soundwave founder AJ Maddah for years, even Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has lamented the way the beloved Australian heavy music festival was “mismanaged” and left many bands, including two of his own, out of pocket.
“It was really weird. When you’re a band like Slipknot you work with certain companies like Live Nation and whatnot so you find a way to get reimbursed,” the always outspoken Slipknot frontman tells News Corp in a recent interview.
“For us it was more about being in front of the audience and playing for the fans anyway — you lose some money it’s not a big deal and you find a way to make it up somewhere else. I feel bad for the younger bands — who — that pay cheque is how they get to the next territory.”
Indeed, as Tone Deaf reported at the time, Soundwave 2015 concluded with the entire lineup as creditors. Even smaller bands like Coldrain ($16,270.50), Nonpoint ($8,137.54), Ne Obliviscaris ($5,720.60), and Monuments ($19,153.00) were owed tens of thousands of dollars.
“That to me is the real tragedy of Soundwave and really that’s what [the] story is,” Taylor told News Corp. According to the singer, he first noticed something amiss in the Soundwave camp when his other project, Stone Sour, was “d***ed over” in 2013.
“It was one of the coolest festivals to be a part of and yet so many bands got d***ed over,” Taylor said. ““A lot of bands suffered because of the mismanagement and it’s a bummer because if it was handled right — that festival would still be going,” he added.
“It sucks doing business with those guys… but it was an absolute f***ing pleasure to play.” In a response to News Corp, Maddah himself said it was “disappointing” to hear Taylor’s comments, saying they walked away “with millions of dollars from Soundwave and I lost everything”.
According to documents obtained by Tone Deaf in July, Soundwave was already in dire financial straits before the 2015 festival. According to a circular to creditors from Deloitte (Soundwave’s administrators) the company may have been insolvent as early as April 2014.
“As liquidator of the Company, it is my duty to investigate the demise of the Company,” the circular read. “My initial analysis revealed indicators of insolvency which suggest the Company may have been insolvent as early as April 2014, following the 2014 Soundwave festival.”
Meanwhile, the collapse of Soundwave may prove a boon for Slipknot in the long run. Taylor’s bandmate, Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, recently revealed he is “pretty positive” the band will bring their Knotfest music festival to Australia in the future.
