HH leaving Victory 2006-08-07 by ToWhatEnd | 26 Comments | This is their newest myspace blog (8/7)
"Due to recent events we have decided to leave Victory Records. Our departure is anything but amicable. We have decided to leave Victory, in part due to the actions of the man who sits at the head of the label, Tony Brummel. Tony Brummel is a man that cares more about his ego and bank account than the bands themselves.
Many of you are familiar with the greed driven letters sent out by Mr. Brummel: his manifesto calling rock supporters to arms and virtual declaration of war on hip-hop and Ne-Yo done under the guise of a band message; as well as the street-team letter which instructed people to re-arrange our CDs, putting them in higher visibility areas in stores. Unfortunately, the head of street-team, Abby Valentine, who understandably resigned following the incident, took the fall for this. At the time of the letters we were branded as racists by some, all over a letter we did NOT write, targeting a genre which we have NOTHING against whatsoever. Because of these letters, our second album debuted at ..3 on the charts, an incredible feat, which would normally be cause for joy, but now is tainted much like Barry Bonds statistics.
When questioned about the letters Tony was more upset that we had told the press that he actually wrote the letters (not us) because he was more worried about rumors surrounding Taking Back Sunday and Thursdays exoduses being justified than the credibility and reputation of his current biggest band.
Couple these letters with him threatening the head program director at Q101 in Chicago for putting the new Taking Back Sunday song into rotation to the point in which the program director pulls Saying Sorry from rotation and you can see why we would more than question whether or not the head of our label cares about us or his own ego more.
Tony is a man whose greed knows no bounds. After selling more than 1.2 million copies of The Silence In Black and White and If Only You Were Lonely, we have never seen a single dollar in artist royalties from Victory Records. Tony will claim that we have not recouped, a term used by those in the music business which means the label has spent more money in advertising than has been made by CD sales. In fact questionable accounting practices are the culprit and we are in fact owed substantial amounts of money much like audits from Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and Atreyu have uncovered.
You may be wondering, why now? Why did they wait three years before saying something? Why did they sound happy in that interview??? Like being in an abusive relationship, we let certain things slide as we were afraid, as many of the bands on Victory are, to stick our neck out for fear of being beaten, in this case represented by the threat of not being promoted as has been the case with certain bands on the roster. Were done being abused. The reasons stated above represent the final straw in a huge pile of hay that broke our backs.
Undoubtedly Tony will proclaim that we are ungrateful and our success was due solely to his promotional efforts. In reality, promotion is only a portion of the equation in a bands success. Even then, in our case especially, promotional efforts can be attributed to the hard work of the band and staff at Victory, many of whom recently resigned or were fired due to differences with Tony. Non-stop touring, dedicated fans and songs (we challenge Tony to sell over 1 million blank CDs) account for the rest of the equation.
Weve accomplished more in three years than most bands do in a lifetime and for that we are extremely grateful and consider ourselves very fortunate. Our situation with Tony Brummel is indicative of issues that all bands on Victory Records encounter on some level or another.
We have decided to remove ourselves from the negative situation so that we can continue to do what we love best and focus on writing and playing music to people that care about what we have created.
Hawthorne Heights"
Article taken from http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=747127&blo gID=153211557&MyToken=173b854e-ed46-4ac9-bf1d-6e4e73295707
|
|
Tagged: Hawthorne Heights
|
|
Woah woah woah, shit's not supposed to leave the toilet.
| | |
me neither
i may not like HH, but they dont deserve that
| | |
Well, I sure as hell don't like what these guys do musically. But they scored points in my book with this. Nice that they go so open about this thing we all know though (I mean, we all curse the music industry now and then. On a more regular basis).
Lets see how they can do from now on.
| | |
This is about the first thing Hawthorne Heights has said that I can agree with.
I hate their music with a venomous passion, but the dirty practices in the recording industry downright infuriate me. And from what I have read, Brummel is arguably one of the most odious businessmen in the industry.
| | |
Boy they really jumped hurtles to make sure we knew about his greed.
| | |
^ Yeah really ^
come to think of it Victory records bands do get advertized a ton, especially HH. I dont like their music but they definitely scored a few cool points for this article
| | |
Whats with this digging thing, ive never even heard anything from A Wilhelm Scream
| | |
Wow, kind of makes me feel a bit pitiful for them.
| | |
[quote=pulseczar]
Woah woah woah, shit's not supposed to leave the toilet.[/quote]Sometimes they do, look at Mr. Hankey.
Well I always thought Hawthorn Heights had such potential, but was fully covered in production sh|t. This will be interesting to see where they go, you'll never know, they actaully make a record that shocks people on Drive Thru or Vagrant or something.This Message Edited On 08.08.06
| | |
you'll never know, they actaully make a record that shocks people on Drive Thru or Vagrant or something. Nah, they'll probably go to a major label and still suck.
This news sort of doesn't surprise me.
| | |
wow, I have to admit that they have balls for doing that. Nikki FM and Saying Sorry completely cancles it out, but meh
| | |
What they've done and said regarding Victory is certainly admirable. All I have to say really. 
| | |
Thanks for the not-ban Storm. I agree with most in here that these fellows did an admirable thing.
| | |
Good for them, we need more level-headed bands out there that can make their own decisions and not suck the Labels teat 24/7
| | |
Don't worry Bron. Enc is gone for a while though.
| | |
I'm happy for them. I just hope Darkest Hour and Between The Buried And Me leave soon also.
| | |
^ damn straight
as much as i dont like these guys, i have more respect for them now after the release of this statement. good for them.
| | |
I don't liek there music at all. But I do respect HH for this and for being musicians in general.
| | |
Maybe this will cause them to write better music...
Probably not, but still, they have taken some steps forward to being more respected in the music world. I applaud that.
| | |
I'm not a fan of these guys at all but I definitely admire them coming out with this, I'm glad they had the balls to stick it to the man.
| | |
I'm glad for them! Hope they can still go the way they are.
| | |
Their music is going to gradually progress from shit to listenable within about two albums, just watch.
| | |
Go Hawthorne Heights, I guess.
| | |
Good for them. I would put money on them still blowing though.
| | |
I heard about this on CDusa one week, but I didn't know they were ACTUALLY leaving Victory. I actually like the band and this news infuriates me. I agree with Sludge. They might make an album Drive-Thru might like. Either way, any band on Victory Records should sign a petition or something to fire the dude.
| | |
i can only hope that they make music that isn't so emo anymore now...
aw what am i saying... i kinda like this band. HELP
but seriously... these guys have earned more respect from their haters which is always a good thing for a band like this and i hope they don't die out cause i do like some of their music. and they do have more potential than people are giving them.
| | |
| |
• Jesse Lacey Allegations
• Jayyvon Opens Up About Abuse
• The Fall of Troy bassist melts do..
• The Story So Far's vocalist dropk..
• Deftones stream new single
• R.I.P. Lemmy
• Killswitch Engage debut new single
• Scott Weiland dead at 48
• Nothing But Thieves accusations
• Lil Peep Dead At 21
• black midi's Matt has died
• R.I.P. Bob Weir
• A Wilhelm Scream's Cheap Heat
• Phasma post new stuff
• Thy Worshiper go west to Eden
• Forever Autumn stream new LP
• Incandescence tease new album
• Babymetal celebrate 15th year
• RIP ThyCrossAwaits
• Kannatama releases demo track
• Chrocktikal announces debut
• Ichika Nito’s Grand Reveal LP
• Silje Wergeland leaves The Gather..
• Silver Dolls stream namesake EP
• R.I.P. Perry Bamonte
» see all news
|
