Davey Suicide Details Lawsuit Against Standby Records in Tell-All Video

I’d never listened to a Davey Suicide song before writing this piece. My instincts that his music isn’t really for me proved correct; his band kinda sounds like Rob Zombie, except less good.

But record labels taking advantage of artists is never OK, and on behalf of all musicians who’ve ever been fucked by labels — and history is littered with them — we’ve got to come to Suicide’s defense. Suicide is currently dealing with a shitstorm he alleges was caused by his label Standby Records, particularly the label’s owner Neil Sheehan. He claims that the label owes him $58,000 — including album advances that were never paid in full — and that Sheehan kept crooked books, among other charges.

For example: in the accounting given to bands to show what expenses the label paid for, Sheehan charged bands the entire amount of a full-page magazine ad even though the page was split between five bands. In other words, Sheehan claimed he spent $3,000 on each band, when in reality he only spent $600 per. Whoa! We’ve heard of this kind of thing happening with shady labels before, but it’s never any less upsetting.

Suicide released a ten-minute video detailing his history with Standby Records, his claims against them and the lawsuit that’s currently unfolding. Check it out below, and donate to a GoFundMe campaign to help cover legal expenses if you so choose.