Justis Mustaine Responds to Allegations by Havok: “I Was Compensated Poorly For My Work”

Yesterday we published a statement from Havok explaining why, in their eyes, they were booted from their fall tour with Megadeth, Amon Amarth, Suicidal Tendencies and Metal Church. In short, Havok alleged that Mustaine Management — owned by Dave Mustaine’s son Justis — offered them an unfair management contract and kicked them off the tour when they wouldn’t sign it.

Dave Mustaine responded to those allegations in a series of posts on Twitter, which are collected here. Among his claims: the contract Havok were offered was “industry standard,” and that Havok owed the management company money for an unpaid merch bill.

Now Justis himself has responded via Facebook, echoing his father’s comments and saying he was “compensated poorly for [his] work.”

At the crux of this issue is what exactly the management contract offered to Havok called for. Yes, 15% is industry standard for management. But there’s a lot of room for nuance within that (which streams of income are commissioned at that rate? net or gross? etc), and there’s a whole lot that happens behind the scenes between bands and their managers that often isn’t explicitly covered by a management contract. My gut tells me that something else was going on here — in the way of promises made, or money laid out, or something else — that’s not being shared publicly.

Whatever the case, I propose a solution: let’s see the fucking contract! Get it out there for the world to parse. MetalSucks has enough readers who are themselves prominent industry managers and professionals, and we’ll be able to sort out in due time whether Havok’s claim that the deal was unfair was true or not.

Meanwhile, Lillake — a new death metal band featuring Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Nico Santora — have replaced Havok on the tour. Listen to their debut album here.