Batushka Lawsuit Update
Batushka guitarist Krzysztof Drabikowski and vocalist Bartłomiej Krysiuk have been sparring publicly over use of the band’s name since the beginning of the year. While Drabikowski claims to have written all the band’s music and says his project is being hijacked, Krysiuk has continued on with his own version of the band and plans to release an album with Metal Blade Records. It would seem as if there are some key details to the situation that aren’t publicly known, but those are likely to see the light of day soon in the ongoing court proceedings in the band’s native Poland.
Today we’ve got some updates on the court situation, and the tl;dr version is this: a Polish court moved in April that the Krysiuk-led Batushka should cease releasing albums and performing while the case is ongoing, and Drabikowski shared this decision online, touting it as a victory. Then today, Krysiuk and the Metal Blade Records-signed version of Batushka issued a statement essentially saying that a) the court’s ruling is a temporary injunction based only on Drabikowski’s version of events and makes no ruling about the case as a whole, b) Krysiuk plans to countersue Drabikowski for causing harm to Batushka’s current business, and c) the Krysiuk-led version of Batushka does not plan to honor the court decision anyway and will continue to release music and perform live.
Here is the court decision, dated April 18th, posted by Drabikowski:
And here is today’s statement, issued by an attorney on behalf of Krysiuk, explaining Krysiuk’s position and intentions moving forward:
As we’ve stated in all of our coverage of the Batushka situation and again at the top of this piece, it’s incredibly difficult to make a judgment here because, as mere fans, we have no way of knowing all the facts behind this case; my guess is that there are some serious issues that led to the feud that aren’t publicly known and may never be. We’ll just have to wait and see what the court decides, but in the meantime it seems the Krysiuk-led version of the band still plans to release music this year. Stay tuned.
