Band Accuses Rise Records of Shafting Them, Scuttling Orlando Tribute Video
The last time we wrote about Rise Records artist Exotype was when Axl was laughing at them for looking silly and sounding bad. We haven’t thought about them since, until Brian Storm posted about them on RockFeed.
But apparently, Exotype are making a public feud out of recent disagreements with Rise Records. According to the band, the label not only shafted them in a myriad of ways (including instructing them to leave a tour manager on the side of the road), but also sabotaged the release of a track they wrote in dedication to the victims of the Orlando shooting.
Vocalist Steven McCorry has written a lengthy editorial listing Rise’s wrongs. You can read it in full over at RockFeed, but here are some highlights
“Lets talk about how Rise Records abandoned us, as well as the reason we are no longer on the label. On that very same Amity Affliction tour, we employed a tour manager. After picking him up in Texas and playing a few dates, we receive a text from Craig Ericson stating that said tour manager is ‘cancer’ and to ‘leave him on the side of the road.’
“Ummmm no, sorry. That’s a human being. Come to find out, Craig had some personal beef YEARS back with this individual that has NOTHING to do with Exotype. We told him that we would no longer employ him on the tour and that he needn’t worry about it any longer. Plus, with a 150 dollar per night guarantee we could barely afford to eat, much less pay for a plane ticket to send the guy home, so he remained on the road as a passenger with us. People talk, and word got back to Craig that we didnt leave him in the desert of Arizona at a gas station, and what followed could best be described as a grown man having a temper tantrum.
“He pulled us off upcoming tour plans, including Warped Tour and said things such as, ‘Guess you want to ruin your relationship with your label, time to learn your lesson.’
“From then on, Rise Records refused to repost any updates from our band. Nothing from Facebook or any other social media [platforms]. They assigned us a day to day manager to slowly feather us into the dirt. We were offered no more tour support, and were completely abandoned. As a result of not having our label back us any longer, we lost our agent, as well as our management, and were left to die. We offered out of the kindness of our hearts to fund and execute a music video for our song STAND UP, which Rise agreed to repost on social media and push, as our last offering on Rise Records.
“AP [Alternative Press] released it exclusively, and Rise reposted it from their Facebook page. Only, there was a little gear icon next to the post instead of the normal ‘world icon. They reposted it so only we could see it. To shut us up. They PURPOSEFULLY went out of their way to ensure that only we saw it, and no one else.
“Keep in mind, this is a video we DEDICATED TO THE VICTIMS OF THE PULSE SHOOTING in our hometown of Orlando. It’s a video we put a lot of money and effort into making, to raise awareness of the horrible atrocities that took place, and to inspire people to stand up for themselves and what they believe in. Rise chose to let personal interfere with business, and rob the music community of that video just to spite us. Frankly, that’s disgusting.”
The band also posted the following text exchange to their Facebook:
Well, look, as I made apparent early on, we’re not huge Exotype fans. That said, if Rise actually did fuck these guys over due to personal beef, it’s super unprofessional. If what Exotype are saying is true, these texts are kind of damning.
The stifling of a song dedicated to a hometown tragedy is also pretty fucked up, yes, but it sounds like Rise Records was more focused on harming Exotype than, say, belittling the deaths of fifty people in Orlando. So while I understand Exotype’s outrage, I think it’s unfair to assume Rise have something against honoring the dead in that tragedy.
Anyway, we’ll see what Rise Records come back with, if anything. Maybe there are two sides to this story–we’ll just have to wait and see.
