We’ve talked about the band recently since a fight started between them and Sumerian records concerning a song featuring Asking Alexandria‘s Denis Stoff. The band defied them and released the track whatever Sumerian had to say (read this or this).
We’ve had the chance to speak with guitar player Myungjae Lee while he was waiting for a flight in Korea.
Ride The Sky : How are you & where are you right now ?
Myungjae Lee : I’m doing good. I’m in Korea right now.
Are still living in Dubai or have you moved somewhere closer to Germany/the rest of the band?
M: Well, I’m going back to Dubai today but I currently live in the Netherlands. I’ve just travelling since I have holidays now. I’ve just been travelling.
That’s cool. You’ve recently released a new song featuring Denis Stoff, and it has made a lot of people talking about you. Before speaking of this drama with Sumerian, I’ve heard that the song was supposed to come out last year, right ?
M : Well, we didn’t have any specific plans other than including the song on the EP but that was not possible due to factors out of our hands. (The 6 – tracks EP Miles Apart was released in February 2014)
Back in 2013/early 2014 when the song was being recorded, Denis wasn’t as popular as he may be now. Why did you choose him?
M : We knew him since he was doing his covers and there is no doubt that he is a great vocalist, if not one of the best. That was the main reason we chose him. Also, the price was reasonable and we had expected Down & Dirty to be a success.
How did you get in touch with him or his manager?
M : We expressed it to our manager that we would be interested in having him feature in one of our songs and he actually made it happen. After that, we started exchanging emails with Denis.
Did he accept immediately?
M : Our manager told us one day that Denis is interested as well so we shot him an email. Things were actually moving pretty fast when we first went it on this.
I’ve read the different emails [read here] you send him. Seems like he « forgot you » after you sent the money, although it’s true he was working hard with D&D
M : Yes. I can definitely understand him putting his effort in his band but I think deadlines and promises should be respected, especially when we paid him considerable amount of money for him to take part in this.
Despite he had a 4 months delay, are you satisfied with his parts in the song?
M: I personally am satisfied with it.
I’ve seen on Facebook, before you published the emails, some people saying stuff like « he wasn’t famous enough but now he’s with AA so we might use his fame and also make him a douche in the comments », how did you react to that?
M : I’m not going to deny that we took advantage of this situation. But I see nothing wrong with that as we paid him to take part in this. Also, this could have been avoided had he did his part in time or had given us that refund back in last February instead of ignoring it. As for the part that people are accusing us of making him look like a « douche », we are only explaining our side of the story so people would be aware of this whole situation. I think that we will have a great resistance if people knew the story. Regardless, our main intention is to release and have the rights to the song, not make him look bad. If you see our posts or statements, we are not calling him names nor are we labelling him. I think some people are just implying that because a member of their favourite member is in this drama and they feel offended by that, I don’t know.
Seems logic to release it, as he is actually known now. When did you decide to release the song?
M: Obviously after Denis has been announced as Asking Alexandria’s new vocalist haha. We really had no clear plans for it ever since it didn’t manage to make it on the EP as Denis failed to get it done by then.
And when did Sumerian ordered you not to release the song? Was it when you announced the release or previously?
M : We received an email from Denis few days before the release asking us to understand his situation and not to release the video. We did find it understandable but we obviously wanted a refund. However, he said he wouldn’t refund as he did his parts already. We found that very odd so our management reached out to Sumerian and they were supporting Denis. That made no sense.
Are you not afraid of what Sumerian could do as you dared to say « fuck it, we have the right to release it »? Are they still talking with you or have they stopped after you defied their order?
M : Personally, I don’t really think they can do anything. Sure they can take it to court but I think we did nothing wrong so I don’t think they would get anything out of us. Our management has been handling the communication with Sumerian but I don’t think it is still ongoing.
I wouldn’t necessarily call it an order either. They are in no place to control us. I’d rather call it a request.
Do you have any ideas of why Denis asked you to keep the song for yourselves? Quite strange to sing in a song, and then refuse to have it released.
M : He said since he is in Asking Alexandria, he is not allowed to do any features and that us releasing it would put him in trouble. I find that a good reason enough but what I don’t understand was despite all that, he still didn’t want to give us a refund. I mean, it was his choice to join the band and I just don’t find it fair that we have to pay for his decisions. Also, since he’s joined Asking Alexandria, he has been featured in a song of another band.
It’s hard not to mention Asking Alexandria, but did they contacted you? Or was it only Denis and Sumerian?
M : No, we have had no contact with anyone else but Denis from Asking Alexandria. I think this is between us and Denis/Sumerian, not with the whole band.
Well despite this problem, it seems you gained quite a lot of popularity. Seen Metalhammer and AltPress talked about you. How do you feel with that?
M : Well, I think it’s pretty great because more people are becoming aware of our music and band. After all, any publicity is good haha.
I’ve seen you posted a picture recently, do you have a music video coming?
M : Won’t say anything about that so I guess it depends on how you interpret that picture. But we have new music coming and are working on more stuff!
This is really cool, I’m looking forward to this new music.
Thank you for time Myungjae and have a good flight
M : Thanks for your time too, have a good day!
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