“It is madness to keep people locked in poverty for the ego of one person”: Cradle of Filth members quit over alleged poor pay and “psychopathic” contract – and push back on release of Ed Sheeran collab

Two members of Cradle of Filth have said they've left the band as a result of alleged poor pay and “psychopathic” contracts

Guitarist Marek "Ashok" Šmerda and keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff – who are husband and wife – both announced their intention to leave the band, after 11 and three year stints, respectively. Federoff reported she would be leaving the band immediately, while Šmerda said he'd finish the band's current tour.

In an initial post, Federoff stated, “For personal reasons, I am unable to continue this tour and continue in general with Cradle of Filth.” She then released a more detailed explanation for her decision to exit the band, which was joined by a statement from Šmerda.

“I am indeed leaving Cradle of Filth at the end of this current tour, and the reasons behind this are conclusions my wife and I came to together long before this week,” he writes. “We simply do not feel like Cradle can provide for our future, and in fact hinders it.

“Among other reasons, it is a lot of work for relatively low pay, the stress is quite high, and we haven’t felt like this band actually prioritizes/cares about its members. It has been years of unprofessional behavior from people above us that led to our decision.”

“We planned this transition out of Cradle of Filth months ago,” Federoff alleges in her own social media post. “Management is dishonest and manipulative, trying to take money that belongs to us, as there is no contract between us, session musicians, and them.”

Federoff goes on to allege, “When I called them out on this attempted theft of album advance money from [latest album] Screaming of the Valkyries, they called me ‘cancer’ and a ‘dead horse’ and threatened to fire me. The frontman does nothing to stop them and hides behind them while they belittle and steal. We hold the frontman responsible for hiring this management and never advocating for his team, only himself.

“He might not get his hands dirty, but in the end, he directs them. The atmosphere he creates is threatening and abusive, and he constantly exploits us for very low wages, yet always demands exclusivity to Cradle's schedule. It is madness to keep people locked in poverty for the ego of one person.”

In her post, Federoff included screenshots of her contract. “Our lawyer,” she then reports, “called it the most psychopathic contract a session musician could ever be handed. We did not sign and decided to leave this year instead.”

In addition, Šmerda says he has asked for his compositions to be removed from upcoming releases, including the forthcoming Ed Sheeran collaboration, which band leader Dani Filth has teased for some time.

“This song feels like foolish clown antics for me at this point,” he writes. “First it was a charity single for kids, then a for-profit single, then on the next album, and now who knows. I just do not want to be involved anymore, no disrespect to Ed Sheeran.”

The band later issued a statement of their own in response to the posts, claiming that Šmerda – who originally planned to finish the current Cradle of Filth tour – has been fired.

“It is with a grave heart that Cradle Of Filth officially announces the firing of guitarist Marek ‘Ashok’ Smerda from the band, effective immediately,” reads an Instagram post.

“Despite all attempts to illegally defame and derail the band, Cradle Of Filth will not cancel any of our South American shows, though fans will have to bear with us being a band with only one guitarist live, until a temporary replacement is flown out to join the tour in a few days.”

Speaking to Guitar World in May, Šmerda gave an insight into life in the extreme metal band, and what he and then co-guitarist Donny Burbage needed to do to harmonize with Dani Filth's vision.

“Image-wise and stage presence are the main things and fitting into the complete picture artistically because Cradle is a lot about image and makeup,” he explained.

In March, Filth had called the band’s collab with Sheeran “amazing” as he championed the value of “weird collaborations.”