Last night, CRADLE OF FILTH and frontman Dani Filth took to social media to announce that they have fired Šmerda with immediate effect. The post came hours after Šmerda shared his own posts announcing that he would be leaving CRADLE OF FILTH at the end of their current tour.
His announcement was the following:
“Dear fans and friends,
I ask you to please respect my wife and myself in this transitional period. 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 together at long before this week. 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 for a while like this band actually prioritizing/caring about members. It has been years of unprofessional behavior from people above us that led to our decision.
I have also asked all compositions of mine removed from upcoming releases including Ed Sheeran collab. This song feels like foolish clown antics for me at this point anyways- first it was charity single for kids, then for profit single, then on next album, and now who knows and I just do not want to be involved anymore, no disrespect to Ed Sheeran.
And meanwhile so many ‘brilliant’ Internet brains trying to speculate on personal affairs between me and Zoe– just stop this, please. We are trying to start new chapter.
And I am going to finish this tour strong! For the fans and for my friends in this band and crew! It is my last ride with CRADLE and I am proud to give it my best. I am sad to not share the stage with my wife these last times but I respect why she left and I am happy our friend Kelsey Peters has been given opportunity to shine.
This is all I have to say for now. Leave my wife alone. NEVER insult her or her choices in my presence… or else”.
As the couple stated at another announcement, they warned future members of the band that the pay was very low for their level of performance stating that they made about £150/day and roughly £25,000/year.
Following the above statement, Smerda was fired by the band.
“It is with a grave heart that CRADLE OF FILTH officially announce the firing of guitarist Marek ‘Ashok’ Smerda from the band, effective immediately.
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, that is of course until Ashok’s temporary replacement is flown out to join the tour in a few days time.
Thankyou for your understanding in this horrible matter, we are all in a state of shock over proceedings and will share our side to these unfortunate events in due course. Please, respect our decision to part with Ashok now rather than at the end of the tour and avoid speculation as more clarity on the situation will be provided.
The rest of the band are cool, even if taken aback, and accusations toward management, who work very closely with me and the band are completely unjust and unfounded.
Patience is a virtue and the truth will always out.
Thank you once again fellow Filthlings and we look forward to the rest of ‘The Screaming Of The Américas’ tour here in Uruguay and beyond.
Your fiend, Dani”
Federoff was with the group since 2022 while her husband, Marek Smerda was part of the line up for over a decade.
