You’d think Metallica would have learned by now that suing people just makes them looks like a bunch of whinging old alcoholic sissies about as much as Some Kind Of Monster did. But no, now they’re apparently serving Cease and Desist letters to tribute bands as Sandman, a Canadian Metallica tribute band, found out recently.
Arriving at their show in London Ontario (in Canadia), the band “were served with ‘Cease & Desist’ papers courtesy of Metallica’s lawyers” guitarist and vocalist Joe Di Taranto posted to facebook.
Di Taranto, who also plays in Toronto metal band Warmachine, didn’t seem too fussed about the 41-page order though, ending his post with “Quite funny! LOL!”.
Catching the attention of the lawyers by using “Metallica’s logos on or to identify or promote live musical performances through Facebook and YouTube,” let this be a warning to any fellow tribute bands out there. Photoshop your art to be just different enough to avoid detection.
Anyway you can read the full document here below.
UPDATE 14/01/16 8.00PM: Metallica and Sandman have apparently squared their differences, with the thrash giants apologising to their tribute band and blaming an “overzealous attorney” for the misunderstanding.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, they said:
“We hear that a Canadian Metallica tribute band is a little upset with us and with a little digging, figured out why. It turns out that a certain letter was delivered to the band Sandman that neither we nor our management were aware of until it surfaced online. Lucky for us, the band was kind enough to post it for us to see, and it turns out that we have a very overzealous attorney who sent this letter without our knowledge.
…We have a long history of not only enjoying tribute bands, but we started as one. Heck, we even recorded a two-disc album of covers! We will always remember those days and continue to enjoy tribute bands, even inviting them to support us on various tours over the years.
…Sandman should file the letter in the trash. Keep doing what you’re doing… we totally support you! And in the meantime, our attorney can be found at SFO catching a flight to go permanently ice fishing in Alaska.”
