CORROSION OF CONFORMITY‘s Woody Weatherman says that MISFITS‘s Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein should perhaps “figure out something else to do” if he doesn’t like to take part in paid meet-and-greets with his fans.
In a recent interview with “The Liquid Conversations”, Doyle lamented the fact that artists are forced to charge their fans a fee for a photo op.
“The thing that sucks the most about it is everybody steals music,” Doyle said. “You spend a f*c*ing hundred thousand dollars to make a record and all these f*c*ing scumbags are just f*c*ing stealing it. And then they want more. And you’re a d*ck, ’cause you’re doing a meet-and-greet [after concerts] for 50 f*c*ing bucks to make up for it, which you don’t wanna do. You think I wanna meet all these f*c*ing people? I don’t. When I’m done, I wanna f*c*ing take a f*c*ing shower and go to bed. I just worked, so…”
Asked by Metal Nation Radio to weigh in on Doyle‘s comments, Woody said: “I know Doyle is a friendly guy. But I’ll say this — if he’s that dissatisfied with it, maybe figure out something else to do. Pepper [Keenan, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY guitarist/vocalist] and I often do [meet-and-greets], and we’re doing it ’cause we enjoy meeting the fans and saying ‘What’s up?’ and getting some feedback or whatever. I don’t have any problem with it.”
He continued: “I do get Doyle‘s way of thinking, ’cause it’s tough. He’s out there and he’s doing his work and doing his thing, and maybe he feels that the modern industry is… it’s not that kind to musicians anymore. But it’s the modern world. You’ve just gotta grasp it. If you don’t like it, you’ve gotta do something else, I guess.”
Paid meet-and-greets are becoming staples of the touring circuit and are seen by some artists as a necessary evil to survive nowadays. Other musicians object to meet-and-greets on moral grounds, believing they favor richer fans over poorer ones. Similarly, many people view the fact that groups charge fans to meet them as completely exploitative, since artists are usually aware that young admirers are prepared to pay any amount of money to see their favorite band, sometimes at their parents’ expense.