What’s going on with Cradle of Filth?

Two members have quit mid-tour amid some serious allegations – but the band says one of those members was sacked

Who needs soap operas when you have heavy metal? In the past few days, excrement was hit the fan in the Cradle of Filth camp – two members have announced their departure from the band amid some strong accusations of mistreatment and “psychopathic” behaviour from bandleader Dani Filth and management.

The rather public spat – which was followed by a contradictory official statement from Cradle of Filth – also gives a damning insight into the perils of the jobbing musician. So what’s going on, and what can we extract from the drama swirling around the band’s camp?

TLDR

It’s quite a complex situation we have here. So let’s break it down in the simplest form possible. Cradle of Filth are currently on tour, with their last date of the year in Belgium on 7^th December. Their calendar is pretty exhaustive, save for an 18-day week break in early November. This is important to note as both musicians had wanted to transition out of the band smoothly, upon completion of the tour.

First to quit was keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff. On Monday, 25^th August she had said that, “for personal reasons, I am unable to continue this tour and continue in general with Cradle of Filth.” Her departure was immediate.

Two days later, guitarist Marek "Ashok" Šmerda – who is also Federoff’s husband – announced his departure, but with the view of “finishing this tour strong” first.  His statement was far longer and more detailed which came an hour apart from another post from Federoff which also went into more detail.

“I came together at long before this week,” Ashok 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 for a while like this band actually prioritizes/cares about members. It has been years of unprofessional behavior from people above us that led to our decision.”

The pair's attempts to transition out of the band are confirmed by Federoff, who, echoed, “we planned this transition out of Cradle of Filth months ago,” before launching an attack on frontman Dani Filth and the band's management. 

Their posts were then countered by an official statement from the band. It read: “It is with a grave heart that Cradle Of Filth officially announces 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, until a temporary replacement is flown out to join the tour in a few days.”

Whatever side you may lean on here, Cradle’s post is disappointing. Ashok had wanted to see the year out, professionally. But his whistle-blowing, with Cradle now playing the victim, it would seem, has ultimately cost him his job.

What are the accusations?

Federoff’s claims centre around her treatment, particularly the “manipulative” management that is “trying to take money that belongs to us.”

Vitally here, the members of the band are hired as session musicians. This is Dani Filth’s band. The rest are hired guns.

“There is no contract between us, session musicians, and them,” Federoff says. However, a contract had recently been offered to them, and Federoff has shared details of that contract.

“Our lawyer,” she says, “called it the most psychopathic contract a session musician could ever be handed. We did not sign and decided to leave this year instead.” We’ll get to the contract later.

Federoff’s accusation against Filth and the band’s management are perhaps damning, claiming that they were stealing album advance money from them, in relation to 2025 release, Screaming of the Valkyries.  

“When I called them out on this attempted theft… they called me ‘cancer’, a ‘dead horse’ and threatened to fire me,” she alleges. “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.”

As the pair had stated, this behaviour is said to have been going on for a long time. Federoff joined the band in 2022, Ashok in 2014. However, it would be safe to assume that the environment has only worsened since Federoff’s joining. Surely she wouldn’t knowingly enter a toxic work environment that her husband is already familiar with?

The contract

The proposed contract, which Federoff is the first of its kind, offered a 25% pay rise. This, she adds, was the first of its kind in seven years.

If signed, it sees musicians waving away all copyright of recorded music, their exclusive rights to their name and likeness in relation to the band's activity, and it states that they must be available for gigs, photo and video shoots, recording sessions, and meet-and-greets as reasonably required by us.

Federoff had stated that the band were expecting its session players to be available at its beck and call, which she seems to insinuate hinders the pair from committing to work outside of the band. As a freelancer, this is severely limiting. So does the gig pay well? Could it reasonably be their sole job, and provide a decent income?

Earnings

Artists are being offered £200 per day for the days they work, which includes gigs, recording, and promo shoots. They would be paid £150 per day for days when travelling, so days during a tour when there isn't a show, and an extra £25 per day upon which your services are required. There's also an annual payment of £1,000 for the use of your image and/or performance. If an artist leaves the group before the year's end, that fee would be tweaked pro-rata, so scaled down depending on how much of the year they have worked. That equates to about  £83.30 per month.

What does that actually mean? Well, here is an estimated breakdown over the course of a year.

-          105 shows  (21,000)

-          45 travel days (£4,725)

-          2 video/photo shoots (£400)

That would equate to approximately £28,000 per year, with only a third of the year dedicated to working days. This, of course, is pre-tax, so around 30% (£8,400) would need to be squirreled away for tax and national insurance. That leaves £19,600 take home pay.

In the UK, an adult working 40 hours a week on the National Living Wage (£12.21 per hour) equates to £1,817.11 take-home pay per year, and £21,805.30 per year. So, the gig pays less than the lowest legal wage in the UK, but of course, with a time-based discrepancy.

However, it must be added that these earnings are taken from the proposed new contract, which the pair refused to sign. Federoff claims that saw them offered a 25% pay rise. Which makes reading even worse.

This is where the biggest issue lies. “We left because we were being used and paid less than the cost of living,” Federoff says in her post. She also added that, “we are told not to tour with other bands to supplement income,” because he “demands exclusivity to Cradle's schedule.”

More gigs, then, would help tip the balance the books and make up for their inability to gig elsewhere more worthwhile. But a look at Setlist.fm says the band only played 79 shows last year, 47 in 2023, and 55 in 2022. Suddenly, you can see where the pair feel they aren't able to support themselves through the band alone. And with Filth tyrannically stopping them from topping up their earnings when they weren't on duty, it's clear why they were eager to escape this environment. 

That it's come to this is such a shame. These conversations should be held in private. That they felt the need to air their dirty laundry in public hints at a desperation. With Ashok sacked prematurely (at least in terms of his exit strategy) only compounds the issue.

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