Cradle of Filth Guitarist Ashok to Quit Band After Tour Due to “Low Pay” and “Stress”

Cradle of Filth guitarist Marek “Ashok” Šmerda has confirmed that he will quit the band after its current Latin American tour, citing “low pay” and “stress,” among other reasons. His exit from the veteran metal act will follow that of his wife, keyboardist/backing singer Zoë M. Federoff, who just quit the band mid-tour due to “personal reasons.”

As reported on Monday (August 25th), Federoff exited Cradle of Filth in the middle of the tour, and was forced to shoot down speculation that she and Šmerda had marital problems. In fact, she mentioned that her husband would be leaving the band, as well.

In his own statement on Tuesday (August 26th), Šmerda explained the reason for the couple’s exit, while also requesting that his contributions be removed from any future releases, including Cradle of Filth’s yet-to-be-released collaboration with pop star Ed Sheeran.

Ashok’s full open letter reads as follows:

“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.”

Meanwhile, Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth issued his own update on Tuesday, writing the following:

“It’s been an extremely dramatic week out here on the road in South America, with the sudden departure of Zoe from the band and the sum total a day ago of eleven hours sleep in four days, due to some very early morning lobby calls and late arrivals back at the hotels.

Four amazing shows in Brazil and Argentina thus far (Uruguay today) and as many early check-ins for flights.

It certainly has been a whirlwind of chaos amid the circus of delights this first week with a little over a month now stretching like a great cat before us, clawing its way through the dense foliage of South and Central America.

Kelsey Peters is certainly filling in well on backing vocals and key duties and the mood in the camp is very upbeat and positive.

Not a huge amount of photos to share, seeing as we’ve literally bounced from airport to hotel to club and back again, but it should get a little easier now that we have as many travel days as shows, jet-lag notwithstanding, until the final lengthy run in Mexico.

So, thank you for all your continued support and for not listening to all the bullshit rumours and sickly worms presiding over the internet. Cradle of Filth ALWAYS come back better and stronger than ever and that will be no different this time when we unleash our new album in the foreseeable future.”

Šmerda and Federoff got married at the beginning of this year at a ceremony in Arizona attended by Dani Filth and others.

See the posts from Marek “Ashok” Šmerda and Dani Filth below, and stay tuned for any further developments regarding Cradle of Filth’s future.