Photo credit: Angelina Melody
When Madball announced last month that they parted ways with drummer Jay Weinberg, singer Freddy Cricien said they kicked him out because he wasn’t “built for this particular lifestyle.” However, Weinberg (son of E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg) has revealed a different side of the story, claiming that he quit the band rather than being fired.
In a released statement, Weinberg said:
“I agree that Madball will be better served by an individual more attuned to their particular lifestyle and, occasionally, a new band member will grind gears with longtime members over non-musical issues. To each his own.
But, let me be clear — while I really enjoyed playing the music, I do not subscribe to their choice of habits and lifestyle. This past August while on tour in Europe, disturbing events within the band indicated to me that it was time for me to move on.
While on tour in Canada in September, I informed Freddy, Mitts, and Hoya of my decision to leave — but not before they had found a replacement. The very next morning came Freddy’s press release and claim that he had ‘released me.’ Well, that’s just not the case.”
You can read the entire statement over at Blabbermouth. You can’t blame the guy for wanting to get the record straight, or at least tell it from his side of the story. It’s still a shame, though, that it has come down to all of this “he said, she said” crap, especially since Weinberg sounded extremely enthusiastic about joining the hardcore legends when Metal Insider chatted with him. However, as we noted before, the 20 year old drummer isn’t exactly going to have trouble finding a new band to play.
