Tommy Vext congratulates Bad Wolves on new singer former The Acacia Strain guitarist Daniel DL Laskiewicz then informs the band they need to pay for all the songs he wrote and trademarked or change the name of the band
Bad Wolves and now former frontman Tommy Vext had parted ways, and though Vext stayed mostly silent on this he’s now issued a statement.
Vext shared this statement via a live video on his Instagram, which he then posted onto his account’s feed, prefacing the statement by stating he’s currently suspended from posting on Facebook.
You can watch his video statement and read the transcript below.
“Dear friends,
Let me start by expressing a huge debt of gratitude to all of the fans, all the people at our label, our management, our lawyers, and everyone who helped in establishing Bad Wolves’ career.
I take great pride and sincerity in what we all accomplished together. Bad Wolves became the fastest rising rock band in the last decade, with five number one consecutive hit singles. Thanks to our massive support from all of the fans in the Wolf Pack, we exploded into mainstream rock consciousness, which is no small feat for a bunch of dudes from metal bands. We even held the #1 spot across the entire Apple Music platform on all continents. We accumulated hundreds of millions of streams, and as a result you helped us by giving back over hundreds of thousands of dollars to various charities.
Our future was bright and our trajectory was undeniable as an arena band, until COVID struck and everyone’s lives changed. I saw things happening that I didn’t understand. During the first quarantine, I publicly voiced my concerns about where we are going as a nation and what is happening to the country that I love.
I voiced my disappointment for protests that had turned into violent riots. Cities, businesses, lives destroyed, and then called “mostly peaceful”. I criticized the media standing idle and even condoning that behavior. I pointed out that good causes were infiltrated by bad actors, hijacked and delegitimized a good movement. I dared to question who financially benefited from all of this and who was funding these events. I questioned the lockdowns when small businesses were driven into bankruptcy and yet big chains were allowed to operate. I questioned the imposed social distancing when rioting and looting was exempt, or why you can’t have family gatherings or eat at restaurants with anyone unless you’re a politician. This is a repeated hypocrisy we saw time and time again.
And for this they came after me.
Me, an African American artist speaking his mind. I became unacceptable by the gatekeepers because I walked off the plantation. I had to be silenced. Cancel culture came after my band. I was threatened, I was ridiculed, I was blackmailed, and smear campaigns were launched to destroy my career, my reputation, and my livelihood.
These events really opened my eyes, because this was no longer just an urban legend or conspiracy theory, this was literally happening to me. Censorship became very real and I was fighting organized hit job after organized hit job aimed at my character and even my physical freedom. This is when I realized what I was up against. This is bigger than me. This is when and why I publicly endorsed the sitting President of the United States of America, because I believed he was fighting the same big tech, the same media, the same gatekeepers, the same faceless radicals who wish to destroy our first amendment rights, but I will not be silenced. I will not abandon my values and my love for the flag of this country. I will fight for the Constitution and our freedom of speech, which hopefully now all of you can see is being blatantly violated by big tech. However, this is my fight. I realize I cannot drag my band members and people around me into this. I, on my own, decided to go solo. This way everything I say and do will affect only me. I wish the best for the guys in Bad Wolves. We had some of the best times of my life building a band together and I love those guys, but you guys know me and I have to fight back. This is who I am. I can’t expect you to put your lives on the line to defend me, especially when we don’t have the same ideologies in mind. I can’t expect the label to fight my battles on my behalf, and to all the fans, to my friends, to my family, thank you for always supporting my voice.
I’m excited to start the next phase of my career. Over the past year, I’ve recorded over 37 songs by myself. Due to COVID, there was no way for the band to get together and to work on a record, and so I worked feverishly in the studio with different artists, producers, and songwriters, and after 37 songs were completed it was very clear that I had become a solo artist.”
