Metal Anarchy

VCTMS’ former touring bassist Davion Michael Cuttler (Hollow Front) has now accused drummer Meredith Henderson of abuse. His comments come after guitarist Michael Joseph Clampitt exited the group over similar allegations.

Cuttler said the following:

“So yeah, VCTMS… A lot to unpack here.

With Mike having said his statement and getting everything out there, I feel a responsibility to myself and one of my best friends to validate his experience with my own, now that I feel safe to.

Before I go any further, I feel I need to give a disclaimer, since there appears to be some confusion about my working relationship with VCTMS based on messages I’ve received in the past 48 hours.

Although I was on the performing side of the camp, as well as being a part of meet & greets, signings etc. I was never a member of the band. I had no power in any decision-making or any sway in how the band operated. I was a crew member, hired by the band to do a job, which in my case was touring bassist and tech for the band. Operating their playback and monitoring rig for over 2 years until the start of this most recent tour

Around two months ago, I made a statement that i was stepping away from touring. Although the reasons I stated for stepping away were all true, I intentionally left out a key reason I felt the way I did. I made that decision because I also could not continue to navigate the difficulties of working for someone like Meredith.

I, too, witnessed her do all the same things Mike listed in his post. Many of which, towards me. During my time working for VCTMS, I was subject to many instances of verbal abuse, yelling, insults and in one case, even physical aggression from Meredith. That instance being screamed at and having the van keys thrown at my face, breaking skin on my hand trying to block them from striking me. Simply for asking for them to grab more equipment and personal belongings to do to my job. Her justification being she was “having a bad day” and I had dared ask her for something while she was handling something on her phone.

This happened in the middle of the venue, in front of members in the camp, venue staff and multiple crew for the other bands traveling with us. Everyone in the camp had to rally behind me to get her to apologize, which came via text the next day. Only to be met with another instance of unprompted attitude and disrespect days later. Rinse, repeat.

This was a loop. It felt like walking on eggshells 6 weeks at a time. Not knowing what side of her I was going to have to work for that day. In cases where she could clearly tell I was at my breaking point, I was met with brief moments of generosity and lengthy texts or verbal statements of admiration for my work and efforts for the band, only to inevitably start back at the beginning of the rollercoaster again.

While I don’t feel at liberty to touch on some details of the business side between band members, as I was hired as crew. I will say on my end, I found it difficult many times to get basic necessities or even feed myself on tour, due to Meredith’s negligence and lack of care in paying crew members on time. When confronting her about this, many times it was met with attitude, or being outright ignored about it for days at a time. All while watching Meredith spending money on luxuries, sporting events on off days, flying her friends out to travel with us, etc.

When you are in a cramped vehicle, with more than 5+ people, in a different city every day, away from home and your loved ones, it is incredibly important to keep the peace. But it is also incredibly dire to be paid on time. To be able to afford food, hygiene products etc. Things add up.

“Why did you continue working with VCTMS for so long if it was this bad?” Well, there are a couple of reasons.

My offer to tour with VCTMS came at the same time as my band’s indefinite hiatus from touring, but stopping touring was the last thing I wanted to do. While I quickly realized in my first tour with VCTMS that I was in a very negative and unhealthy environment, I held out in hopes that through still working hard for the band and networking, I would eventually be met with a better opportunity. But that opportunity never came.

I also didn’t leave sooner out of fear. As mike stated, crew was a revolving door, with many of said crew leaving due to being no longer willing to deal with Meredith’s behavior. This would sometimes be met with retaliation by Meredith. In some cases, frivolously badmouthing and talking down about past crew members to others in the industry and people close to said crew members on the tour directly after their departure. Even to the new crew members replacing them, potentially ruining future work opportunities.

“Why didn’t you speak out publicly sooner?” Same reason, fear of retaliation.

For me, things came to the same conclusion. After 2 years, I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I’m so thankful to have met all the wonderful people from around the world that I did in my time touring with VCTMS, but my experience with Meredith has effectively ruined my outlook on touring.

I’m so proud of Mike for saying what I felt I could not.

One last thing. There is a lot of unnecessary and unwarranted nastiness surrounding this situation in comments and DM’s to people involved. Insults, hateful and sexist remarks towards anybody surrounding this is just not okay. Mike’s statement, as well as mine is about accountability and change. If you’re just going to comment disgusting insults, whether it’s on our posts, or an article, you have your own self-reflecting to do. Do better.”

For her part, Henderson briefly addressed the accusations following Clampitt’s statement. Vocalist John Matalone also shared a lengthier response.