Slaughter To Prevail address recent allegations from former crew member

On July 24th, Thomas Finch, a drum tech who has toured with many artists, including Marilyn Manson, Bush, and others, posted on social media to warn other touring professionals about a bad experience he had while recently touring with the Russian deathcore band Slaughter To Prevail. Finch quickly clarified that his problems were not with the band, referring to them as “WONDERFUL fun loving humans.” Nonetheless, he felt compelled to voice his numerous complaints over what he claims were behind-the-scenes situations involving the band’s management team while on tour. Finch went on to list other claimed incidences ranging from issues collecting payment for services given to lack of facilities being offered and rejected reimbursement of expenses incurred. As his condition apparently worsened, he claimed to have wind up departing the tour following a heated confrontation with the band’s managing personnel.

A Word of Caution to My Fellow Crew, Techs, and Industry Colleagues Regarding Slaughter to Prevail

This isnt about the band personally – they are all WONDERFUL fun loving humans . This is about the current leadership set in place. New band manager and current TM.
After years of touring, working hard, and running a business that supports artists and musicians, I’ve never felt the need to post something like this — until now.

I recently stepped away from a tour with Slaughter to Prevail as a drum technician due to an overwhelming amount of disorganization, mismanagement, financial instability, and blatant disrespect toward crew members. I’m sharing this not out of bitterness, but out of responsibility to protect others in our community who might be approached by this camp for future work.

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It Started With Red Flags

I was never asked for my banking information before being flown out. I had toured with them while with Marilyn Manson, so there was a bit of history, trust and friendship there. When I sent my invoice and banking info after the first few shows, I received zero response. I was told the manager was “traveling” and didn’t have email access.

After weeks, eventually I was promised payment by the business manager. It didn’t show. I made it clear I would not continue working for free. The tour manager (TM) brought that to the band’s manager, whose response was:

“Tell him to get f***ed.”
And that I was “unprofessional” for demanding payment and being willing to walk away.

I then approached the band’s guitarist and owner directly (as instructed)— and suddenly, payment showed up. I chose to stay and honor my commitment, but unfortunately, the problems only escalated.

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What Followed Was Complete Breakdown
• Crew forced to book their own return flights
• TM using the cheapest, failing transportation available
• No working band credit card on days off — no food, no support, nothing
I bought pizza for the crew out of my own pocket, which was expressed as gratefulness by TM, as all they had was a bag of left over popcorn. Then was told by the TM that the band would likely refuse to reimburse me. And I am now battling them via email over PIZZA, in order to get my invoice paid.

• $128,000+ blown on inflatable stage props that were never used because they didn’t fit the venues. Meanwhile, the crew was left with no food, no basics and worry about receiving pay.

Hotel rooms on a day off promised for crew were taken by the band and manager after the bus broke down

When the TM confronted management, he was told: “If crew needs a room that bad, they can go get their own $100 hotel somewhere.” Or so the TM told us, was said.
Only after multiple crew members (myself included) threatened to exit the tour did rooms “miraculously” appear.

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No Pay Schedule, No Clarity — Just Excuses

One of the most dangerous aspects of this operation is the lack of any clear pay schedule. You’re told to submit your invoices by Thursday for payment the following Monday. And Monday never comes. Other crew were told different dates to submit and the confusion set in. So while you’re on the road, it becomes clear that you are expected to float your expenses — flights, hotels, food — with no contract, no payment timeline, and no accountability. All PDs are put into your paycheck, which seemingly never arrives And when you ask the TM when you’re getting paid? You’re told:

“You’ll get paid when they’re dam good and ready to pay you.”

This is exactly what was told to our lighting tech (infront of the entire crew) who recently stood up for the box truck driver — a vendor who STILL hasn’t been paid and has been covering tour costs out of pocket, went into the negative… and another truck driver helped him financially with gas and food. The TM’s response?

“That’s his problem. He should’ve been prepared financially.”

After speaking with the truck driver, it was made clear that he was never told he would have to front money and invoice for it. He was expected to be paid like everyone else.
This kind of thinking is not only disrespectful — it’s dangerous.

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To the Touring Community

I’ve worked with dozens of bands, venues, and crews around the country and the world. I know how hard we all work to keep the wheels turning, and how important trust, communication, and professionalism are in this industry.

If you’re approached to work with this camp:
• Get a contract
• Demand a written payment timeline
• Do not pay out of pocket unless you want to fight for reimbursement
• Walk away if you sense even a hint of the behavior described above

There are too many great artists out there who DO take care of their people.

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After a very heated and firey conversation with the bands manager, everything became very clear and the writting was on the wall. I could not and will not move forward another day swimming in this chaos.

I’m now heading home to my girlfriend, pups, and business — with peace of mind knowing I stood my ground and did what was right. I have no regrets about leaving, only a broken heart for leaving the drummer as he is an amazing person and I liked him very much. Even helped land him an Evans endorsement.

I’ll continue supporting artists who treat their crew with the professionalism and respect we all deserve. With that said, if you need help with gear, a rack build, endorsement guidance, or just support as a fellow crew member — I’ve got your back.

Much love and respect,
Finch

PS – Yes, I sufficient undismissable proof of everything stated above. Upon my exit of the tour, they are now making people sign NDAs as to not have this information out there. And I have been paid, minus the pizza/crew food purchase since my convo with management and making this post….

Now Slaughter To Prevail has released a statement in response.

We always pay our crew. We do everything we can to run this band properly and fix any problems as they come up.

The person who made the public post never raised any concerns during the tour. In fact, they asked to continue working with us right up until the day they chose to leave. Which left us very shocked after he personally texted our drummer that he was leaving and never spoke to us about any issues beforehand. Instead he put his grievances online immediately, which is strange to us as it looks like he’s using this opportunity to promote his business.

We’re shocked to see him use this opportunity to grow his business when it should be about genuine crew issues that we could fix easily. Which he knew that we could as we had fixed issues for him before. Despite his statement saying his wish the band to be successful, he left our drummer and pushed his statement as far as he could to hurt our reputation over problems we could have solved for him. Whilst we understand there is a protocol with leadership and crew grievances, he broke this on the first day with no consequences because his problem was solved easily but then he prefer to make this public instead of actually trying to fix the issues again. Which looks very opportunistic to us.

We believe the reason he chose to leave was after a conversation with our manager who told him he would not be continuing as our drum tech on upcoming tours. We already have a full-time drum tech based in Australia. When we first booked these shows, they were intended as one-off festivals and it didn’t make sense to fly him over.

After that conversation, the public accusations and slander began.

We believe the conversations were tense but it was mutual and direct between adults. People spoke their minds. This happened in a public part of the green room with crew, venue staff, band and friends present.

Many of the claims in the post are not true from our perspective. For example, on the day the crew bus broke down during a travel day, we had only booked day rooms at a hotel in El Paso. Because of the situation, the band gave up their personal rooms and had them converted into twin rooms so the crew could sleep while waiting for the repaired bus to arrive and take them to the next show in Tucson.

The claim about delayed payment is also not accurate. The delay was started by the individual giving our business team incorrect bank information, which caused the payment to bounce. After that and a short holiday taken by our business manager, payment was made within two weeks of the show. Which is one thing we can improve is to make sure all short-term contractors are issued with proper agreements that clearly state all conditions to avoid situations like this in the future with correct payment schedules.

As foreign nationals, we have tried our best to set up a business structure in the United States including credit cards and banking. It has taken time to sort, especially for credit cards as we had security issues with our debit cards that were out of control. We worked hard to find solutions to keep the tour running smoothly. In rare situations crew covered small expenses on our behalf which is normal and reimbursed quickly through standard recharge invoices.

After the accusations were made we conducted a full internal review into crew conditions. We spoke to everyone involved to make sure the environment is professional, respectful and fair. We found no evidence of any mistreatment or wrongdoing and have welcomed all advice to make future tours better. We take these things seriously and want everyone we work with to feel safe and confident in their role.

We also want people to know we had warnings about this person before the tour. We gave them a chance and stayed quiet. We never shared any of their past or present behaviour public even when we had reason to. But now that line has been crossed.

Another crew member close to this individual was also not asked to return because of poor work.

To protect our team and our business, we issued a standard non disclosure agreement. This is common in touring and protects everyone when private business or personal information is being shared publicly.

We are not perfect but we are focused. We try to do the right thing and we care deeply about our music, our fans and the people we work with.

Thank you for supporting us. We move forward. There will be no further statements but will happily see this through court if he wants to continue.

Slaughter to Prevail

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