A fine marzo abbiamo riportato la
notizia della separazione dei
Quireboys dal cantante
Jonathan "Spike" Gray.
Dal canto suo, l’ormai ex-frontman del gruppo ha affermato di essere il detentore dei diritti sul nome della band, in qualità di unico membro fondatore rimasto in formazione.
Spike ha infatti spiegato il suo desiderio di dare vita a una rinnovata line-up che prenda il nome di
The Quireboys, i cui membri dovrebbero essere annunciati dopo la fine della serie di date da solista che il cantante ha intrapreso negli Stati Uniti.
Il resto della formazione ha parlato così dei motivi della separazione, legati al mancato rispetto di impegni dal vivo presi con la band:
"Spike has consistently declined to meet and discuss band issues over the course of the past nine months.
[…] Most recently we had to deal with his last-minute nonappearance on the Monsters of Rock Cruise as well as the double-booking of solo shows in a bid to jeopardise contracted Quireboys shows […]. There are many more instances of cancelled shows and systematically trying to undermine us thus causing stress and uncertainty to both our crew and ourselves.
Spike's solo performances are not and have never been an issue, but doing them without any consultation with the band or management is. Our shows are booked months in advance of being announced and all band members receive the dates in good time. It is up to us all individually to manage our calendars accordingly and to ensure that any other projects we have do not interfere with The Quireboys schedule. Ultimately, if we do not fulfil our contracted tour schedule, the band makes no money and any deposits would need to be refunded.
The pandemic hit our company and band hard, as it did many in the industry. After an 18 month struggle to pay bills and keep the band solvent whilst supporting our families, we were dismayed to come into possession of a contract that Spike's agent had been sending out on his instruction stating: 'Please note that The Quireboys will not be performing any 'unplugged' shows in 2022' - and so just like that, 50% of our future income was gone before we had even had a chance to play again.”Per quanto concerne la disputa riguardante il moniker – a qualcuno ricorderà la
vicenda legata al nome degli
L.A. Guns - il gruppo ora capitanato da
Guy Griffin ha negato che i diritti sullo stesso spettino a
Spike:
"We have been trading as The Quireboys through a business registered with Companies House & HMRC for many years, a company Spike was asked to join but declined, preferring instead to be hired on a freelance basis, 'cash in hand'. Therefore, there is absolutely no fraudulent use of the name by us. Spike does not legally own the band or the name.”Rimaniamo in attesa di conoscere ulteriori sviluppi dal gruppo e dal cantante.
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