Earlier this week, Cradle Of Filth keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff announced she was leaving the group in the midst of their current tour. “It is with deep regret I share that for personal reasons I am unable to continue this tour and continue in general with Cradle of Filth,” she posted via social media. “Please respect my privacy and my family’s privacy. I will answer no further questions. Be kind to my successor. I wish her and my now former bandmates well.”
Federoff is married to Cradle Of Filth guitarist Ashok, and she later elaborated saying that they were planning to leave the band later this year. “Certain events have sped that up for me. At this time there is nothing further I wish to clarify and I’d appreciate keeping the ugly rumors off my page and out of my inbox.”
Following Federoff’s announcement, her husband took to social media saying his time in the group has been “a lot of work for relatively low pay, the stress is quite high, and we haven’t felt for a while like this band actually prioritizing/caring about members.” He also asked to have his performances removed from all upcoming Cradle Of Filth releases including a collaboration with pop star Ed Sheeran. “This song feels like foolish clown antics for me at this point anyways,” he said of the track with Sheeran. “First it was charity single for kids, then for profit single, then on next album, and now who knows and I just do not want to be involved anymore, no disrespect to Ed Sheeran.”
After his post, Cradle Of Filth frontman Dani Filth fired Ashok. The singer wrote: “It is with a grave heart that Cradle of Filth officially announce the firing of guitarist Marek ‘Ashok’ Smerda from the band, effective immediately. Despite all attempts to illegally defame and derail the band, Cradle Of Filth WILL NOT cancel any of our South American shows, though fans will have to bear with us being a band with only one guitarist live, that is of course until Ashok’s temporary replacement is flown out to join the tour in a few days time.”
He continued: “Thank you for your understanding in this horrible matter, we are all in a state of shock over proceedings and will share our side to these unfortunate events in due course. Please, respect our decision to part with Ashok now rather than at the end of the tour and avoid speculation as more clarity on the situation will be provided. The rest of the band are cool, even if taken aback, and accusations toward management, who work very closely with me and the band are completely unjust and unfounded.”
On Tuesday, the band played their first show without Ashok.
