Jake E Lee has dismissed the dispute that nearly derailed Red Dragon Cartel's UK tour as a "personality clash" with their booking agent.
Tensions boiled over last Sunday when Denise Dale of Metal Booking & Management cancelled the band’s Wolverhampton show at the last minute, leaving Lee to write a note over the announcement poster saying he’d been “here and ready to go.”
Dale said Lee’s girlfriend had taken over management of the band, and was therefore working in the UK while on a tourist visa, which was illegal, and cancelled a second show, later describing the incident as a “Spinal Tap moment.”
The band then acquired a new agent, put the second show back on the schedule and added another to make things up to fans. They’ll appear as planned at Download tomorrow.
Lee tells the Express & Star of his girlfriend: “She’s not my manager. She’s a cocktail waitress. Derek Schumann has been my manager for the past year, and he still is now.
“The whole thing started with a personality clash. The booking agent – I can’t even say her name – has tried to make as many people suffer as possible. We were ready to play; there was no issue other than she was angry.”
He describes the Wolverhampton cancellation as “heartbreaking” after waiting 20 years to return to the UK, and explains he’d tried to make things up to fans who had travelled by spending time in a pub near the venue.
“It had a giant bat out the back and they all bought me drinks,” he reports. “I had a great time.”
Red Dragon Cartel open the main stage tomorrow (Sunday).
