I recently wrote and posted an article now too long ago about band drama and why, as fans, we shouldn’t get involved with it and/or let it influence our decision to like or not like a band or musician. The exception to this though is when a band/artist does something that directly effects the fans and chooses to keep them in the dark and uninformed. That is when they have opened the door for fans to be critical and down right pissed off. I have been getting a lot of messages from my fellow Fartheads asking what the fuck is up with White Wizzard these days and why they are currently out on the road with yet another singer. Before we get into this, let’s start off from the beginning and I will do the best I can to be accurate.
The drama of White Wizzard starts back in 2009 after releasing the EP “High Speed GTO” when the entire band consisting of James Paul Luna (Vocals), Tyler Meahl (Drums) and James J. LaRue (Guitar) decided that they did not share Jon Leon‘s vision as to where White Wizzard’s music was going. This can also be translated into “Jon Leon is too much an egotistical control freak to work with so it’s his way or the highway.” Luna, Meahl and LaRue went on to form Sorcerer who would later go on to become the amazing entity now known as Holy Grail.
Left without a band and a record deal with Earache Records, Leon pieced together White Wizzard Part Deux which consisted of Wyatt Anderson (vocals), Erik Kluiber (guitar), Chad Bryan (guitar) and Giovanni Durst (drums). This line up went on to record the stellar “Over The Top” album and then hit the road as a support act for Korpiklaani, Týr, and Swashbuckle as well as a European tour with Edguy. All seemed well until things started to fall apart and the shit began to hit the fan. A Craigslist ad was posted looking for a replacement for guitarist Erik Kluiber while he was still in the band and not long after, guitarist Chad Bryan left the band and then singer Wyatt Anderson left the band. This left Leon scrambling to assemble a line up for UK’s Download festival so he drafted Michael Gremio, formerly of Cellador to fill the vocalist spot, and Welsh guitarist Lewis Stephens to replace Kluiber. Jon Leon proceeded to say many negative things about his former band mates painting the picture that they weren’t team players and that they weren’t dedicated enough to him/White Wizzard. Are you with me so far?
Metal Sucks posted a hilarious little take on the White Wizzard drama that not only brought on comments from the fans and non fans but also started a war of words between the former band mates and Jon Leon. This is where Jon Leon really showed his true colors and showed just what an enormous ego he possessed. When singer Michael Gremio didn’t work out, the role of singer #4 was given to British vocalist Peter Ellis. Leon rushed into the studio to cut two tracks with this line up which, in my guessing, was his way of trying to prove that this was the line up. They released a horribly lackluster cover of Dio’s “We Rock” and the song “Shooting Star” which was an horrible tribute to Dio. I even wrote a review stating my opinion of this song only to receive a confrontational reply from Jon Leon himself. Are you still with me? Good. Take a break, stretch, get a drink. Ok you ready? Here we go…
The fans spoke in volume about the singers that Leon had drafted and non of them held a candle to Wyatt Anderson. To the fans, Wyatt was THEE White Wizzard vocalist. After some dead air from the White Wizzard camp, Blabbermouth announced the return of Wyatt Anderson in February of this year. Both Wyatt and Jon issued statements regarding their reunion stating that a little time away proved to be good and that all was well and that Wyatt was back. Leon posted steady updates via the White Wizzard Facebook page that Wyatt was awesome and killing the tracks and this that and the other. I even did an interview with Wyatt Anderson and he seemed happy to be back and excited to tour but something was not right. I could sense the tension was still there and not all was well. Tour dates were released for their supporting tour with thrash legends Forbidden and everyone seemed really excited. On June 9th, White Wizzard played the first date of the Forbidden tour and low and behold, NO WYATT ANDERSON. There was no announcement, no explanation, nothing. It was almost as if Jon Leon was saying, “What? Nothing is wrong here? I don’t see any change here.” Why was this little change not made known to his fans? The same fans that supported and rooted him on were all of the sudden victims of a bait and switch. Imagine if you went to see Van Halen after David Lee Roth had joined and when they took the stage, Sammy Hagar was there and they didn’t feel it important to make that fact known before hand. Exactly.
People, I tried. I tried so hard to give Jon Leon the benefit of the doubt. I really did but he continued to fail me over and over again. As a fan, I felt like he must have thought I was an idiot. There is a certain amount of respect that fans deserve and Jon Leon seems to respect his fans about as much as he respects his band mates and is very little. I went as far as to post a few times on the White Wizzard Facebook page just simply asking for an explanation. As a fan, don’t I deserve at least that? My posts would get deleted and I would post again. Finally, on June 27th I got tired of having my shit deleted so I just posted on the Brainfart Facebook Page to be advised that Wyatt Anderson was not singing on this tour. Shortly after posting this I got deleted and banned from the band’s page. Jon Leon then posted the following post on the page:
“Wyatt Anderson wrote White Wizzard 3 weeks before tour and said he did not want to tour for personal, health and family reasons. This well after tour was booked and his flights. Mike has stepped in and is doing a stellar job. There will be a full press release soon. Ask Wyatt for further explanation.”
Thanks for FINALLY letting us know this little tidbit of unimportant news there broseph. Is it really that hard to keep your fans informed on such menial things as GETTING A NEW FUCKING SINGER? Good lord man. Ok, so even if Wyatt did quit the band like this, why keep everyone in the dark like it was something that wasn’t happening? Sorry man but you fucked up and you couldn’t even put your own ego aside long enough to consider how important of a change this is to your fans. Again, we don’t need the fucking details as we would all figure out that you are just way too impossible to work with. Just share the news so that fans don’t feel cheated and made to look like fools. Again, it’s no business of ours why and how this went down but it is the fans business that it went down. You can’t hide shit like this and expect your fans not to be pissed or to be too stupid to notice.
As of the completion of this article, new White Wizzard singer Mikey Germino announced that he would be tracking vocals for the upcoming album after this tour. I guess this means that he will be recording OVER the already completed tracks that were done by Wyatt Anderson which Jon Leon ranted and raved about how amazing they were. Wow! Just… WOW! Jon Leon, I tried. I really tried. I was a fan and in all honesty, I always will love those great albums that you made. I will hold them close as great metal classics and I thank you and all the amazing players on them. I will not, however, continue to be a fan in the future. I will not pad your pockets with my cash. I will not review you albums (good or bad) and I will not attend your shows. Who am I kidding? In all honesty, on this next tour with Firewind, I will watch the show and take it in because who doesn’t like a good train wreck? Jon Leon, how can I even look someone in the eye who can’t even look his fans in the eye and be honest and open with them? You must really think your fans are too stupid to see what is going on here. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I let you fool me four times Mr. Leon. Color me naive but I ain’t YOUR fool.
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