FRAMESHIFT 2 IN STORES NOW: CD RELEASED WITH INCORRECT CREDITSFrameshift 2 In Stores Now
Songwriting Credits "Removed" In Order to Avoid Paying ASCAP Royalties; Correct Credits Available For Download HERE

         Hello all. I am happy to say that FRAMESHIFT 2 : An Absence Of Empathy is now available. (CLICK HERE TO ORDER). I truly hope every one of you out there gets the CD & enjoys the first ever complete solo studio project I have ever released. Although, & you may find this hard to believe, as of today at this moment of me writing this, the fact is that I have not even heard the CD yet. I have the rough mixes of the songs that I took home with me on January 20th, but, despite many repeated requests by myself & my lawyer to hear any mixes at all of any song on the record, no copy of the CD or mixes were sent to me until last week. Yes, after the CD was put into the stores- without me ever hearing it. I have tried to listen to the CD but every time I do I am filled with an overwhelming rage at the fact that I am the last person on the planet to see/ hear my own CD. Right now I cannot bring myself to put the CD into the player. I am %99 sure it is great. If you have the CD already & you dig it, GREAT! I absolutely want you to crank up the CD & dig it. The rough mixes, which I love, are incredible any ways. Although Henning Pauly & Shawn Gordon have alot to learn about the music business, Henning most definitely knows his way around a recording studio & I cannot imagine him messing up the final mix. The reason I cannot listen to the CD, however, is because I could never have imagined the following situation you are about to read of, either. I will listen to the CD as soon as I can. If it sounds half as good as the roughs, it is for sure a great CD & one that I am proud to have my name on.
I was hired to be the vocalist & co-writer for the Frameshift 2 record last November. Originally, Henning's plan was to fly to my house to collaborate on all the lyrics & melodies for the record with me. I was totally into doing this, but I had a European tour already booked for December & I would not even be in the country until the last week of December. Henning was determined to start recording the vocals the first week of January, so I said to him "Come up with whatever ideas you can on your end, & whatever lyrics & melodies do not work for me, we can re-write when I get to California." Henning agreed, & was completely fine with this, we were both totally excited, & were on our way. He collaborated with 2 talented, cool guys named Matt Cash (an elementary school teacher by day, musician by night) & Adam Evers. They came up with some incredible stuff. Hennings native tongue is German & although he speaks great English, he does not have a command of the language sufficient to write a whole CD of English lyrics by himself. I was very happy with what they came up with without me even being there. Out of 12 songs on the CD, 5 were 100% completely ready to record by me, lyrics & melodies that I could, & did, put 100% of my heart & soul into, without reservation. It would take Skid Row 2 years to come up with 5 songs we could all agree on for a record. Henning, Matt & Adam accomplished this in about 3 weeks. 7 of  the songs, however, needed to be re-written. I needed to change most of the phrasing, & re-write alot of the lyrics & melodies in order for me to deliver the vocals with the conviction, passion, power, & emotion you have come to expect from me over the last 17 years or so. Henning & I came up with the final versions of the lyrics & melodies that ended up on the CD, & we busted our asses to come up with a CD we could both be proud of.  After all, & this was the source of major contention to Henning , the fact is that everything I ever release, has to be held up to what I have released in the past. The rough mixes of Frameshift 2 are definitely songs I feel can stand beside anything in my back catalogue. That don't come easy, nothing good ever does!
Unfortunately, the CD has been intentionally released, without my approval, with incorrect songwriting credits. The last version I saw of the packaging, before the CD was available in stores, was this panel (CLICK TO DOWNLOAD). All of the songwriting credits you see here were agreed to by Henning Pauly, myself, Shawn Gordon, & my attorney. The panel, created by Henning Pauly & sent to me for my approval by Shawn Gordon, contains the correct songwriting credits. Don't get me wrong- Henning is a brilliant musician who definitely wrote all the music & alot of the lyrics & melodies on the record. He did NOT, however, write ALL the lyrics & melodies on the WHOLE record. All I am due by law is credit where credit is due. Under the songwriting credits it says "All Songs Published Under Hendog Publishing". Any musician who has been doing this for any significant amount of time can read these credits, & see that the publishing administrators credit would not be for just the one co-writer. This is incorrect. If someone co-writes a song, which is clearly indicated on the packaging, those individuals who helped write the song each get publishing royalties. The way this reads, is that Hendog Publishing (Henning Pauly) gets ALL the publishing for the whole record. This is incorrect. If someone agrees to a publishing agreement before recording a CD, that is a different situation . This actually was the case with the first Skid Row album. Although what we signed then was by all standards an un-equitable arrangement, the difference between that situation & Frameshift 2 is that I knew of  the first Skid Row album publishing arrangement before I recorded the first Skid Row album. I was only made aware of Henning's attempt to take all of  the publishing for Frameshift 2 when I saw this panel - on March 23, 2 months (!) after the recording was completed on January 20. When I alerted Shawn Gordon of the incorrect credits, I received no reply regarding this issue for 3 weeks - until I got this unbelievable response via email .
Nice business huh. So, the CD is released without me ever hearing it . Without me approving the packaging. Absolutely nowhere in the contract does it make any mention whatsoever of Henning getting %100 of the ASCAP songwriting royalties for the record - if it did say that in the contract, I would never have stepped one foot into the studio. So, although this panel is slightly incorrect (that is not my signature)  at least it contains the correct songwriting credits of the songs . A notice to everyone who buys the CD - please cut out the incorrect songwriting credits in your CD, print up this Jpeg file, & insert the (almost) correct credits in your CD packaging. I realize this is a pain in the ass, but you should all know the truth in who came up with what on the CD. Remember, these credits were agreed upon, sent to me, & created by, Henning Pauly & Shawn Gordon. It was only after I reminded Shawn Gordon of the laws of the music business regarding publishing royalties that my name was removed from 5 out of 7 songs that Henning & Shawn themselves agreed that I co-wrote!  I did not invent the rules of the music industry. After 20 years doing this, however, I do at least know the laws of the business that I am in. ProgRock Records does not have a choice but to deal with ASCAP. This has nothing to do with me. It's the way the music industry works - in order to protect an artist's art, legacy, & estate after an artist is no longer with us. I have been a proud member of ASCAP for 18 years & have no intention of relinquishing any of the benefits afforded to me by ASCAP just because Shawn Gordon did not want to "deal with the legal minutia that was coming up". Any parent reading this would, I think, agree - my children's future revenues from my Estate someday, when I am no longer here,  is most definitely NOT "legal minutia".
I realize this is all a big bummer. I apologize for that. But if you are rocking out to Frameshift 2 in your car, & you dig, say, the ending of "In An Empty Room" or the verses of "Blade" - I want you to know that I busted my ass writing those melodies, & alot more lyrics & melodies on the record. Above all, I hope you all dig the music, but there is one big misconception about rock singers- at least this one- that I would like to clear up. The voice is controlled by the BRAIN. I have never just opened my mouth & PRESTO! A song floats out your speakers. There are so many choices to be made when you are are recording lead vocals, & no-one can really make these choices but the vocalist. When Henning says in his thank you's "Thanks to Sebastian for lending me his pipes" he completely misses the point. I did not "lend him my pipes". I gave him my heart. That is what singing is all about. At least it is to me.
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