It’s already known that last March’s Soundwave in Perth was to be the city’s last and now the company once responsible for staging the hard and heavy festival in the WA capital has been ordered to wind up.
Soundwave’s West Australian promoters, Altered State, have been declared insolvent following a “brutal legal battle” over a $340,000 bar debt, according to The West Australian.
Last week, a Federal Court judgement granted an application by Soundwave and festival boss AJ Maddah to have Altered State wound up. Soundwave claimed the WA promoters, run by brothers Ken and Chris Knight, owed the festival profits from takings at the bar from the 2013 edition of the festival, held at Claremont Showgrounds.
According to court documents, the festival generated nearly $1 million in profit from the bar, of which 70% was owed to Soundwave as part of an agreement between Maddah’s company and Altered State.
Soundwave were paid one instalment of $350,000 but claims they were still owed an additional $340,690.46 in bar profits by Altered State, but the WA promoters in turn failed to pay up on the basis they were owed nearly $500,000 from unpaid expenses and management fees from previous festivals. According to court documents, the festival generated nearly $1 million in profit from the bar, of which 70% was owed to Soundwave…
Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney was reportedly stunned when Chris Knight, a promoter with more than a decade’s experience of producing large-scale events in Perth, was allegedly unable to produce business records and statements on behalf of Altered State.
“Given the size of the events and the amount of revenue generated, it is somewhat surprising that the arrangements between the parties appear, at least on Altered State’s version of events, to have been dictated by nothing more than discussions, custom and practice,” Justice Wigney commented on the court ruling, to which Altered State’s lawyer reportedly explained: “That’s rock n’ roll.”
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AJ Maddah has previously discussed the financial problems with what was Soundwave’s final edition in Perth – at Arena Joondalup on Monday 3rd March – saying days after the event, “[one] more year like this one in Perth and there would be no [Soundwave] anywhere. Sorry. Perth is too expensive & not enough ticket sales.”
The Perth leg eventually drew 20,000 ticketholders, but “lost around $2M”, with Maddah also blaming a “perfect shitstorm” for the cancellation of Soundwave (and Big Day Out) in WA, including the rising costs of staging the event and “Perth governments – both local and state level – being very difficult and making it really clear that they don’t really want to deal with festivals.”
The Soundwave boss further revealed that “we have always subsidised Perth w ticket money from East Coast but this year was just brutal.” Adding: “I haven’t minded losing a little bit most years in Perth in order to keep event national, but can no longer take the chance.”
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Scaling back Soundwave to an “East Coast only” festival was a decision that “devastated” the festival promoter, even as he declared “[I] will never set foot in Perth again,” but said that losing the WA trek would mean cheaper ticket prices (by roughly $20) for attendees in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide.
Looking ahead to next years festival, a handful of bands on the Soundwave 2015 lineup have already been leaked, with other rumoured names being tossed around including Against Me!, Distrubed, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, Fear Factory, Social Distortion, Papa Roach, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Opeth, Lamb Of God, and more. All will be revealed when the first official lineup announcement drops, slated to be in August.
