When a cover band arrives at a club for a gig, more often than not, they find a cranky sound tech, a bored bartender slicing some lemons, and maybe one or two members of the wait staff straightening up. And for the Canadian band Sandman, a Metallica cover band, that’s probably what they expected when they arrived at FitzRay’s, a club in London, Ontario, about two hours west of Toronto.
However, someone else was waiting for the band at this particular gig, and no, it was not the guy with free drink tickets.
Sitting there, waiting for the band, was an unassuming FedEx package, and in it was a 41-page cease and desist letter from Metallica’s lawyer. It seems that the band’s logo had ruffled some feathers back at Metallica HQ. The letter cited using “official, stylized logos “to identify or promote live musical performances through Facebook and YouTube” as the reason for the letter. The logo in question bore a resemblance that was deemed a little too similar to the Metallica logo the band had been using since the release of 2003’s St. Anger. So, despite using the logo for the past ten years without any problems or grumpy 41-page letters from lawyers, Sandman now found themselves in a tight spot.
Now, do the two logos kind of look alike? Yes, yes they do. But come on, you can’t lay claim to thunder bolt-like, stylized letters. This is America…er, Canada! It’s North America! Surely there has to be some kind of misunderstanding here. And luckily in this case, there was.
According to Metallica, who spoke to Rolling Stone about the situation:
“We hear that a Canadian Metallica tribute band is a little upset with us and with a little digging, figured out why. It turns out that a certain letter was delivered to the band Sandman that neither we nor our management were aware of until it surfaced online. Lucky for us, the band was kind enough to post it for us to see, and it turns out that we have a very overzealous attorney who sent this letter without our knowledge.”
An overzealous attorney? Figures.
Metallica rescinded the cease and desist letter, saying the band “should file the letter in the trash and keep doing what they are doing.” The band also added that Mr. Overzealous Attorney, Esq. “can be found at SFO (San Francisco International Airport) catching a flight to go permanently ice fishing in Alaska.”
(Via Rolling Stone)
