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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Motley Crue Opening Band Files $30M Lawsuit

MANHATTAN (CN) - A New York rock band that paid $1 million to open for Motley Crue's final tour were sprayed with urine and abused during the entire tour by the hair-metal icons' crew, according to a $30 million lawsuit.

The New York City rock band The Raskins and their management company MIRAL Inc. say they paid over $1 million in costs to be a support band on Motley Crue's "Final Tour", which also included legendary 1970s rocker Alice Cooper as support.

The Raskins claim they considered the tour a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for exposure and publicity, but ended up enduring "severely humiliating and, in some instances, physically harmful treatment" at the hands of Motley Crue's road crew and management.

The 44-page lawsuit, filed Friday in New York County Supreme Court, accused Motley Crue's tour groups of infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence, tortious interference, destruction of property, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and unjust enrichment.

The defendants are Kovac Media Group Inc. dba Tenth Street Entertainment, Evil Entertainment Inc., S Rae Productions LLC and Artist Group International LLC.

Tenth Street Entertainment was Motley Crue's tour manager, Evil Entertainment and S Rae were in charge of the tour's production, and AGI was the band's booking agent, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit called the defendants' conduct "the epitome of outrageous conduct with a complete disregard for The Raskins, its band members, its management, and its fans."

According to the opening band's complaint, Motley Crue's management required The Raskins to play their set before concertgoers came into the venues and only allowed the band to use half of the speaker setup, turning off the speakers altogether at some shows.

The band says it typically played at 6:40 p.m. before the 7 p.m. advertised start times for the shows, for at least 55 of the 66 shows of the tour.

The lawsuit further alleges that Motley Crue's team punched members of The Raskins, ran into them with heavy equipment, and destroyed the band's van engine by jamming a large metal rod through the engine fan, causing it to explode.

During the last show of the summer portion of the farewell tour, the complaint claims that Motley Crue's tour crew sprayed The Raskins with silly string and water guns filled with urine while the band was still playing their set.

According to the complaint, Motley Crue's tour management also intentionally "chirped" the stage monitors, blasting the volume directly near a representative of The Raskins, which the band says blew out one of his eardrums and caused permanent damage and hearing loss.

A representative from Tenth Street Entertainment allegedly responded to The Raskins' tour complaints by telling them, "I am going to make your lives hell," that "no one on the tour is going to help you," and "if you get in anybody's way on stage when they are setting up, they are going to run you over."

The Raskins' breach of contract claim is based on not being allowed to "perform one set, 25 minutes in length, immediately prior to Alice Cooper," as provided in their tour contract.

The band also says their contract allowed them to sell two items of merchandise on the tour, but they were not allowed to do so and had to sell their merchandise under the table.

"Beyond the lost opportunity and the harassment and humiliation plaintiffs endured...plaintiffs paid over $1 million to enable them to succeed during the Final Tour and lost that substantial investment of capital because of defendants' deplorable, outrageous (and ultimately unlawful) behavior," the complaint states. (Parentheses in original.)

The lawsuit seeks $30 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Plaintiff MIRAL Inc. is run by Micah Raskin, a brother of co-plaintiffs Logan Raskin and Roger Raskin of The Raskins.

The Raskins and MIRAL Inc. are represented by Brian Buck of Marc J. Berns and Partners LLP in Manhattan.

Representatives from Motley Crue's tour companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon.

In July, Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil was hit with a federal lawsuit and criminal charges for allegedly assaulting a woman at the entrance of a Las Vegas casino.

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