Vinnie Vincent accused of being unethical & unprofessional in asking for more $ for Expo appearance

Vinnie Vincent accused of being unethical & unprofessional in asking for more $ for Expo appearance

Former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent was arguably the top draw and scheduled to be the headliner for the Nashville Rock N Pod Expo 2 at the Nashville Palace in Nashville, Tennessee, USA for August 25, 2018. Unfortunately, Vincent will not be appearing anymore.

Decibel Geek Podcast principal Chris Czynszak spoke about what happened during the podcast’s Episode 323 which was just posted today.

Czynszak stated (as transcribed by Sleaze Roxx): “Vinnie will not be at the Rock N Pod Expo. We announced it on there and I got bombarded with messages. I’ve answered some of you privately. And honestly, I was planning on just moving on and just going on and making it the best Expo it can be… It’s going to be great. There’s some serious surprises in the works. And I was just going to move on but I got so flooded with messages. I felt that enough people are asking me why that it’s best if we just go ahead and address this. And I explain that he’s certainly free to explain his side but I’m going to explain my side which is what actually happened. I do have proof to back it up.

So here’s what happened. I thought that everything was good and then I sent some poster designs through his assistant on I think it was Monday or Sunday. He liked them. I said, ‘Can you check with Vinnie and make sure he likes them?’ He said, ‘He likes them.’ They were about the Expo. He said, ‘Vinnie liked both designs.’  I said, ‘OK. We’re still on good track here.’… But around that day, he — the assistant or manager had asked me about how were ticket sales and I sent a screenshot of how ticket sales were. And you know, we’re still like three months out from this thing so they weren’t — I am not going to give the exact number but it wasn’t a ton of ticket sales. Respectable for a start… You know, I explained that there was going to be a lot more paid promotion in June ’cause we’ll get closer and he seemed OK with that. And I was like, ‘OK. We’re good.’ And then, last week, Vinnie had done three separate posts on his Facebook page and about three different events coming up — ours, the Expo coming up in Knoxville [Tennessee, USA] I think later this month and then an event that he has going on in Miami [Florida, USA] in October. And, which was cool. That was his first official mention of our event. It was last week….

I was hoping for sooner than that you know and I think a little bit more push from his side probably would have helped with the ticket sales. That’s just my opinion. But then Tuesday morning, I wake up — and you know, I had been a daily viewer of his page because you know, I am a fan. I want to see what he has to say. It’s always exciting when he has to say anything…. He was gone for twenty years and to have regular updates from him was exciting, no matter what it is. It’s just cool that he’s communicating with fans. I still think that’s cool. Tuesday morning, I get up and that post of the two other events are still there and mine is gone. And I’m like, ‘That’s weird.’ So I e-mail his manager and I say, ‘Hey! I noticed that post is gone. Should I be concerned or something?’ And he didn’t respond to me all day. I’m like, ‘Maybe he had something going on?’ I started getting a little nervous and as we got near the end of the day, I was thinking, ‘Well, I am about to sink a bunch of money into certain things that we had agreed to on the original terms to prepare for his appearance at the event….

There’s a cost that goes into certain requirements that he had had. I was about to do that and I was fine with those terms…. I was getting ready to lock down all these things that he wanted to make his appearance happen. And I thought, ‘But I better e-mail — ’cause I had e-mailed about some stuff last week and never heard back — and between that and the post being removed, I was like, ‘Is something up?’ I sent an e-mail to the official e-mail address and I just said, ‘Listen, I am about to sink in a lot of money into this but I am a little concerned that you are reconsidering because that post got removed, you didn’t answer my e-mail from last week. You know, really looking forward to having you there but can you please just confirm that we are good to go?’

So then he e-mails me back about an hour later and basically says, ‘At this juncture’ — and let me just say this. When he appeared to appear at this event, he agreed to — we’re basically in his backyard. It’s like an hour’s drive from where he lives. He agreed to show up and gave me the terms of the things that he wanted but he agreed basically to show up for no appearance fee. And he and I explained to him, ‘This is a small DIY [do it yourself] convention. It’s the second year. It’s not as big as the other conventions that he does. And I said, ‘All the money that gets made goes back into doing it next year. It’s not really done for profit. It’s all for community music lovers and everything.’ And I explained to him, ‘It’s not going to be as big as those events are.’… I don’t take a salary from this. So he agreed to show up for no appearance fee and the agreement was basically a few things taken care of with security and stuff, and his own area of the room. He would get to keep the money from autographs, merch, photos, and stuff like that, which I told him, ‘You can keep all that money.’…

And I was appreciative of him agreeing to those terms originally. Before we announced it — and we got audio and I got stuff in writing — we were good to go on those terms…. An honestly — full disclosure — he was even saying for his pre-sales, there was some VIP packages that we offered that included like some swag bags from the Expo and certain things, certain extras on top of his autographs, photographs and his licensed merch, and he was going to let us keep the overage on that to help us succeed. He said, ‘He wanted our convention to be a success.’ So you can imagine, what I am about to tell you makes it even more surprising…

Well, so Tuesday, that post is gone. He e-mails me back from my e-mail, ‘At this juncture, I am going to require a guarantee and a deposit to secure my appearance. If that is agreeable to you, contact my manager and he’ll give you numbers.’ And initially, I was like, ‘Well, let me contact him and ask for the number.’ I said… I messaged him and said, ‘This is not what we agreed to but I am curious to what the number is just to see.’ But then I started thinking more…. Not really heartbreak but more just frustration because you know, we announced — he agreed to these terms — we announced his appearance, we’ve hyped it for two months now, you know thinking that this was a completely confirmed appearance ’cause I would have never announced it if I knew this was how it was going to turn out…. It has to be confirmed. So he said… It was [confirmed] on the original terms and then he tries to pull this and ask for a guaran[tee]. So after I said, ‘What’s the number?’ The guy — I hadn’t heard back from him yet — and the more I thought about it, like you know what, I think it’s best if we just part ways at this point because this wasn’t what we agreed on and honestly, if past history is any indication, it’s probably smarter if I bow out of this now because I don’t know if things are going to get changed down the line….

It just makes you wonder. We’re still three months out. And I was thinking, well, just to avoid an even worse situation, I’m not going to — I’m not going to go this route. So I responded and said, ‘Well, I appreciate your interest in having a guarantee and you need to make money, this is not what you told me two months ago, and I am going to pass for now. I wish you all the best.’ And I said, ‘All the people I am refunding are disappointed in this but good luck.’ And he responded with, ‘As you know, things change. The dynamics change.’… It wasn’t my doing… So for people that have been going on the assumption that he canceled his appearance, no! He forced me to cancel his appearance because of him changing terms on me…. This is not a corporate funded convention that has extra money to blow and he knew that. So I made it clear what type of Expo this was and how you know, it’s all self-funded. So, I understand the need to make money. That’s fine. It’s a business and I get that but don’t tell me early on that you are going to do this without an appearance fee and then you don’t like how things are turning out and then you try to charge me money. That in my opinion is unethical and unprofessional.”

You can listen to the Decibel Geek Podcast episode 323 at the Decibel Geek website.

The Nashville Rock N Pod Expo 2 will still be going ahead at the Nashville Palace in Nashville, Tennessee, USA for August 25, 2018 with featured guests including renowned producer Michael Wagener, singer Mitch Malloy, Bang Tango guitarist Drew Fortier, Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch and many more.