ART OF ANARCHY – ‘Scam Band’ Filed $1.2 Million Lawsuit Against Scott Stapp

The legacy left behind of the short-lived supergroup ART OF ANARCHY remains an ugly one. That project was originally formed as a vehicle for the likes of ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, Disturbed bassist John Moyer and the brothers Jon (guitars) and Vince Votta (drums).

Late Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was later hired on to complete the band’s lineup and debut album, having allegedly signed a contract to also partake in a subsequent promotional cycle. Weiland would later unceremoniously exit the band, right around the release of that album. He would go on to publicly call the band a ‘scam’, with his exit leading to a pair of dueling lawsuits.

The Votta brothers filed a $20 million lawsuit against Weiland for breaching his apparent contract. Votta argued that Weiland was paid $230,000 upfront to join the band, contribute to the record and engage in a proper promotional cycle for it.

Weiland would go on to countersue the group, claiming they were using his name and image to promote the outfit without his expressed consent. Weiland‘s December 03rd, 2015 death would ultimately see both lawsuits dropped.

The next year, Art Of Anarchy tried their luck again, this time enlisting Scott Stapp of Creed fame as their new singer. However, while Stapp did release an album with the band and took to the stage with them for roughly six shows before exiting, his short tenure resulted in the Votta brothers filing a $1.2 million lawsuit against him.

The brothers alleged that Stapp had breached his contract with the group in failing to live up to taking part in significant touring, photo shoots, video shoots and the like to promote their 2017 album “The Madness“.

It was alleged by the brothers at the time that Stapp had instead prioritized his own solo career and neglected to pay back a $200,000 loan/advance they had given him to join the band and partake in the album cycle.

Stapp‘s apparent erratic behavior with the outfit forced them to scrap their larger touring plans and also saw them lose their record contract. As it turns out, that suit is still ongoing all these years later. John Moyer was recently asked to discuss it on the Talk Louder Podcast (see below), and stated of the situation:

“…And then, for some reason, we decided to [make an album again] with another Scott. We did it with Scott Stapp from Creed. On this record, I did a lot more writing. The record’s called The Madness. That was a tough record to make. A lot of sitting in the jam room with Scott Stapp and Bumble and the whole band and just trying to get everybody on the same page.

I was in a super creative zone at that point, so I brought in a ton of songs: I probably wrote half that record. It was good. It was difficult working with Stapp because… you just don’t know which Stapp you’re gonna get. Like, some days, you’re gonna get creative Stapp, and some days, you’re gonna get the Stapp who just wants to sit in the corner and say everything sucks.

He was kind of moody and he was only into it so much. It was very frustrating. It was like dragging an elephant uphill, sometimes. I don’t mind saying this ’cause it turned into an entire shitshow.

He was supposed to do… We signed to a label, again. I think he had promised to do 90 shows with us. He did six and then bailed. That was all in the contract, and I can talk about this because we are in a ‘dispute’ with him legally. That’s already been around, so I’m not letting the cat out of a bag or saying anything that hadn’t been already told in the press years ago. It’s been years, but we’re getting to the end of that dispute.

It’s frustrating because when you get into a band, you trust people. I want to say it’s like a marriage, but it’s a relationship. And when somebody’s in that relationship and they’re not being truthful, and they’re there under false reasons, and they’re already planning an exit plan…; You’re buying the house and they’re trying to figure out a way to ditch you! It hurts.

I’m a trusting person. I’m not gonna say I’m naïve but I refuse to get hardened. The music industry will break your heart. There’s a reason that SIMS Foundation exists because it is not a mentally-friendly industry but I’m not gonna allow that to happen to me.

I’m not gonna allow myself to get hardened by things. So even though the thing with Scott Weiland didn’t work out, even though Disturbed was on hiatus, even though I had dealt with the losses in Union Underground, a lot of heartbreak, I was still like ‘all right Scott Stapp, let’s go!’, fresh and as a daisy and willing to do it even though he didn’t have a great history, coming into the camp.

He’d just come off of his whole thing where he was traveling across the country in the back of a truck, homeless. He’s telling us all these stories and he’s just back sober, so we’re his sober camp.

We’re supporting him. There is no drinking. ‘What do you need, Scott Stapp, to make make this work? All hands on deck, we believe in you, we want you to be a part of this. You’re going to agree to this? Awesome!’

You put all that into somebody, and they turn your back on you? I don’t really have a lot of remorse for that. It really hurt my feelings. I don’t want to say my feelings, It hurt my soul.

Because I put a lot into that record and he had no intention of touring it. And it’s come out now, like so much has come out in the wash that I just can’t believe the things that were said that weren’t true. So, there’s that story!

I’m gonna get in trouble for this. Some lawyer is going to call me like ‘ you can’t bash blah, blah, blah, blah’… I’m just telling the truth, man! It just sucked. Promises were made. They weren’t kept and I wouldn’t do that to you.

I wouldn’t do that to you, Jason. I wouldn’t do that to you, David. I wouldn’t do that to anybody. How people can go through life and do that and think it’s okay because they’re somebody is the worst kind of Rockstar ego I can imagine.”

It was reported last year that Scott Stapp was offered to replace troubled MOTLEY CRUE vocalist Vince Neil, but he turned it down to set-up a future return to his former hit making band CREED.