Dear Voïvod Fans
Many of you have been asking about the recent releases of Voïvod demos by Minemine Records. Unfortunately, these are unauthorized albums, not approved by the band. As you know, there are many ‘special edition’ official releases with outtakes and demos vetted by us and approved for release. We love sharing these previously unreleased recordings with you, but they are chosen by us. Minemine Records do not have the right to release Voïvod demos. No one in the band was consulted, no approvals were given and this material was never meant for commercial release.
It greatly saddens us that Minemine Records is controlled by Jean-Yves Thériault aka “Blacky”. He has a history with Voïvod as a former member of the band. No one will ever take that away from him and he should be proud of his contributions to Voïvod. However, he alone does not have the right to release the copyrighted performances of the other band members or use the band’s trademark, likeness and logo.
Jean-Yves has always had direct access to all and any royalties due to him and has been treated in the same way as all other band members We have tried to be fair and reasonable with him but admittedly, the release of ‘The Outer Limits’ demos without our permission put us over the edge. Jean-Yves did not write any material or perform on this album, but he got his hands on the demo tapes and decided to release them without the band’s consent. In fact, we don’t really know what’s on those tapes and have no idea what state our songs were in at the time. These were our rough ideas and they were never meant to be bootlegged.
No one is telling the fans what to do, but you deserve to know the truth.
We really don’t want to focus on negativity. Instead, Voïvod are putting all of our energy into touring, the symphony orchestra shows, and writing and recording new records. We have re-signed to Century Media Records for another 3 albums and are looking forward to the future. Voïvod is nothing without our fans and we remain committed and loyal to you!