Ex-CONTROL DENIED Singer Is Determined To Fulfill CHUCK SCHULDINER's Last Wish

Former CONTROL DENIED singer Tim Aymar has issued a response to statements and accusations made by Guido Heijnens, owner of the now-defunct Dutch record label Hammerheart Records (which was "resurrected" for a short while under the Karmageddon Media banner) regarding the fate of the unreleased second CONTROL DENIED album.

In a January 2, 2007 e-mail to BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Heijnens addressed some of the comments made Aymar in the current issue of of the Greek edition of Rock Hard magazine (which features a lengthy tribute article to late DEATH/CONTROL DENIED mastermind Chuck Schuldiner). Guido said, in part, "We contracted Chuck, he received 70,000 euros (this is no bullshit amount of cash),he started recording [the second CONTROL DENIED album], he got ill again and sadly enough passed away. I called Morrisound Studio and [studio co-owner] Jim Morris told me Bethann Schuldiner (Chuck's sister) took the master tapes a few days after Chuck passed away. Chuck's family did not want to hand us the tapes, tried to sell them (again) to another label, who were clever enough to check this with us... So the Schuldiners decided to break all contact off.

"That's it, basically. We never got back our money (nothing, not even any remaining money),nor did we get master tapes. Not an apology, nothing!!!

"In my opinion, these people are the LOWEST of the LOW... including Mr. Aymar with his shitty behaviour...asshole. The band was never asked by the family to complete the recordings as far as I know of.

"Mr. Aymar, before you judge me or the things I do, check with me, please. It is too easy to just be a 'cool' (read CRAP) guy and talk shit (as we all know Chuck's thoughts on rumours and gossip this surprises me a lot, Mr. Aymar seems to be a confused person).

"And what happened to your career now [that] Chuck is gone? Exactly, just as much as you have brains...NOTHING, that is!"

After reading Guido's rant on the pages of this web site, Aymar sent the following response to BLABBERMOUTH.NET addressing the points made in Heijnens' statement:

"There have been many false conclusions drawn over these past several years in regard to the situation, but I will explain as best I can in order to clarify the reasons for CONTROL DENIED's second CD not being completed.

"Many readers have mistaken the fact that Chuck's sister took the master tapes and tried to get another company to buy the rights as an act of selfishness or greed, which is not the case at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. I knew because I was told directly from Chuck, while he was still well enough to talk to me, that Hammerheart was not a financially stable enough company to handle the bands already on their roster, and they had not been fulling their obligations as far as the promises that had been made. After researching a bit and hearing from some of the artists already on the label, Chuck wanted out of the deal. Not to take the money and run, like Guido explains it, but like a gentleman, like a fair and honest businessman, to buy his way out of the deal.

"The way Chuck explained things to me was that if he were to die, then under no circumstances did he want the band, and especially his family, to suffer the loss not only of himself, but to be stuck with a useless record deal, that would send us, his most respected friends, into a bad situation. Under no circumstances was that recording to be finished until his sister, who is his executor, Bethanne, could hand the record over to another company, who would first pay off Hammerheart everything that was owed to them, and release this record properly, and give the musicians maybe not a luxurious deal but at least something fair, and his estate would receive his royalties. He knew that it would be hard for the public to grasp, and it would all cause quite a distubance amongst the fans, that Heijnens would not be giving in easily, and his family, our bandmates, would be plagued with accusations and out-and-out attacks.

"It is unfortunate that Guido found out about Bethanne trying to bargain and get him his money, because he blew the deal for her, and fucked himself. I was told by Chuck to wait, to stand my ground, and not take any bullshit or slander from the record company, the press, or even the fans, and not to give out any information until I was told the record was absolutely safe from Hammerheart.

"Because of the stress surrounding Chuck's death, and the ordeal with Hammerheart, the bandmembers are separated, and almost completely non-communicating. I'm not sure how it was explained to them, because it is so hard to talk about. When you don't talk to someone for long periods of time, it's not the first thing you want to bring up in conversation.

"I love my bandmates all so dearly that I'm fucking devastated, and I can't go on without bringing this to light. Chuck gave his entire life to his fans and his bands, and took very little for himself except for the mighty crown on his head for being brave enough to do it. He ordered that CD to be postponed until we could all reap the benefits. Every one of us, fans, publications, the musicians themselves rely on something that Chuck gave to us, left here for us, and all we can seem to do is fight and call each other names and blame each other for not having? He died making sure we would benefit from it in our hearts.

"[The second CONTROL DENIED album] will be finished, it will be released, but only when we can be certain nobody else will destroy it before we can do the way Chuck planned it. That's all, nobody on our side is trying to steal anything from anyone, we all just want to make sure it's done according to Chuck's last wish.

"Today I live five blocks away from Chuck's mother. Bethanne isn't far away either, and her son Chris lives the closest to me. The day I did the interview that Guido Heijnens is shaking his fist and screaming that I'm an idiot making all these things up was Thanksgiving evening, 30 minutes after I got home from dinner at Jane Schuldiner's home. Knowing I had this interview, I spoke with her and Christopher for several hours about the facts surrounding this mess that won't seem to ever go away, even after it had been settled in court.

"Chuck's last wish was to release the CD on a label that would not harm the band or his family, and would promote the record well enough assure that our fans would be completely and forever satisfied with every aspect of the release.

"You only get to do one last record. He wanted the advertising done in a timely manner and with high-quality ads, the distribution to reach every fan possible, and everything all the way down the line to be just right. He knew Hammerheart was way too small and way too broke, and way too unorganized. And now you can see by the display of Mr. Heijnens' demeanor in his letter just what kind of relationship we would have had in business.

"And directly to you Mr. Heijnens, my problem was never that you were too small; it was that you were not big enough to say you were sorry. When you 'accidentally' called me on the phone, you asked how I was, and to me it seemed only as a formality, then without a pause, you asked how I thought the record was. Well, sir, no matter how good it sounds, it will never sound the same."

To read a portion of the Chuck Schuldiner tribute article which appears in the current issue of Greek edition of Rock Hard magazine, go to this location. In addition to Aymar's words, the article contains statements from some of the people that played with Chuck — such as Kam Lee, Chris Reifert, Terry Butler, Steve DiGiorgio, Richard Christy and Paul Masvidal — plus music industry notables who dealt with Schuldiner, and other musicians, among them Michael Amott (ARCH ENEMY),Niklas Sundin (DARK TRANQUILLITY),Donald Tardy (OBITUARY),Alex Webster (CANNIBAL CORPSE),Trym (EMPEROR),Dan Lilker (NUCLEAR ASSAULT),Kelly Shaefer (ATHEIST),and Tony Choy (ATHEIST, CYNIC).

Schuldiner passed away on December 13, 2001 after a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor. He was 34 years old.