HATEBREED Fires Back At 'Disgruntled Former Bandmember' CHRIS BEATTIE In First Official Response To Lawsuit

According to Billboard, HATEBREED has responded to founding bassist Chris Beattie's (pictured above) lawsuit, claiming that he has no legal basis to sue over his dismissal from the veteran Connecticut hardcore/metal band last year.

In his original complaint, which was filed this past July at Connecticut Superior Court in New Haven, Beattie insisted that he was the "driving force behind [HATEBREED's] sound and identity until his sudden and baseless expulsion" from the group last November. He also accused HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta (real name: James Shanahan) of displaying "increasingly erratic" behavior in the months leading up to Chris's "abrupt termination", "culminating in a unilateral decision to cut Beattie off from his career, fans, touring, and substantial expected revenue."

On September 25, HATEBREED and Jasta filed a motion to strike some of Beattie's claims, calling the split between the parties a "garden variety band break-up case" and referring to Beattie as "a disgruntled former band member" who "erroneously asserts a right to remain a permanent member" of HATEBREED "in perpetuity despite the fact that the underlying relationship between the parties was terminable at-will."

According to the motion, which has been obtained by BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Beattie, Jasta and HATEBREED drummer Matthew Byrne "entered into a Band merchandise agreement on or about September 25, 2015, which provided the three would each be entitled to 25% of the sales revenue from Band merchandise and two other Band members would each receive 12.5% of the remaining sales revenue."

Beattie "was terminated from his role in the Band on November 15, 2024," according to the motion, which adds that "[Beattie] wholly fails to allege that any agreement was concluded with HATEBREED, or HATEBREED's members, or that [Beattie] has an ownership interest in the Band's name. Nor does [Beattie] allege that he has not received record or publishing royalties in connection with recording projects that he worked on. [Beattie] claims [Jasta] and [Beattie] maintained an 'implied agreement' from the Band's inception that [Beattie] would be an 'equal co-owner' and share in the Band's profits, royalties and rights. [Beattie's] complaint is devoid of any allegation HATEBREED maintained an agreement with [Beattie] concerning his status with the Band or his entitlement to Band revenues. Without a written agreement with a term, [Beattie's] relationship with the Band was terminable at-will."

HATEBREED's motion also addressed Beattie's claim that Jasta fired Beattie after citing "an alleged incident that occurred on or around November 9, 2024 just prior to a HATEBREED concert at the Toyota Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut." In Beattie's complaint, he said that "a Live Nation security guard at the venue falsely reported that Beattie had harassed her upon entering the theater prior to his performance. These allegations were patently untrue. Beattie never harassed any Live Nation employee and more likely, she mistook him for someone else."

In HATEBREED's motion, the band's attorney wrote: "[Beattie] does not allege [HATEBREED and Jasta] committed any wrongful conduct during the process of terminating [Beattie's] participation in the Band. [Beattie] merely alleges [HATEBREED and Jasta] 'abruptly terminated' [Beattie] from his role in the Band 'based on unsupported and false allegations' connected to the Live Nation incident which resulted in his 'emotional distress.' Even if the Live Nation incident was 'cited' as a 'false narrative' for his termination, [Beattie's] allegations do not amount to a cognizable claim because the incident merely preceded his termination — it was not connected with the termination process itself."

The motion adds: "[Beattie] claims he provided 'decades-long contributions' to the Band, and his share of the Band's revenue is now being inequitably withheld by [HATEBREED and Jasta] following his termination. [Beattie's] unjust enrichment claim is insufficiently pled because [Beattie] fails to allege he is entitled to Band revenue in perpetuity after termination based simply on his prior contributions to the Band."

In his lawsuit, Beattie claimed that he "contributed significant labor, musical talent, recording and management duties, promotion, and financial resources, without which HATEBREED would not and could not have achieved its current level of recognition and profitability." He added that "the band functioned pursuant to a longstanding, implied agreement and understanding that Shanahan and Beattie were equal co-owners in the band and entitled to their designated share of profits, royalties, and intellectual property rights."

According to Beattie, he and other band members "had no insight into how the money" from HATEBREED merchandise sales "was managed, and most often received payment via wire transfers. Those transfers often came with no explanation or breakdown of the amount being transferred."

The complaint went on to say that "HATEBREED continued to operate in accordance with the longstanding implied agreement and understanding the primary members, including Shanahan, Beattie, and Byrne, were co-equal owners in the band. In addition, the three, along with band manager Steve Ross, played a critical role in all major decision-making on behalf of the band. For example, each of Shanahan, Beattie, Byrne and Ross were responsible for and often discussed managerial decisions such as how much other band members were paid for certain shows, booking and scheduling, distribution, and the band's public image and branding, among other things. Despite this understanding and practice that the three primary band members be involved in such decision-making and entitled to equal shares in profits, at some point Shanahan became more secretive with respect to decision-making and the band's finances."

Prior to his termination, Beattie claims that he "began to notice that there were substantial delays in receiving his share of merchandise sales following HATEBREED performances. When Beattie did receive payments purporting to reflect his share of merchandise sales, those payments were substantially lower than what he anticipated under the merchandise agreement. Because of this, Beattie began requesting financial information about the band from Shanahan. Despite his repeated requests in 2023 and 2024, Beattie never received any financial information confirming that the portion of the proceeds he received constituted 25% of sales as promised."

Beattie went on to say that the fallout from his "termination has had a significant negative impact on his career, reputation, and health and well-being." He also accused HATEBREED of continuing "to sell merchandise using Beattie's likeness in its online store. HATEBREED and Shanahan also continue to promote the band using Beattie's likeness."

This past May, Chris opened up about his departure from HATEBREED, telling Drew Stone of The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!: "Obviously, the last year was the 30th anniversary of the band, so we had big stuff going on for that, which was all completely amazing. We had a great year. Tours, shows were successful, and then we jump to right now where I'm not in the band anymore."

Chris went on to say that his exit from HATEBREED was "completely unexpected. We had just celebrated 30 years," he explained. "It was awesome. Successful tour. Left on a high note. We did great stuff. And like I said before publicly, it was not my decision to leave the band. Someone saw an opportunity to get me out of the picture, and that's where I am now."

Beattie continued: "Everything went really well that year, but there was stuff going on behind the scenes, and it became a chore to get in touch with anyone. And I was the middle man, basically, for bandmembers and crew members, and that became a chore for me. And I had started asking a lot of questions, and it became problematic. I became a problem within the [organization]."

Regarding where he stood with HATEBREED right now, Chris said: "We're trying to work it out. There's attorneys involved now. They're spending a lot of time having to deal with that and all the details of that. And I've gone back and forth.

"Obviously, when something like that happens, you're upset," he continued. "You go through all these crazy emotions. You put 30 years into something like that. But I don't wanna shit on the legacy of what I did. And I could be that guy. I could come out here and I could talk all kinds of shit, but I don't want [to]… I don't wanna be that guy. We made good music. We had great times together. Things changed. Dynamics changed.

"It's hard to be away from your family when you're touring. Everyone understands that. And the feedback from people when you play, you inspire them, you touch their life, you have a positive, lasting impact on someone, that always kept me in the game. And when shit wasn't going right in the band and whatnot, you look at that man that's the realest shit you could possibly get. People would come up to us all the time and be, like, 'Man, I was ready to kill myself. And your music changed me.' How do you respond to that? It's real deep shit.

"So I'm just hoping for the best," Chris added. "Hopefully we'll be able to sort this out. I don't want us to go down some shitty road. We've all seen bands do that, so hopefully it could end on decent terms and be able to move ahead."

Asked if he thought there was any chance of him being able to work things out with HATEBREED and return to the band, Beattie said: "My time is done with HATEBREED… It's done. My family comes first. I'll leave it at that. I can't go back to that. But there is a legacy. With all the time that I haven't been in the band now, which, it's weird to say, but people know me from that band everywhere I go. You can't shake that kind of shit. The identity is still there. So it's good. It's hard to talk about too, but here we are. New doors open."

When Beattie went public with his departure from HATEBREED seven months ago, he wrote in a statement: "I just want to take the time to let everyone know that I am doing just fine and I sincerely appreciate everyone who has reached out.

"I was under the impression a joint announcement would be agreed upon in advance, but since that was not the case I wanted to address your concerns in my own post.

"At this time I am unable to discuss the specifics surrounding my departure from HATEBREED on November 13, 2024. However, I want to clarify that the decision to leave the band was not mine and that my departure was uncalled for and based on misleading and wrongful statements that will be subject to future actions."

This past July, HATEBREED released its first new music in nearly five years, "Make The Demons Obey". The track was the first taste of new HATEBREED material after the group's "Weight Of The False Self" album which came out in 2020.

Photo credit: Jeremy Saffer