Dylan Drazen komt met statement. By Heinos, 11 May 2004

Na zijn dubbele set op Reactor van 13 maart j.l. wachtte Dylan Drazen een onaangename verassing. Hij werd opgewacht door een deurwaarder, politiemensen, Beee van Rub.ber travel en Frank v/d Bold van Musika Tremenda. Er werd per direct beslag gelegd op de roerende zaken van de New Yorkse DJ. Dylan komt nu zelf met een statement naar buiten waarin hij zijn kant van het verhaal belicht.

This public statement is in regards to the legal action being taken against me by Rub.ber Bookings in Holland. In short, Rub.ber Bookings agreed with promotions company Musika Tremenda that I would perform at an event called "Integrate" in The Hague, which took place on February 21, 2004. In December of 2003 Rub.ber Bookings signed a contract with Musika Tremenda stating I would perform. This action was taken without my express consent and Rub.ber Bookings was never authorized to act on my behalf. As soon as I heard of this I informed both Rub.ber Bookings as well as Musika Tremenda that I was already asked and would commit to perform in Spain on that particular date. As I would have liked to perform in The Netherlands, I offered Musika Tremanda to perform on another night, but such offer was simply refused. It appears that my offer was used against me and was misinterpreted as admitting that I was to perform on February 21, 2004, but I was not.

The response that followed, including the incident that took place on the morning of March 14th of 2004, was completely out of proportion in my ten years of experience and unheard of in the dance music scene. Musika Tremenda filed a lawsuit against Rub.ber Bookings for breach of contract, and in turn Rub.ber Bookings is seeking to sue me. Interestingly, both Musika Tremenda and Rub.ber Bookings are being represented by the same law firm in The Netherlands. As mentioned in a previous statement, I would rather not be speaking about this publicly at all, but as the matter was brought public by Rub.ber Bookings and Musika Tremenda mere hours after the incident, affecting my public image (no doubt one of their goals), I am forced to defend myself accordingly.

On March 13, 2004, I was in Rotterdam to perform at the "Reactor" event. The account of what occurred directly after the event that next morning has already been given by others, however to reiterate what went on, I will describe it here. About ten minutes after my final set at "Reactor" at 7am, I was basically ambushed behind the stage by a bailiff serving me with papers, accompanied by a few policemen, and Beee from Rub.ber Bookings and Frank from Musika Tremenda. Up until this point, no information was given that this was going to happen. It was done by surprise in order to seize assets and get paid up front in order for such assets to be released. As this type of activity is totally illegal in the United States, I thought on the spot that what was going on was not legitimate. But later on I did find out that as I am a foreigner, a court may allow to seize assets on a basis of an alleged claim, provided that the actual claim will be brought to court at a later stage. Should the claim not appear to be valid, which the court still needs to determine, the assets will need to be returned. Until today, no claim has yet been filed. The papers served to me were in Dutch and would not be translated into English. The bailiff and police were acting in an intimidating manner. By court order, the bailiff demanded seizure of the vinyl used to perform with that night, as well as any money that was paid for the performances. Access to these assets was not available, so the bailiff had the police escort me to the hotel, where security granted them access to my room and belongings without my authority. The bailiff discovered my laptop computer and took it. Once he realized that I was not going to pay what they said I owe (a large sum of money by my standards), he seized the laptop and a few other personal items and said he'd come back in a few hours expecting me to pay, upon which he'd return the laptop. As I did not have the money nor was I guilty of any wrongdoing, I felt the only thing to do was to go to the airport and fly home.

The bailiff still has possession of my assets and the matter has, already two months after the incident, still not been brought to court yet. I still have not received any subpoena from which I could read what I would have done wrong. If and when the matter does end up in court in the United States, I am confident I will be absolved of any wrongdoing, the matter will be behind us, and I will once again be able to ride the momentum that has resulted from my performances in Leiden and Rotterdam earlier this year. However it is unlikely I will be able to return to Holland in order to do any shows for some time to come as I do not want to be taken by surprise again. I could pay Rub.ber Bookings and continue taking bookings in Holland immediately, but I don't owe anything, so I must defend myself.

I am unaware of a similar case in the legal history of our dance music scene where an artist has been personally sued over a booking dispute. It is my hope that this incident has not started a trend.

A more complete story is promised to be revealed in a final statement once the matter is closed. I would like to thank my fans and supporters during this difficult time.

Dylan Drazen
New York, NY
May 11, 2004