I think Blake Judd of Nachtmystium is heavy metal's greatest sadcow.
yep that's his mugshot
So let's rewind to 2010. Nachtmystium, a US black metal outfit from Chicago, is the darling of the metal press. After a few albums of boilerplate Burzum worship, they managed to fuse the stagnant genre with influences from psych rock, industrial, synthpop, you name it. It was very catchy and creative stuff, and Blake is the man at the helm of the band calling the shots and reaping the rewards.
Unbeknownst to the public at large, he's also a prolific scammer. He's selling off rare records in his collection that he doesn't have, he's selling rights to his (or his friend's) band catalogs that he doesn't even own, and then when the other party asks about where their merchandise is he just stops answering their calls. He had been pulling shit like this for a few years beforehand to hear other people tell it, but it was only in 2010 that his scams started picking up steam. That's because he got himself addicted to heroin.
I'll let his former bandmate and best man at his wedding, Neill Jameson, tell this story.
In 2010 I was in Chicago recording Krieg’s “comeback” record. I had tried my best to avoid him during this trip, but on the night I was meant to leave there was a terrible snowstorm. Blake offered to put me up at his place until the weather cleared and I could fly back home, so I decided to stay in and get some sleep. He woke me up around three in the morning by sitting on my chest and holding me down. I was aware he was fucking around with heroin under the misguided idea that it would help him with his music. His idolatry of Kurt Cobain was very well known among his friends. He told me when I woke up that we were going to take a cab (in a fucking blizzard) to the ghetto to buy heroin. He told me that I was a “poser” for covering the Velvet Underground without ever shooting up. We got into a somewhat physical altercation, and he told me “You need this. It’s time you had another tragedy in your life” before calling me a “faggot” and leaving. By the time he got home with the drugs I was asleep on the floor of O’Hare. That was the last time I saw him in any kind of good physical shape.
You can read Jameson's entire account
here. It's long and very depressing.
His scummy behavior became publicly known around 2013, when the head of a label that Blake had sold his nonexistent record collection to posted a
public advisory thread on his forums. People from all over the metal scene started coming out of the woodwork to share their stories of how Blake the Flake ripped them off. The thread now stands at 54 pages and counting, and Nuclear War Now even released commemorative T-shirts to spread awareness.
Later that year,
Blake was arrested for theft after stealing a guitar from his roommate and pawning it for smack money. After being released on probation, he wrote a lot of sob stories about how he had turned over a new leaf, wanted a fresh start, typical junkie shit. But let's think about how his type operates. You've ripped off your bandmates, your coworkers, and every business relationship you've established, but you've ignored the biggest mark of them all - your fans.
In 2014, he started the publicity campaign for his new (and last) album with an
~*~exclusive bundle preorder~*~ where fans could get the record plus some associated merch at a discounted price, direct from him instead of buying from the label or a third-party seller. Needless to say, he didn't have any of this merch. Once his label found out that a musician they had signed was ripping off his fans to the tune of hundreds, if not thousands, they got in contact with each and every scammed fan and made sure they received the merchandise they had ordered. They also terminated their working relationship with Nachtmystium immediately. Century Media's a pretty class act.
Today, Blake Judd is off the grid. Nachtmystium's Facebook page disappeared after the bundle fiasco, and
everyone in the heavy metal scene knows that he's pretty much industry toxin. Rumors pop up on the
"official" hatewatching page every once in a while. One guy claims he saw Blake panhandling outside of a McDonald's. One guy says Blake came into his record store claiming he was working with Vice on a documentary about the homeless. Another claims he saw him sucking dick for crack (optimistic).
In classic ADF fashion, he's burned every bridge except the one he's living under. But isn't it all worth it in the end once you end up on Family Guy?
