OTTAWA, Ontario (CelebrityAccess) — Singer-songwriter Mark Kozalek, frontman of the folk-rock act Sun Kil Moon, abruptly pulled the band out of gig at the CityFolk festival in Ottawa Ontario, criticizing the festival's promoters for being 'disorganized.'
Originally slated to perform on Sept. 19th, Kozelek announced that the band was canceling their appearance in a post on the group's label Caldo Verde Records's website, claiming that they were withdrawing from the event “due to unorganized promoters.”
Kozelek later added to the post, linking to several news articles covering past problems at the festival, including the stage collapse that occured in 2011, as well as a noise complaint raised against the festival last year.
When asked about Kozalek's post, CityFolk's Mark Monahan told the Ottawa Sun's Aedan Helmer that the dispute had been "blown out of proportion."
Monahan told The Sun that the disagreement started when festival organizers contacted Kozalek about arrangements for the upcoming show.
"Because we have multiple people contacting him about transportation and catering and stage management, he's suggesting that we're disorganized," Monahan told the paper, adding, "this hasn't been an issue for any other bands."
According to Monahan, Kozelek cancelled the band's appearance, and then later demanded that it be reinstated, adding the links to the negative articles after that reinstatement was refused.
"My response to him was that he cancelled the show and he's free to make any comment he wants to," Monahan told The Sun.
Mr. Kozalek or his representatives did not respond to a request for comment. – Staff Writers
