UABB slammed by label boss over 'publicity stunt'

The supposed disappearance of Upon A Burning Body frontman Danny Leal has been branded a "publicity stunt" by the band's furious record label boss.

Ash Avildsen, CEO of Sumerian Records, says the hoax was pulled behind his back and he has called on the band to apologise.

Last night fears were growing over Leal’s safety after the band posted a message on Facebook claiming he had not been seen since Monday. It followed a series of worrying tweets from Leal in which he seemed to suggest he was being watched and that someone had broken into his house.

Avildsen says in a statement: “I woke up to a ton of missed calls and just saw all this stuff about Danny Leal of UABB posing as though he’s been abducted or kidnapped. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since.

“As a child, we all learn the story The Boy Who Cried Wolf and it sticks within our consciousness for a reason. I do not condone this type of publicity stunt. This was done behind my back and I am not OK with it. In my eyes, there’s never a time to use the possibility of real-life abduction, injury or murder of someone you care about to promote anything, especially an album.

“If you need to resort to that, then you have lost the plot. We as a society should have evolved past that way of thinking by now and especially within the rock/metal community, given all the tragedy that has happened in our world over the past few years.

“There are some people who owe us an apology.”

Leal’s tweets claimed he had seen a “sketchy car” repeatedly passing his house, while a later post suggested he was woken up by someone who had got into his house.

The band’s message on Facebook followed, claiming he was missing. UABB have since posted a further Facebook status update – lyrics for their song Red Razor Wrists.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.