white fuzzy bloodbath
after sam left dave & confused, mike and i decided to change the name. I had already written most of the new material and mike and i were rehearsing when we asked elise tarens to join the band. i also offered her the responsibility of managing the band. she contributed one song that she said she wrote and she helped create two other songs. after our first tour, mike left the band and andreas soon joined. With andreas we recorded the show, both live and in the studio. The band ended acrimoniously in 2017.
picture a small dachsund, running circles in a small yard while viciously shredding - and also humping - a stuffed polar bear, leaving fluff everywhere. i was sitting outside the studio watching this and writing the lyrics to cutthroat when i came up with the name in 2012.
in 2020, elise tarens filed a trademark for the name white fuzzy bloodbath and used it to take the website that i had always owned.
she then released a music video featuring me, followed later by a public announcement that I was leaving the band and "they" wished me the best.
my first course of action was to protect the three songs that i had published years earlier with dave & confused (cutthroat, put it down, this train ain't stopping). i filed 6 dmca takedown notices with both youtube and bandcamp. her first dmca counter-notice said she owned the name white fuzzy bloodbath which gave her the right to use anything associated with the name.
lets go back a little.
elise tarens once joined a band in nashville called nixon's widow. she then moved to california and decided to start another band called nixon's widow. only problem? jesse asher owned the name and took legal action to stop her.
she then filed a copyright for the album sugar & rock, claiming all the songs were co-written by herself and andreas tsampoukos. but wait, didn't michael broadus play all of these songs first as well as co-write ms candy?
she then filed her remaining dmca counter-notices, claiming that the band had all rights and permissions, that she owned the band, and all work done in and for the band was done for hire for her.
in january of 2023, i filed a petition to cancel the trademark on the grounds that she is not the rightful owner and she defrauded the government. she immediately filed a restraining order against me, citing the letter i had sent informing her of the impending legal action as being menacing. i live in la and she lives in northern california. i appeared remotely for the hearing. her request was denied. she then filed a second restraining order and claims in small claims court. she lost both of those cases. i filed a complaint with the fbi regardiing her copyright infringement, her perjury in the sworn statements she gave as dmca counter-notices, and the fact that she was using an empty lot to register both the trademark and copyrights. the local post office, real estate agent, and former owner of the property confirmed that it was indeed a vacant lot after my cease and desist letter was returned, so i filed complaints with the local postmaster and the local police. two detectives have since followed up on the case.
after i informed her trademark counsel of my witnesses, elise tarens impersonated her former manager and guitarist ben mcsherry on social media to accuse my witness of cheating on his wife. seriously.
elise claimed we were equal partners, claimed co-writing credit on my songs, then claimed they were done for hire, then publicly claimed in an interview that we all agreed to share writing credit and she has the agreement. i like that. "we all agreed" to share writing credit on my songs. her lawyer has since told me that the agreement was verbal.
