Today we, along with just about every single one of our contemporaries, ran a story talking about Upon a Burning Body frontman Danny Leal going missing after ominous tweets and Facebook posts. Around 6:30 p.m. tonight, the band's label Sumerian Records took to Facebook to seemingly condemn Leal and his "disappearance." Was the whole thing a hoax or some type of publicity stunt to promote an upcoming album? Sumerian CEO Ash Avildsen weighs in.
"I woke up to a ton of missed calls and just saw all this stuff about Danny Leal of UABB posing as that 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. -Ash Avildsen, Creator & CEO of Sumerian Records."
AltPress did a bit of detective work and found out that the band will release The World Is My Enemy Now on August 12, however no official announcement has yet to be made. They also contacted the San Antonio police department to find that there was no missing persons report filed under the name "Danny Leal" although they are quick to point out it could just be an alias.
No matter which way this situation turns out, be it Leal missing or Leal lying about being missing, it's still bad.
