Cradle Of Filth have announced the firing of guitarist Marek “Ashok” Šmerda – find out more below.
Last night, Cradle Of Filth and frontman Dani Filth took to social media to announce that they have fired Šmerda with immediate effect. The post came hours after Šmerda shared his own posts announcing that he would be leaving Cradle Of Filth at the end of their current tour.
His wife, Zoe Marie Federoff who was also in the band as keyboardist, also left the band mid-tour a day before Šmerda’s announcement. The couple cited “certain events” within the band as their reasons for wanting to leave.
Šmerda’s post revealed that the couple “do not feel like Cradle can provide for our future, and in fact hinders it. Among other reasons it is a lot of work for relatively low pay, the stress is quite high, and we haven’t felt for a while like this band actually prioritizing/caring about members. It has been years of unprofessional behavior from people above us that led to our decision.”
In response, Cradle Of Filth and Dani Filth have fired Šmerda with immediate effect. Filth wrote, addressing Šmerda’s and Federoof’s exits: “Thank you for your understanding in this horrible matter, we are all in a state of shock over proceedings and will share our side to these unfortunate events in due course. Please, respect our decision to part with Ashok now rather than at the end of the tour and avoid speculation as more clarity on the situation will be provided.”
“The rest of the band are cool, even if taken aback, and accusations toward management, who work very closely with me and the band are completely unjust and unfounded. Patience is a virtue and the truth will always come out.”
The band also confirmed that they will be proceeding with the rest of their tour despite being short of one guitarist and “all attempts to illegally defame and derail the band”.
It is currently unclear if Dani and Cradle Of Filth are seeking legal action against the couple for their “illegal” attempts at “defamation”.
Additionally, Šmerda has asked that his contributions to the band’s future releases, including the long-gestating collaboration with Ed Sheeran, be scrapped: “I have also asked all compositions of mine removed from upcoming releases including Ed Sheeran collab. This song feels like foolish clown antics for me at this point anyways- first it was charity single for kids, then for profit single, then on next album, and now who knows and I just do not want to be involved anymore, no disrespect to Ed Sheeran.”
The Ed Sheeran collaboration has been in the works for several years, dating all the way back to 2021. Work on the track was progressing in 2022 according to Filth, with that then being halted due to Sheeran becoming a father. Filth was then pictured at the pub with Sheeran and producer Scott Atkins in late 2022, with a tentative release date of summer 2023 then set.
Earlier this year, Dani Filth continued to talk up the collaboration, saying the track was “done and dusted”, but would later leave it off the band’s latest record.
Federoff joined Cradle of Filth in 2022, and was a part of the line-up when they shared their latest album ‘The Screaming Of The Valkyries’ in March 2025. Šmerda has been in the group for over a decade. They announced their engagement to celebrate New Year’s Day 2024, and officially tied the knot earlier this year – with Dani Filth in attendance.
