Martin Duffy, who played keyboards on “Primal Scream,” “Felt” and “Liar,” died late last year at the age of 55 after a fall at his home. Now, Duffy’s 19-year-old son Louie is accusing his father’s former Primal Scream bandmates Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes of financial misconduct that left his father in financial trouble.
Louie Duffy at witness statement It was presented to West Sussex, Brighton and Hove coroner as part of their investigation into his father’s death. Louie claims that although Martin was initially an equal member of Primal Scream in the early ’90s, “he gradually couldn’t get any songwriting credits, then tours and merchandise profits, and eventually just got paid per show.” Louie says his father Earns around £40,000 a year playing Primal Scream.
“Dad says the money really started to flow in when Primal Scream finished the 20th anniversary tour of their most successful album scream In 2011, but he didn’t benefit from it, because at this point, the band decided to relegate him to only getting paid as a session musician from then on,” recalls Louie.
Martin’s financial situation has taken a turn for the worse during the pandemic, as “no show means no income.” At the same time, he was also diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Louie claims his father joined Primal Scream at the Bigfoot Festival in Warwickshire in June 2021 for their first post-COVID concert, weeks after undergoing surgery while still using the catheter. a show. “He insists he’s fit to play but should never try to do gigs, but at this point he’s desperate for money,” Louie said. During rehearsals, Martin suffered from a problem with his catheter, which left him “in so much pain” that he eventually sought alcohol for pain relief.
“Dad admitted he drank alcohol before the show, but only to help him cope with the pain, he ended up having what he called a ‘brain freeze’ on stage – a panic attack – and kept playing hard, which has happened before It never happened to him,” Louie said. “This led to the band advising him to go to ‘rehab’, but Dad insisted this was unnecessary as his problems were related to his medical problems that day, but he did agree to alcohol counseling a few months later, and in the ensuing The fact that he was able to perform without incident in all shows has been confirmed by several people who have worked with him.”
Louie further claimed that his father fell from his carriage in spring 2022 after learning that Gillespie and Innes had sold half of the band’s old records for £5m. Louie said Martin received no money from the deal, despite the fact that he played on all 11 of the band’s albums and has composition credits on two of them.
“After this, I saw firsthand that he really started to go downhill. He got depressed – he started smoking again – and started drinking more. That’s when he knew he was never going to get a payday, At that point he didn’t have to worry about paying the bills. All of our family and dad’s friends noticed this change in him and tried to support him but felt powerless. I can say without a doubt that the band completely ignored Dad’s situation directly affected his mental health.”
Louie said Martin was asked to leave Primal Scream because of his alcoholism and was told not to rejoin until he was sober. Martin began drinking heavily, and in December 2022, he fell in his home and suffered catastrophic brain damage. Louie said the band paid for his father’s funeral, but he has not had contact with Gillespie or Innes since.
Primal Scream has not addressed Louie Duffy’s request.