This story is shocking to me because I never imagined the EDM sensation “Krewella”…
…as anything else than an incredible trio!
Krewella is arguably the best trio in EDM since Swedish House Mafia and is formed of Kris “Rain Man” Trindl and sisters Jahan Yousaf & Yasmine Yousaf.
Today there are reports of a lawsuit that Kris Trindl (the man behind the trio’s instrumentals) has filed against his fellow members of Krewella (Jahan and Yasmine) to the tune of at least $5 million in damages!
My head is spinning now just taking all this in. Krewella is easily one of my favorite new music discoveries of the past 5 years and I don’t know how they will have EDM appeal without Kris. Sure the songs could be produced by other random people in the industry, but without turntables on stage with you…I can’t call it EDM.
And you’re not really doing it unless they’re Pioneer! 😉
Krewella took an oath on June 8th, 2010 agreeing that they would quit school and put all of their energy into music! They all have 6/8/10 tattooed on their bodies to signify how much that date means to them.
6/8/10
When asked about the group tattoo, Yasmine said: “We all got our 6-8-10 tattoos. Me and Jahan have it on our necks, Kris has it on his arm, and it’s like our dedication to our whole livelihood, our careers, our friendship or relationship with each other. So it means a lot to all of us together. It’s like our bond basically and it’s what I want to spend the rest of my life doing with these people, so it’s very important to me.”
Let me break down the timeline of Kris’ departure from Krewella to try to make sense of why this lawsuit has been served to the Yousaf sisters in the first place…
The trio met as students at Glenbrook North High School in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. At some point, Kris and Jahan dated which is probably what solidified his bond with the Yousaf sisters in the first place. Kris was given the nickname “Rain Main” by one of the clients that he produced music for because he thought that he would rain in success with his musical endeavors…and boy was he right!
So as you know, in June 2010, the trio vowed to spend the rest of their lives making music together…as Krewella! They moved into a loft in Chicago and defined their style as Kris mixing heavy beats on stage and Jahan & Yasmine singing in front of the DJ booth.
They used their roots in Glenbrook North High School to work with a fellow student: Jake Udell. He knew marketing and worked hard to learn social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Jake is now their manager and has been with them from the start 🙂
#JakeUdell
The group was signed to Columbia Records soon after their first single “Killin’ It” was released and the money rolled in from 2012 to 2013. It was like a party that never ended for the EDM hopefuls now turned EDM superstars!
Upon relocating to Los Angeles for their music career, they were hardly at home! Krewella played 140 tour dates in 2013 and the hectic schedule & international traveling started to really take its toll on Kris.
According to the lawsuit: “Kris used alcohol to try to cope with the pressure. By late summer of 2013, he knew he had a drinking problem and checked himself into a detox program and then a 30-day rehab program.”
I have to pause and say that I thoroughly respect Kris for making the difficult decision to get clean. He gets at A+ in my book for taking care of himself before it was too late.
Kris got sober, went back on tour, and kept true to sobriety even after two relapses! If I could, I would give him a high five and a hug!
#WayToGoKris
The lawsuit goes on to explain: “But the Yousaf sisters didn’t like the new, sober Kris, who took care of business but did not party or drink anymore. They thought he was depressed, although he explained it was just part of the recovery process.”
Let me just say that these are statements derived by Kris’ lawyer so it would make sense that they are an accurate portrayal of his side of the story since he is providing the information. Moving right along…
At the beginning of 2014, Kris had to move into Jake’s place and it turns out that he has not been unscathed by his manager in this lawsuit either 😦
The lawsuit claims: “At this time, Udell, the Yousaf sisters and others conspired to remove Kris from the group altogether. Now that the band was successful, they figured they could always hire outside people to write and produce music for far less money than it would cost to continue splitting their income equally with Kris, as they have done (one-third to each member).”
From 33/33/33 shares to 50/50?!
If greed is the only legitimate reason for pushing him out of the group…I’m ticked! I feel like you might as well sacrifice yourself to Pop music if you don’t have a producer in the group. Otherwise you’re just like Kesha or Britney Spears…you’re singing and nobody knows who created the instrumentals. I hate to even go there, but I have to 😦
To make matters worse, Kris missed a flight to Mexico City in March of this year for the Electric Daisy Carnival (a huge EDM festival) and after that mishap, he said: “I was ushered into the living room at Jake’s home for a meeting led by an ‘interventionist’ where others told me to go into rehab.”
Sounds like that’s when *you know what* hit the fan!
The lawsuit states that: “it was not rehab for drinking, because Kris was staying sober. They demanded he go into rehab for depression.”
Kris thought it was unnecessary, but Jake & Yasmine told him to take a break and get healthy the next day. It sounds like they gave him marching orders and if he doesn’t want to “party” because he’s sober, you can’t blame the guy! I have a lot of respect for him seeking out sober living because not many people do!
The real kicker of the lawsuit is that: “It was not Kris’ health or sobriety the others were thinking about, it was all about keeping him off the road so Jahan and Yasmine could establish themselves to live audiences as a duo without Kris, so they could eventually erase him completely from Krewella and reap greater financial rewards.”
#AndThenThereWereTwo
There we go again with greed. I can’t believe my eyes! I spoke to Jake last year and he was a very down to earth person. I have nothing bad to say about him and I’m hoping that his alleged actions for making Krewella a duo are not true.
Last I heard about the trio was that they were working on new music! Check out my blog post about their upcoming album here: musicrowgirl.com/krewella-sophomore-album.
I love Jahan and Yasmine because they’re incredibly talented and I find it hard to believe that they could be so cruel to the guy who they shared so much music with. I really hope that they can either add Kris back in the group or give him the money he is seeking for this incredible loss in his career.
This also brings up an important question to me: “Can you be sober and partake in the EDM lifestyle?” I would say yes because I have never had an alcoholic drink or taken drugs in my life. I enjoy the passion behind EDM music and I don’t need to abuse substances to have a good time. I know the same is true for Kris now that he is sober, and I don’t want there to be a stigma around EDM that you have to drink & do drugs or you can’t listen and go to shows. It’s simply not true!
I wish the best to Kris and look forward to hearing the rest of the legal proceedings!
Music Row Girl 