Australian artist Zheani has publicly leveled allegations of false advertising and fraud against Ill Niño drummer Dave Chavarri. Zheani alleges in the below video recap to have rented a tour bus through a company overseen by Chavarri and his significant other for a U.S. tour.
In the video, Zheani claims the bus provided showed up without advertised working features and was filthy, with mold present and a non-functional shower, among other issues.
According to Zheani, the product listing and info received for the rental ahead of time indicated that the bus they would be receiving had been fully renovated, with their touring party being the first to use it since that renovation.
Starting around 3:40 into the video, what is said to be footage of the bus in the condition it arrived in was documented, Zheani stated of that:
“Six months in advance I paid in full for a tour bus. It was gonna be our sanctuary. We were told we were gonna be the first ones on it after a full renovation, and most importantly, it was gonna have a shower, so we could get clean every night after the messy, grueling performances.
It took me about 3.5 seconds after walking onto the bus to know things weren’t right. What I was surrounded by was a filthy environment. I immediately beelined down the corridor to assess the shower and two bathrooms. No shower, one toilet, with vomit splash and human filth encrusted on the floors and walls. I was fucking scammed.”
Later on, around 23:15 minutes in, Zheani commented further of the situation regarding the bus:
“If anyone was wondering what happened with the bus. At first the guy ignored our calls. Then he pretended he didn’t know what the problem was. Then he began lying, claiming that the actual bus would arrive next week. He continued lying like this every week and by halfway through the tour, I knew there was no bus coming, and me and my dancers were forced to shower ourselves in public bathroom sinks most nights, all across the country.
When the tour was over, he offered to refund me a couple thousand dollars and then proceeded to not respond. His wife, and co-owner of the business, suggested that we were drug addicts looking for an easy payday, brutal. No refund was ever transferred.
The man who did this to a bunch of independent female artists is Dave Chavarri. He is from a band called Ill Niño. I hope karma is real. I love my fans, but honestly, America is absolutely fucked. And the awful reality we found ourselves in is enough to make me never want to trust touring there again.
I felt responsible for every person on that bus with me. We were all living and working in those conditions together and I’m still mortified to this day.”
Chavarri does not appear to have publicly responded to the allegations put forth against him in the video thus far.
