The legal battle between the co-founders of Cleveland industrial metal veterans Mushroomhead has officially come to an end. Jeffrey Hatrix (aka Jeffrey Nothing), the band’s original vocalist, has reached a settlement with drummer and producer Steve “Skinny” Felton, resolving a lawsuit filed in August 2024 regarding alleged unpaid royalties and copyright infringement.
On Monday, February 9, a notice of dismissal with prejudice was filed in federal court in Cleveland. This legal filing indicates that the dispute has been permanently resolved and cannot be brought back to court.
Following the dismissal, Hatrix took to social media to confirm the peace treaty between himself and his former bandmate. In a surprising turn for a relationship that had been strained since his departure in 2018, Hatrix praised Felton’s handling of the negotiations and even hinted at the possibility of future collaboration.
“As a lot of you know, there has been an ongoing lawsuit between myself and my former band,” Hatrix wrote. “I’m happy to report that the situation is settled and over.”
He continued: “From here out, there will be nothing negative about Mushroomhead or Skinny on my page. He came to the table amicably and honorably and we found a solution that made both of us happy.”
“Skinny and I founded Mushroomhead and it’s great to see the fanbase and community it has built. I’m proud of that and I know he is,” he said. “Mushroomhead is his and I wish him the best. My creative baby is now my solo work.”
Addressing the question on every fan’s mind, Hatrix added: “Will I ever work with SHROOM again? Time will tell. I’m not against it. But I have no ill feelings either way. I want everybody to win.”
“Thank you all for your years of support and for having my back when it was needed, but from here on out it’s nothing but positivity in that direction. I said I was done with drama and I meant it.”
The lawsuit, which sought at least $3.5 million in damages, painted a different picture when it was originally filed. Hatrix claimed he had written or co-written 148 songs during his tenure but had stopped receiving proper payment for his work.
The complaint alleged that “most of the [Mushroomhead] performing arts copyright registrations were registered as Stephen Felton being the copyright claimant. And, although on many songs [Hatrix] was given proper credit for his participation in creating said works, there seems to be no record of mechanical royalty payments stemming from these performing arts registrations.”
The filing went on to accuse Felton of manipulating financial records.
“Felton‘s actions … became more nefarious, including the doctoring of publishing splits giving Skinny (Felton) double pay under 2 names ‘Tenafly Viper‘ and just plain ‘Steve Felton‘, along with 30% going to him under ‘unknown publicist’ and ‘unknown writer’,” the lawsuit stated. “In fact, most of the publishing splits seem to have disappeared as plaintiff has not received any mechanical royalties to speak of for several years at least.”
Hatrix further claimed that while the band’s revenue grew, his share did not.
“Although the money coming increased, plaintiff was apparently receiving pennies on the dollar,” the suit read, noting that he was paid a flat “‘allowance’ $1,200 per week per, per tour” and “almost nothing beyond this.”
Hatrix left Mushroomhead in March 2018. At the time, his exit statement was diplomatic:
“I am coming to you today with a heavy heart to announce that I am leaving Mushroomhead. It is a decision that I did not make easily, but one I made for reasons that are best for me as an artist and musician at this juncture in my career.”
However, in a subsequent appearance on the “ADHD” podcast, the singer revealed the emotional toll the band dynamic had taken on him.
“My issue was there was only one chief [Steve Felton], and that’s not how it started. That really catapulted us all backwards. I feel like we could have done so much more… Things could have all been different and friendly, but I don’t believe my former band has that in their vocabulary. I never wanted it like that. It’s odd.”
He described his final days on the road with the group in stark terms:
“I left the band because I couldn’t do it anymore. I stayed for a long time for the fans and it just got to be like, ‘Sorry I just can’t do it anymore.’ I was trying to leave on semi-amicable terms and then that never happened… I got to the point where I didn’t even want to go on tour anymore. There was one tour where I felt like I was in need of having every tooth pulled out of my head. The stress was so bad, it felt like that. That ended up not being the case. Once I got home, I was fine. Sometimes a bus can feel like a prison cell or your bunk can feel like a casket or you’re doing time or you’re not even alive anymore… When it was cool, I liked it. When it became somebody’s little game, for lack of a better word, it became very ugly and something I wanted to get out of as soon as I could.”
