Aaron Tate’s Letter to [caedmonscall.net]
About six weeks ago we received a letter from Aaron Tate, former member of Caedmon’s Call. In it, he addressed a few comments made by the band in our March 4th CC chat. While the staff at this site supports the band in all their efforts, we felt that we owed it to Aaron to give him a chance to voice his opinion on some things that were brought up in the chat.
We want to make it clear that we are not taking sides or offering our take on what has been said. We are simply offering Aaron the same opportunity we gave the band to speak to the fan base. It has always been, and will continue to be, our hope that these two parties are able to find reconciliation and restoration for what was once such a fruitful and blessed relationship. Having said that, we ask that you please read Aaron’s letter.
On June 26, 2003, we received the following letter from Aaron Tate, former songwriting member of Caedmon’s Call. After much careful thought and with Aaron’s permission, we have decided to share it with you.
Dear CaedmonsCall.net,
I have resisted commenting on my split with Caedmon‘s Call for nearly a year now. And I haven‘t even kept up with their news or gossip. But lately I thought I‘d check in at your site. And I just had to comment on some things mentioned in the CC chat.
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[Bryan] can you give us an honest update on where the band ’s relationship with aaron tate is? i really hope you all are on good terms.
[Caedmon's Call] we have tried to contact him many many times and he has not gotten back to us, so we really dont know his feelings right now.
[Bryan] thanks for being honest about that
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Since July 2002, when I told the band I didn’t want them to record any more of my songs, I have heard from members of the band exactly three times. The first was a letter, typed and signed by all (except Derek) and FedExed to me in July. The second was in October when I got an email from Todd saying he would like to reconcile our friendship even if we couldn’t agree on Caedmon’s Call stuff. Since I consider Todd a true friend, I told him I thought that would be good and he should call me next time he came to Houston so we could meet in person. The third was in December when Todd called me to say he was going to Bolivia with Compassion International. He asked if I would like him to take a gift to my sponsored child there, which I thought was really nice, and so I said yes. Haven’t heard from anyone since (though a friend told me the band was in Houston in March). To be honest, the band has not tried to contact me “many many times,” nor have I tried to contact them.
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[Bryan] cliff, have you ever tried writing songs? how about danielle?
[Caedmon's Call] danielle has written some stuff, including piece of glass, and cliff has written many songs with aaron that were solely credited to aaron.
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In all my years working with Cliff and Caedmon’s Call, I have never heard this assertion. To be fair–sure, Cliff made great musical contributions to my songs. Some may consider this “writing,” but in the past he and everyone else called it arranging. Regardless, music is one thing and lyrics are another. And the important thing I want to clarify is this–Cliff has never contributed any lyrics to any of my songs, except those for which he was credited. The only song for which he was credited with lyrics is “Beautiful Mystery,” which is fine with me*. In fact, he can have all the credit for that song, as far as I’m concerned.
I hope this clarifies a few things about my relationship with the band. I don’t spend much time worrying about Caedmon’s Call these days. But the thing that the band once loved about my songs is the thing that still drives me now–I like the truth to be told.
Aaron Tate
www.aaron-tate.com
* Cliff was credited with writing April Showers in the liner notes of “Intimate Portrait”, but this was simply a typo.
if you would like to join the ongoing discussion regarding Aaron’s letter, come over to the discussion on the Caedmon’s Call Board in our Rumor Forum.