Q&A: Randy Blythe from Lamb of God
D. Randall Blythe ā Randy to friends and family ā understands that it doesnāt quite fit his profile as the dreadlocked, feral-throated frontman for molten metal outfit Lamb of God. But this Virginian doesnāt care. Right now, at this perilous point in time, and after everything heās survived ā including detention in a Czech Republic prison in 2012 on manslaughter charges, stemming from the 2010 concert-related death of a fan, of which he was ultimately acquitted ā thereās only one thing on his creature-comfort wish list:Ā A cloud-fluffy, Captain Kirk-sized La-Z-Boy recliner into which he can quietly sink at the end of another soul-searing, coronavirus-evading day.
āI would love to have one,ā he cedes. āI was thinking about it, and Iāve never had a comfy chair, but at 49 years old, I think itās time, just to ease me into my old age.ā He pauses, exhales a surrendering sigh before adding, āBut it could just be a sign of me wanting what I canāt have, because the problem is, you canāt get a comfy chair right now. So Iām fine with my foldable fishing chair ā itās served me fine at the beach and the river, so itāll do me fine now indoors.ā
And obviously, he says, such luxuries can wait, as humanity collectively shelters in pandemic place in a battle against an unforeseen opponent that, most scientists agree, will continue stalking us for some time to come. Itās genuinely a life-or-death equation when we step out of our home, as infected droplets can hang in the air for several hours after the person who coughed them up has passed by. Both refrigerated and frozen purchases can sustain COVID-19 for prolonged periods, as well. Everything we touch is a potential contaminant, and the only way to keep it at bay is by washing your hands like an OCD raccoon and wearing a droplet-curbing mask in public.
Forgive Blythe for trying to keep the conversation light and humorous. Still, after a couple of expected Monty Python allusions (āFetch the comfy chair!ā from its classic Spanish Inquisition skits), he gets down to serious business. In the same way that he morphed his jail time into cathartic art, via Lamb of Godās VII: Sturm und Drang magnum opus in 2015, and an attendant bestselling book the same year, Dark Days: A Memoir, he has just lyrically penned an eerily prescient new musical treatise, Lamb of God, which dissects societal ills that have been gnawing at him for years, and that possibly contribute to where we find ourselves now:Ā school shootings (āReality Bathā), immigrant xenophobia (āNew Colossal Hateā), rampant consumer culture (āGearsā), left/right polarization (āCheckmateā), and ā in the first Sisters-of-Mercy-nodding single, āMemento Moriā ā our ovine reliance on depersonalizing technology. He never intended to be proven Nostradamus-correct, Blythe swears. And heās sorry that itās come to this. But he has a great deal of wisdom to share, and some possible solutions, as well, until dependable science discovers the coronavirus vaccine.
IE:Ā Seven years ago, you prophetically said, āWhen the grid goes down, itās just gonna be me and my guns.ā Are we there yet?
D. RANDALL BLYTHE:Ā Well, the grid hasnāt gone down, but the cracks in the system are showing. The fissures are widening, and the unsustainable nature of our ludicrous, materialistic way of life is becoming more and more apparent. And itās not just guns, because Iām not an AK-47-toting gun nut, ya know? But I AM prepared. And have been for a long, long time. Itās interesting ā Iāve been doing these Instagram live chats with people, and I had a rocket scientist from NASA, a famous alpine mountaineer, and a buddy who is a member of the Disaster Assistance Relief Team with the fire department of New York. Heās on loan to emergency management right now, and Iāve gotten to do some work with him in hurricane disasters, and we were talking about the things people can do right now, people who are unprepared to make their home safer. And he started talking about home fire safety and all that stuff. But if things totally go to shit, Iām cool. In the back of my truck right now, I could totally disappear into the woods and live out there ā itās not that big of a deal to me.
IE:Ā But you also learned survival skills from Cody Lundin, in desert-situated lessons.
DRB:Ā Yeah. And Iām going to chat with him soon, and I actually just pulled out a couple of my old bags. I have two mini-bugout bags, so Iām consolidating and adjusting as to the current situation. But this is a weird, heavy situation, and I think most people are just completely unprepared for this. But I think itās a mistake to go into it with the Mad Max-tribalistic-everythingās-going-to-turn-into-a-violent-shit-show attitude. Thatās a mistake. And I think if you put that sort of paradigm in your head, thatās what youāre gonna look for, and itās gonna find you, one way or the other. Iām a big believer in ā as The Bad Brains called it ā Positive Mental Attitude or PMA.
IE:Ā But The Bad Brains also said, āFVK ā Fearless Vampire Killers.ā Having a handy stake isnāt so bad.
DRB:Ā Exactly. Well, thereās that, too ā thereās a balance to everything. But for me, Iām not looking at it so much as utter violence. I mean, that COULD occur, if supply lines are just cut short, and nobody can get food. But I donāt think weāre anywhere near that. Iām looking at it more as itās not safe to be around other human beings at all anymore, not so much from violence, but from a mutation of this virus or something. Thereās going to be a peak, itās gonna level off some, and then itās gonna come back. Iām talking to people in emergency management, and all these numbers that Iām seeing, I think everybodyās thinking, āOh, this is gonna blow over, and weāll be open for Easter!ā People need to reassess whatās going on, and look at it honestly, while not spreading panic or anything like that because that does absolutely no good for anyone. They need to reassess the difference between what they want and what they need. You donāt NEED cable television, Iām sorry, you just donāt. You donāt have to have the newest, latest whatever. So if people are worried about economics ā which naturally a lot of people are ā they need to look at cutting some costs. I know I have.
IE:Ā But Iāll bet youāre secretly watching Netflix like the rest of us.
DRB:Ā Well, the wife got a Netflix account, and we share that. And I certainly watched The Tiger King, because that shit was crazy. But I havenāt watched a movie in ages. Iāve been writing and reading, and Iāve been trying to set up a daily schedule and form of discipline to keep me from becoming lethargic and full of ennui. And I tell myself at the end of every day, āYou should relax and watch a movie,ā because Iāve got a bunch on my iPad and I own a bunch of good movies. But I really havenāt had the time. But I did watch one movie since this started ā Contagion.Ā And obviously, the coronavirus doesnāt strike you and kill you as quickly as in that movie, but when you listen to the dialogue, it just sounds like the daily news. And weāve known there was gonna be another pandemic. Weāve known that ā the numbers just point that way. But we are woefully unprepared. Itās amazing that the country that spends the most on healthcare in the whole world is so fucking unprepared. We can make 18 million T-shirts for a losing Super Bowl team, victory T-shirts that donāt get sold, but we canāt get enough N-95 masks for our health care providers. Itās crazy. It makes no sense.
IE:Ā It was refreshing to hear āMemento Moriā as your comeback single, with an opening musical passage borrowed from āMarian,ā by the great Sisters of Mercy. Nice one.
DRB:Ā The guitar stuff? I donāt write that. But Iām the only Sisters of Mercy fan in the band because weāre five totally different dudes. But I head that guitar line and just heard that pattern from āMarian,ā so itās an homage to Andrew Eldritch, because theyāre such an influential band to me, ever since I was a kid. I was living at my grandmotherās house in sixth grade or something, and I actually saw them on a TV program called Solid Gold. They announced, “Solid Gold goes to England,ā and cut to The Batcave in London, and they were on playing āThis Corrosion.ā And I was like, āWhat is THIS?ā And I was looking at Patricia Morrison playing bass and thinking, āShe is the hottest woman on the face of the planet!ā I was just listening to her other band, The Gun Club, earlier today, actually. I had a poster of her and Eldritch on my wall from the Floodland era, and Iām not a dude who has crushes on celebrity chicks. But I was like, āHoly fuck! I am in LOVE with this woman!ā And now sheās Mrs. Dave Vanian, of course.
IE:Ā What themes are lurking inside āMemento Moriā?
DRB:Ā Thatās also kind of timely. Iām a news junkie, and when I was recording the album ā and then during the last election cycle ā I found myself constantly looking from network to network, from far-lefty shit ā Mother Jones, I guess ā to weird, far-right stuff, and then to the usual suspects, like CNN, MSNBC, the BBC, and Al Jazeera, all on the same story, because I was trying to find some median-base truth amongst all the bias. Because itās just fucking crazy, the way journalism is now. So I was constantly engrossed in all this information, trying to figure out the truth for myself, and I was getting depressed. I spent a lot of time on my pocket Jesus ā as I call my cellphone because it has all the answers ā just looking at all this information and trying to figure it out and spinning the gears in my monkey mind around and around until you could see the smoke coming out of my ears. And I was getting depressed, until I was like, āYou know what? Thereās a need to be informed, yes. But if you constantly exist on these screens, youāre not engaged with real-life whatsoever. And thatās been a problem thatās gotten worse and worse as the communication technology gets better and better and social media gets designed more and more to be like a crack hit, to give you that serotonin rush. So I realized I wasnāt living ā I was just existing in a digitally-filtered representation of reality, and I had to put that shit down. So I installed a VPN blocker on my phone, so I could look at the news and check my Instagram ā because I use that for communicating with people ā every morning, for 30 minutes. From 10 AM – 10:30 AM. And other than that? No more. And I found that my life has improved immensely.
So thatās what that song is about, like, āHey, wake up, dude! Youāre gonna die one day, and at the end of the day, when youāre on your deathbed, youāre gonna sit there and go, āMan, I wish I had done this, and this, and this. But instead, I was too fucking busy just looking at the news and all this crazy shit.āā Iām not a Luddite. Iām not totally anti-technology, because right now, we are living in the best possible time for a global pandemic. The best. Because we have these amazing tools where we can communicate with friends and family, even if we canāt see them. A hundred years ago? You were fucked. We can all share information and have that assurance that that person is okay, or, if someone is in trouble, that we can help them. But, while it is valuable, thereās a fine line between staying informed and becoming overwhelmed.
IE:Ā I was talking to Steve Earle recently, and I noted that Iād always feared a 12 Monkeys-dire finale for humanity. And he said he thought it would be more like Blade RunnerĀ ā a civilization just too dismal to live in.
DRB:Ā Yes. Which I have been waiting for, for years. And I am prepped for it, and this staying inside and being isolated? I realized I had not touched any of my friends in a month the other day, and Iām a big hugger. I love hugging my friends. So itās kind of hard, but psychologically I am prepared for this, for staying inside, in one place, and being deprived of luxuries. But we still have a lot, because I went to prison for a little bit, and this shit is like a vacation in comparison. There is no Netflix in prison. There is no Amazon Prime.
IE:Ā Youāve been surfing and disappearing into the South American jungles lately. And it seems like itās put you back in touch with God, maybe?
DRB:Ā Well, I believe in a higher power, 100%. I donāt think itās a Caucasian male in a robe with long brown hair, and I donāt think itās a male or a female. Itās something that I, with my limited cognitive abilities, cannot comprehend or perceive. And Iām not foolish enough to think that I have any sort of answers about God ā and I use that term out of convenience ā because, in the entire time of manās existence, no one has come up with the correct answer. If they had, we would know by now. And Iām not denigrating any religion, but religions are just manās attempt to grasp the impossible, you know?
IE:Ā What would you say to the faithful who are asking why a benevolent God would allow something as deadly as the coronavirus to decimate us?
DRB:Ā I think theyāre asking the wrong question. If you look at things through the Christian perspective ā and I think thereās value in every religious system, even the kooky ones ā there are little nuggets of truth and a lot of commonalities. But because weāre in America and this is primarily a Christian nation. If you look at the concept of sin ā which I think is a more formalized terminology for an incorrectly-calibrated moral compass ā and ask, āWhy does God let us commit these sins if He knows that itās bad for us?ā Some people say, āGod loves us so much. He gave us free will.ā Which makes sense to me ā if God didnāt truly love us, He wouldnāt let us be ourselves, right? We wouldnāt have any free will. Weād just be happy little puppets all the time, and everything would be perfect. But to have happiness, you have to have sadness. And you can get deeply existential about this, obviously.
But for me, God or a higher power allows this world to function on its own. So that means that bats in China develop the COVID-19 virus ā if thatās the theory that you subscribe to, that it came from a wet market in Wuhan. So the trans-species pandemic happened, and God let that happen because that is the natural world. But if God never let anything happen to us, we wouldnāt truly be experiencing life. Things would not unfold naturally. So the question I think people of faith should be asking themselves is not so much, āWhy? Why did God let this happen to me?ā Because Iāve had some shitty stuff happen to me, and I never once asked my higher power, āWhy did you do this to me?ā Instead, I asked for guidance on how to best handle the situation in an ethical manner and how to retain some dignity while doing it. And some strength. These are the questions they should be asking. If I was walking through the woods and a rattlesnake bit me, I would not sit there going, āWhy? Why, God?ā Instead, I would go to the hospital immediately to get some anti-venom. So in a spiritual sense, what people need to be looking for is the anti-venom. Use it as a tool, you know?
When I was in prison, I reached out to the higher power multiple times a day. But I always asked for just strength. Because God didnāt put me in prison ā an unfortunate series of events did. All apologies to Lemony Snicket, but thatās a great turn of phrase. But then, on the other hand, you see these religious people still going to church now, and itās like, āOh, God ā you MORONS! What the fuck?ā This is a time when we have to look at the fact that weāve been afforded great freedoms in this country. However, with great freedom is an attendant great responsibility. So your freedom to worship your God shouldnāt endanger the life of my 99-year-old grandmother, who could kick the bucket at any time anyway. Sheās actually 99, and sheās tough as leather, an old-country woman. But this coronavirus thing, if it hit her, it would just destroy her, more than likely. And my parents are in their 70s, and if they died, I couldnāt be with them because theyāre not going to let me in a hospital. I couldnāt even hold a funeral for them ā I canāt do the traditions that people do to move through the grieving process. And thatās because dumb fucks are out and not observing social distancing and getting together in church or public parks. I wanted to go surfing. I wanted to socially-isolate myself in the ocean. But nope, canāt do that because all the beaches are crowded with spring breakers. So all of the beaches are shut down.
IE:Ā Thereās a photo of you in the jungle with a machete, and you look right at home. Whatās it like there?
DRB:Ā You can feel the planet breathing in the jungle. Because everything there is alive, and you have to mind your Ps and Qs while youāre there because a lot of things can hurt you there. But when youāre in the jungle and the sun is setting, everything gets ready for bed, except for the things that stay up all night. So, thereās this simultaneous bedding-down of all these birds and monkeys, and theyāre all calling to each other. But, the insects and the frogs and the other things that are nocturnal are also calling to each other, and itās a massive symphony at sunset. And you can hear every animalās voice if you listen carefully, and theyāre all harmonizing. Itās not discordant; itās not crazy. Itās just this one big harmony.
IE:Ā Iāve never seen you specify which country this is.
DRB:Ā Yeah. And thereās a reason for that. I will say that Iāve just bought some property in said third world country that has been cattle land for the last 40 or 50 years. Part of it is cattle land, part of it is a jungle, and thereās a waterfall there. I just bought 23 acres, and some friends of mine there own all the surrounding properties, and everybody has been letting it go back to the jungle. So Iām gonna have the hard-pack clay dug up and broken up, and weāre gonna have an environmental scientist come and look at things. And weāre gonna hand-seed some indigenous plants in the area, and other than that, weāre just gonna let the jungle take back over. Iāll build a little house to stay in while Iām there, but weāre part of a little biosphere weāre making that runs from the sea into the jungle for a few miles. And Iām gonna set it up so that when I die, it will either go to descendants who will let it be, or to a regulated government agency that maintains it as protected land. And as a surfer, I get humbled by nature quite often. Iām an average, mediocre surfer; Iām not a ripper or whatever. But being in the ocean ā particularly on the East Coast during hurricane season, when the waves get big and violent ā I love it more than anything. So Iām very cognizant of the fact that nature is in charge.
IE:Ā But youāve also found the time to film a new series called Paradise City?
DRB:Ā Itās a TV program done by the people that made American Satan, this movie about a young rock band with some supernatural elements to it. They expanded the concept with several different storylines, all dealing with people in the music business, from higher-ups in management firms to young bands just starting. I play Dom, a musician in it. We filmed the whole first season, and hopefully, it will be premiering soon. Iām not sure which network yet. But it was a lot of fun.
IE:Ā What else grinds your gears on the new album, Peter Griffin?
DRB:Ā What really grinds my gears? āResurrection Manā ā named after historic grave robbers who sold corpses to medical students ā uses horror movie imagery to personify the concept of supply-side, trickle-down economics, or voodoo economics, a totally disproven theory. But right now, we see that in action more and more. If you look at the bailout bill for the airlines, a lot of the airlines were hesitant to sign on to this thing because it would give up too much control over how the money was going to be paid back to the American people. The executives didnāt want to do that. And a lot of them were doing stock buy-backs, their CEOs were, for the last few years, just to drive the stock prices up. And now, all of a sudden, they want billions of dollars in bailout money, and why? Why do you deserve my tax money more than my friend who owns a small business?
IE:Ā And meanwhile, the current subversive administration is quietly chipping away at Obama-era emission standards, free speech, womenās reproductive rights, and once-sacrosanct protection of the environment itself. Itās just insidious.
DRB:Ā Everybodyās attention is so consumed with staying alive right now, that thereās a LOT of shady shit going on. You have to dig for it, but it is so shady. Did you see what just happened in Milwaukee with their primary? They could have delayed, but Republicans insisted, so people had to choose between their health and voting for a Democratic candidate. And there were five polling centers in a city of 600,000. Dude, it is so fucking crazy. And it is insidious. Itās systematic. So I donāt have any idea whatās gonna happen with the election. But if you think of our country and its Constitution, its base values, I believe they are sound. But they need to be updated, like an older computer getting its operating system updated. Our system needs an overhaul, bad. And I would think that would entail getting rid of the electoral college, for one thing. Itās an archaic concept, and itās so easily manipulated by voting-district gerrymandering.
IE:Ā In conclusion, what are your recommendations for the Man on the Street? Even though the street is empty?
DRB:Ā I would say think about the crucial difference between what you want and what you need. Honestly examine that, and start cutting out frivolous things that you want. I would also stay the fuck away from other people. Letās give the scientists time to develop a vaccine. Because this is a numbers game ā Iāve said that from the beginning. And the numbers are not good right now. Itās not just gonna disappear in the warm weather after we flatten the curve. And just stay informed, but donāt become consumed. Thatās my advice.
IE:Ā Hopefully, weāll meet in person one virus-free day soon. But Iām making a note to myself ā āThis guyās gonna try and hug me!ā
DRB:Ā Yeah! I will!
Lamb of God’s self-titled album is out on May 8th, you can pre-order Lamb of God from one of Chicagoland’s independent record stores.
– Tom Lanham
Category: Cover Story, Features, Monthly