Written by Prarthana
Lamb of God to me have always been one of those bands that you can never get enough of. With their out-there, we-don’t-give-a-shit attitude and some brilliant albums to their credit, the band just keep getting bigger and better as time goes by. The Richmond heavy metallers fronted by the insane yet lovely Randy Blythe are finally making their way back to Australia once again, bringing along all the new songs from their latest offering ‘VII: Sturm Und Drang’ to play some pretty intense shows with the mighty Slipknot. HEAVY sat down to have a quick chat with Randy who was only too happy to share everything he could about the tour, his love for Australia, writing his book along with his cat Salad and more!
After locating the missing vocalist, Randy excitedly expressed his love for Australia and coming back for a mad, double whammy of a tour with Slipknot.
“Yeah man! We’re certainly looking forward to heading back Down Under – in fact, a lot of bands, when asked, say that Australia is their favourite country to tour outside of their home country. Personally, it’s a great package deal for me because we’re doing New Zealand and Japan around the same time.” What are some of Randy’s favourite memories of his times in Australia? He has quite a few.
“A lot of my favourite memories of Australia are being with my friends, especially the guys from Sydonia. I also love spending time on Philip Island which is just south of Melbourne for surfing, the penguins, photography, that kind of stuff. But generally, the people are cool, and the whole place just has a good vibe. It reminds me of the beach.” I wonder why.
Randy even had some nice things to say about why he loves the music scene here. Also, Nick Cave.
“Australia is cool. It always seems like the fans really appreciate it when you do get to Australia because it really does take a while to get down there. It’s not like in the States, where bands can just tour. It takes a lot of effort and fans know that – they show their appreciation and it’s so worth it. Plus Nick Cave is from there, and he just released the album of the year. It’s heartbreaking; it shattered me. It’s a modern day masterpiece – I got it the day it came out and immediately posted about it online. No other record will touch this, probably not for years I’d say.”
I confessed to Randy that he was a massive inspiration in many ways and asked him to share his philosophy of life to which he replied, “That’s so cool! I’m glad to hear that. I’m definitely a take-it-one-day-at-a-time kinda guy. That’s the only way. But as I get older, the more and more I seem to notice how everything is connected, whether you know and see it or not. I’m trying to be a lot more cautious with my words, thoughts and actions. I’ve never really been an annihilist you know? Going around and smashing things just for the fun of it, stuff like that. I mean, I have done it once or twice maybe, but for the most part, I’ve always been a pretty mellow guy. I think it’s just a matter of treating everything with a lot of respect and not just other people. ”
Continuing in the vein of my previous question, Randy’s book ‘Dark Days’ came up as I told him there are some pretty massive life lessons to take away from it. He shared his experience on writing his own memoir.
“You know, in some ways, the book was a lot easier to write than a fiction because I already knew the story and I knew how it was going to end. But in other ways, it was a lot harder because I couldn’t just decide that the character, which was me, got tired of being in prison and then suddenly developed wings and flew away or something like that. It wasn’t an easy book to write. But I did have some fun with it – I would laugh out loud at some of the funny parts.”
Randy being Randy and needing to constantly be on the move; I asked whether sitting down and writing a book was difficult.
“Yeah!” he instantly agreed, “A lot of it was just kind of grinding, but I did learn a lot about discipline when writing the book. The hardest part for me really is just sitting down and trying to write! Even now while I’m talking to you, I’m pacing – I just can’t sit still. Man, I’ve never done so much housework in my life! All while I was writing that book – It was like ‘Oh I did a vacuum and scrubbed the windows!’. I don’t do that shit. But I had a really clean house.”
And did the lovely Salad keep him company during this whole process of memoir-writing? He did indeed!
“He actually did! So funny story, he has a Darth Vader kitty bed (hell yes!) right beside my desk. So he’d come sit in it when I was busy writing and stare straight at me – he looked like some evil Norman Rockwell painting, except with a cat! He did keep me company though I’d actually have conversations with him as I was writing, asking him things like ‘So what do you think about this?’ or ‘What’s wrong with that?’. He’d just stare at me. He’s my buddy.”
Salad is really cute, though, as you’ll see many pictures of him on Randy’s Instagram account. Speaking of which….
Social media is something I love chatting about with artists and bands because you always get a mixed response, especially with bands that have been around for as long as Lamb of God has. But Randy is an avid IG’er as they are called, and I asked him whether it was a way for him to keep up with his busy life – kind of like a journal.
“As a matter of fact, it has been like that. It helps me remember things. Sometimes I’ll think about a certain incident and try remembering when it happened, but then I just scroll down on Instagram and look at it because there’s a date there. Besides using it as a place to keep me shooting and get some thoughts out, it’s a place I use for art – I don’t put up pictures of my lunch up or selfies. But I do always use it to express myself and as a reference point.”
Randy had one last message for Australia ahead of Lamb of God’s upcoming tour supporting Slipknot after I taught him a few words in the Aussie accent which he religiously tried hard to get.
“How ya garn’ Australia? (I’m never gonna get it, man!) But here you go! We’re looking forward to coming back and playing with Slipknot and to someone teaching me how to say ‘NAAAO’. See you guys soon!”
Lamb of God will be supporting Slipknot in Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne then doing their own headline shows in Adelaide and Fremantle.
LAMB OF GOD TOUR DATES
GET YOUR TICKETS HERE: www.livenation.com.au/artists/lamb-of-god
26 OCT Vector Arena, Auckland, NZ
28 OCT Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall, QLD
29 OCT Qudos Bank Arena formerly Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW
31 OCT Rod Laver Arena Melbourne, VIC
01 NOV HQ Complex HEADLINE SHOW, Adelaide, SA
03 NOV Metropolis Fremantle HEADLINE SHOW, Fremantle, WA
