We played it many times and eventually wound up headlining and selling it out ourselves several times. We just wanted to play the local club, and my biggest dream ever when we started the band that I thought maybe one day we'll get to do is play CBGB. It stands the test of time.ĭid you ever you imagine that Lamb of God would get this big? How does it feel to know you’re leading the charge and carrying the torch for classic heavy metal bands as so many of your peers retire? I wanted to write it in a general enough way that someone could read it years from now. Now, if I had just written some super topical, b****y book about the difference between Czech legal system and ours and how this happened on this day and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, that would become dated. And I try to think of it from a much broader sense. I wanted to write a book about personal accountability, which I believe is something that is sorely lacking in today's world. The story of me getting arrested, going to prison, coming out, going to trial, being found not guilty-that was just the vehicle I used to drive that theme. The major theme of the book is personal accountability. It was about a very specific period of time in my life. I had some legal troubles in the Czech Republic.
LAMB OF GOD NEXT ALBUM HOW TO
And that's what I'm trying to learn how to do as an artist in all my arenas that I pursue creatively. It sounds you wanted to touch on evergreen themes rather than make something that was instantly dated.Ībsolutely, man. Because if you look at things in a broader sense, then you perhaps can start thinking about long-term solutions instead of just slapping Band-Aids on bleeding wounds. But as I get older and hopefully a bit more mature, I'm trying to think of things in a broader sense. And I love a good punk rock record, and I love a good hollering, “f**k the system” kind of record.
So I think it was better for me to step back. In the modern era, everything is just so crazy and moves so fast, it's like a tiger chasing its tail, trying to make sense of what's going on as it happens now. And then during the reign of G.W., when we had the Gulf War and stuff, and we were searching for the mythical weapons of mass destruction-which never appeared, it was all about oil, obviously, and finishing his daddy's war-it was easier to pinpoint these things, 'cause these are specific issues that needed to be addressed. I think it was easier in past times, like in the punk scene in the ‘80s, there was the whole dealing with Reagan, and these were topical things you could write about because you could put your finger on them. This is the era that spawned the term "alternative facts." That should just sum up everything. Because for me to write a big "f**k Donald Trump" record, it would be ludicrous, because everything changes so quickly, and reality has become entirely subjective.
So many bands have written their “Donald Trump record.” I feel like you took a more effective approach on this album by looking at the problems that have plagued America for centuries. But all the toys in the world and all the money in the world doesn’t make a bit of difference when your grandma dies in front of you because there's not an available ventilator at the hospital. And people watch that stuff, and some people aspire to that. If you look at s**t even in our modern media, like the Kardashians, it's this huge f***ing television show glorifying these rich people who do nothing. You need to have all this wealth or some sort of fame in order to be happy. The only thing that has happened with trickle-down economics, in my opinion, is the idea that you need to be a bazillionaire in order to be happy. Instead of writing an album about the current times and our administration and our American political system, which is still crazy, I started thinking in a more global view, how did we get here? And one of the largest problems I see in our society today-and this pandemic is making it incredibly, incredibly apparent-is the glorification of material goods and wealth as status symbols, and the illusion that these things are going to provide you some sense of internal wellbeing or even happiness. The song “Gears” feels frighteningly prophetic, since it seems to be about the billionaire class that’s so concerned with preserving its own wealth that it doesn’t want to take care of other people.
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