Randy Blythe: Lamb of God, Sobriety, Punk Over Metal & Czech Prison

Summary

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HardLore: Randy Blythe – Lamb of God, Sobriety, Punk Over Metal & Czech Prison

Date: February 12, 2026
Hosts: Colin Young, Bo Lueders (with Knotfest)
Guest: Randy Blythe (Lamb of God)

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Episode Overview

This episode of HardLore is a sweeping, candid conversation with Randy Blythe, vocalist of Lamb of God, best-selling author, and lifelong punk aficionado. Randy dives deeply into his three-decade journey through punk, hardcore, and metal, exploring his art school roots, years of struggle before Lamb of God's mainstream breakthrough, battles with addiction, formative punk influences, his stint in Czech prison, and emerging from adversity with gratitude and clarity. The talk is packed with vivid tour stories, insights about scene history, the creative process, and living ethically in a tumultuous world.

The episode is both rich in music lore and extraordinarily honest about personal growth, artistic integrity, and surviving hardship.

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Table of Contents

1. Forming Identity: Punk Roots & Discovery
2. Richmond's Scene Lore, Early Bands, and Burn the Priest
3. From Burn the Priest to Lamb of God: Musical Growth
4. Hardcore, Punk, and Never Being a "Metalhead"
5. Sobriety, Addiction, and Personal Transformation
6. Songwriting, Band Dynamics, and Recording Stories
7. Czech Prison: The Darkest Days
8. Modern World Reflections: Social Decay and the Power of Community
9. Favorites, Life Lore, and Quickfire Moments
10. Notable Quotes

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1. Forming Identity: Punk Roots & Discovery <span id="punk-roots"></span>

• Early Musical Memories

  • Randy recalls the emotional weight of playing his first CBGB gig, which surpassed even Madison Square Garden ([00:08]).
  • Grew up listening to disco and Kiss as a child, especially “I Was Made for Loving You,” reenacting Gene Simmons at Halloween ([06:35]-[08:13]).
  • “That’s the only Kiss song I give a shit about, really... years later, Gene Simmons dissed me on a podcast. I was like, YES, I got dissed by Gene Simmons.” ([08:13])

• Finding Punk

  • Skateboarding introduced him to aggressive music:
    • “Skate rock and hardcore – that’s how I found Bad Brains, Black Flag, Misfits. All through the skate scene.” ([13:39]-[14:41])
  • Instant conversion on hearing Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks:
    • “My entire life changed.” ([11:07])

• DIY Shows & Punk Community

  • First gigs were grimy, storage-unit shows in Wilmington, NC.
  • Art school and skateboarding led to a new tribe of “freaks, goths, punks, and weirdos” ([16:23]-[18:51]).

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2. Richmond's Scene Lore, Early Bands, and Burn the Priest <span id="richmond-scene"></span>

• Moving to Richmond/VCU

  • “I wanted to go to Richmond, to VCU, because there’d be a lot of weirdos... and Richmond had more punk rock shows.” ([21:14])

• Local Band History

  • Described late 1980s-90s Richmond as very musically fertile — “mathy, odd time-signature bands” evolved out of the punk scene ([22:49]-[25:49]).
  • Legendary locals: Honor Role, Breadwinner, Kepone, Slang Louse, Brain Flower.
  • Avail seen as legendary, had secret house shows when mainstream popularity made big gigs crowded ([25:58]-[27:28]).

• First Bands

  • Black Friday (“blues punk, yelling about drinking"), then Stink Hogan/Furious George (a “jazz-punk trainwreck”) ([28:52]-[33:06]).
  • Randy rides freight trains, squats and bums around the country ("don’t do this, kids” – [36:46]), then returns to Richmond to join Abe’s new band, which would become Burn the Priest ([38:37]-[41:13]).

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3. From Burn the Priest to Lamb of God: Musical Growth <span id="burn-the-priest-lamb-of-god"></span>

• Burn the Priest Origin Story

  • Burn the Priest formed with a “metal voice” he’d only done as a bar joke ([42:04]-[43:13]).
  • Early shows were wild, drawing big crowds in Philly but considered too chaotic for label interest ([51:13]).

• First Recordings

  • First splits and LP released on friend Mikey Brosnan's DIY label, recording with Steve Austin of Today Is the Day ([52:26]-[53:31]).
  • “I did the Burn the Priest record in 10 hours. New American Gospel I did in eight.” ([54:40])

• Name Change

  • Changed to Lamb of God to avoid satanic associations and for broader appeal ([55:10]-[57:02]).
  • “Mark just did not want the perception that we were a Satanic band.” ([56:39])

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4. Hardcore, Punk, and Never Being a "Metalhead" <span id="not-a-metalhead"></span>

• Despite being a titan of "American metal," Randy repeatedly states he never grew up a true metalhead:
  • “As a lifelong punk rocker — I like some metal, sure. But that’s not really the world I come from.” ([19:37]-[20:18])
  • He admired the DIY, anti-rockstar values of the punk world, which still run through everything he does ([92:26]).

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5. Sobriety, Addiction, and Personal Transformation <span id="sobriety-section"></span>

• Addiction Battles
  • “We started getting paid. Now I had no responsibility when not on tour or in the studio — so I started drinking coffee, then all day drinking.” ([87:49])
  • Alcoholism progressed as the band got bigger; described feeling existential distress even at high points (“…getting paid, on tour with Metallica, and still miserable.”) ([98:30])
• Sobriety
  • “I woke up in Australia and didn’t want to live anymore. Went to the gig, talked to James [Hetfield], and the next day was my first day sober. That was 15 years ago.” ([97:13]-[99:30])
  • On his sobriety: “I don’t miss it. That’s cool.” ([99:36])

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6. Songwriting, Band Dynamics, and Recording Stories <span id="songwriting-section"></span>

• Collaborative Approach

  • The band matured by shelving egos and “murdering their darlings” for the greater good ([03:19]).
  • Influences: Tennessee Williams’s concept: “you must be willing to murder your darlings.”
  • Randy: “Better is better. Sounds stupid, but it’s true.” ([03:19]-[05:26])

• Iconic Albums and Songs

  • New American Gospel and Ashes Of The Wake heavily informed by 9/11 and US wars ([73:11]-[76:13]):
    • “As much as I despise G.W. Bush, I kind of owe him for two records.” ([73:11])
    • Randy’s friend’s VHS confession from Desert Storm about war for oil is seared into his memory ([74:21]-[75:44]).
  • On hit “Redneck”: lyrics are about Randy and another unmentioned bandmate, from Mark Morton’s perspective ([89:09]).

• CBGB Story

  • “The last show [Abe] played was our first show at CBGB. ...I’ve never had an emotional reaction to playing any stage bigger than that, ever.” ([58:57])

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7. Czech Prison: The Darkest Days <span id="czech-prison-section"></span>

• Incident & Aftermath
  • In 2012, Randy was charged with manslaughter in Prague after a fan died post-stage-dive.
    • “I was found not guilty... I should have stopped the show. But I didn’t. I take responsibility for that, and I carry that with me.” ([103:03]-[105:06])
  • Media frenzy in Czech Republic; massive national story ([105:32]).
  • Refuses to play Prague unless the family approves and proceeds go to charity ([105:19]).
• Prison Experience
  • “The more accurate question is what’s the first day in general population like?” ([107:08])
  • Held in isolation, then recognized instantly in general population:
    • “I walked out, everybody went—there’s the guy, that’s the guy!” ([109:16])
  • A compassionate prison guard recognized Randy from gigs, brought him cigarettes, and years later Randy repaid him with a beer on the Lamb of God cruise ([110:03]-[111:30]).
  • Spent 37 days incarcerated; support from scene was strong, including boycotts until his release ([111:42]).
  • “It’s not something I dwell on or cry over every morning, but it’s a part of my life and it’s serious.”

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8. Modern World Reflections: Social Decay and the Power of Community <span id="modern-world-section"></span>

• Lyrics for the new album “Into Oblivion” are inspired by the current American malaise:

  • “The ongoing disintegration of the social contract here in the USA... racism, cruelty, us-versus-them, wealth gap... empires fall. We’d better straighten our shit out. Fuck the billionaires. Fuck the fascists.” ([131:28]-[133:07])

• On social media, connection, and punk values:

  • “Social media is not social anymore. These ‘communication’ tools are separating us.” ([135:33])
  • Punk/hardcore scene provides real human connection and models talking across differences ([133:55]-[135:51]).

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9. Favorites, Life Lore, and Quickfire Moments <span id="favorites-section"></span>

• Top Four Hardcore Albums (144:54)

  1. Cro-Mags – Age of Quarrel
  2. Hatebreed – Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire
  3. Bad Brains – ROIR Cassette
  4. Division of Mind – Self-titled

• Band Shirt Philosophy

  • “Wearing other bands’ shirts is how you show love to these bands, man. How you expose people.” ([80:53])

• Tour Food Lore

  • Portillo’s in Chicago (“beautiful”) ([129:07])
  • Arby’s double beef and cheddar, slathered in Arby’s sauce: “cheese running down my arm” ([142:03])
  • Starbucks “double smoked bacon sandwich” ([141:23])

• Sauces

  • Detests mayo: “a morally reprehensible condiment... foul, disgusting!”
  • “Mustard is a superior kind” ([142:59])

• Ghosts?

  • “I believe in ghosts but they don’t believe in me. Willie believes in all of it—Bigfoot, ghosts, all of it.” ([143:41]-[144:14])

• On Hardcore/Punk as a Life Path

  • Punk/hardcore saved him from small-town bigotry and offered an ethical basis for living ([134:19]).

• Not an AI Fan

  • On AI plagiarism: “They stole all our books to train their plagiarism machine.” ([94:19])

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10. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments <span id="quotes-section"></span>

• On the emotional power of music:

  • “I’ve played Madison Square Garden, I’ve played in front of 100,000 people at a festival. That’s nothing compared to what I felt [at CBGB].” ([00:08], [58:59])

• On band collaboration:

  • “Better is better.” ([03:19])
  • “You must be willing to murder your darlings.” - Attributed to Tennessee Williams ([03:19])

• On punk's impact:

  • “This is a sonic representation of how I feel. I didn’t fit in.” ([11:41])

• On sobriety:

  • “My first day sober, I played in front of 14,000 people, weeping my eyes out.” ([98:13])
  • “I’d be dead if [I wasn’t sober].” ([99:33])

• On the Czech prison ordeal:

  • “I carry that with me till the day I die.” ([105:06])
  • “When [the prison psychologist] asked, ‘how are you finding the prison?’ — ‘I don’t see why people complain, it’s not so bad!’” ([108:41])
  • “Support from the scene was incredible... everyone breathed a sigh of relief when I got home.” ([111:42])

• On being a “metal” icon:

  • “People thought we were from New England... but we’re the sole southern band out of that scene.” ([53:44])

• On living ethically:

  • “The only thing any of us can do is hold ourselves to a higher standard.” ([106:23])
  • “Don’t be a dick.” ([149:32])

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Timestamps: Key Segments

• [00:08] – Playing CBGB and punk's spiritual impact
• [11:07] – Sex Pistols moment: life-changing
• [18:51] – Early punk shows and art school outsiders
• [25:58] – Avail & Richmond scene lore
• [35:23] – Freight trains and squatting stories
• [43:00] – Joke origin of "metal voice"
• [54:40] – Recording Burn the Priest/New American Gospel
• [73:11] – 9/11, Iraq war fueling lyrics
• [98:13] – Sober epiphany on tour with Metallica
• [103:03] – Prague tragedy & moral responsibility
• [109:16] – First day in Czech general population
• [131:28] – State of America in 2025 lyrics
• [144:54] – Top 4 hardcore records
• [149:32] – “Don’t be a dick.”

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Episode Closing

Randy’s parting wisdom:
“Don’t be a dick. It’s really the easiest thing you can do.” ([149:32])

This episode is a master class in the power of punk/hardcore ethos, humility, and survival – essential listening for anyone who cares about music, subculture, or the tenacity of the human spirit.

Transcript

[Randy Blythe]

The last show he played was our first show at cbgb. It was us and like eight other bands and we were first.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You were first on the cbc.

[Randy Blythe]

First on. And I thought, this is it. I've made it. This is the birthplace of punk rock. This is where the Ramones came up. You know, Blondie, the Dead Boys, the Bad Brains during that magic formative period. This is where it happened. I have now walked into history. I played Madison Square Garden, played in front of 100,000 people at festival. That's nothing compared to what I felt there. I've never had an emotional reaction to playing any stage bigger than that, ever. 88, 89.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to this week's incredible episode of Hard Lore with Randy Blythe. We had a little bit of an audio problem, but you'll notice it clears up in just a few minutes. And Bo is really sorry. So he's punishing himself and he's only got about a thousand more.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I'm sorry.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So enjoy this amazing episode with Randy Blythe from Lamb of God. Hello, welcome. It's Hard Lord time. How you doing, Bo?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I'm doing so well. I'm so full.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Full of life and laughter and love for the guest that we have live.

[Randy Blythe]

Laugh, love.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Exactly.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We was just getting to that live left land.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

This is a beautiful day on the show. Historic, meteoric. All the orcs. We got an incredible guest today. Many describe him as a titan of American metal.

[Randy Blythe]

Wow.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know, I wrote that.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. I was like many who's me. Many people are saying.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Many people are saying.

[Randy Blythe]

A lot of. A lot of people.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

30 seconds.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

A lifelong punk rocker.

[Randy Blythe]

That's right.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Who constantly practices what he preaches. Best selling author and Lamb of God vocalist, Randy Boy.

[Randy Blythe]

Hi. How are you guys doing?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Very well.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Couldn't be near. Damn near couldn't be better.

[Randy Blythe]

Lovely. The weather is nice.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Weather's very nice.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Little too nice.

[Randy Blythe]

A little too nice.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

What's it like in Richmond? Mid January?

[Randy Blythe]

It's not as nice as this, but.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Not as bad as Chicago.

[Randy Blythe]

Chicago or New York.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So right in the middle.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Oh, shoot.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

When you get. Do you still kiss the ground when you get back home to Richmond?

[Randy Blythe]

I haven't kissed the ground in quite some time, but I should now. I have feelings of guilt.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Is Richmond still home?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, as much as anywhere is.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sure, I understand.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. It's very, very weird. I feel kind of rootless these days. Understood.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Home is a question.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Richmond has a long, beautiful history of hardcore.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And it's a place that both he and I feel connected to In a weird way, just because of there. Played there a million times.

[Randy Blythe]

Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Should we go back in time?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Let's go back in time.

[Randy Blythe]

Let's go back in time.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

88 miles.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Congrats on 10 records, by the way. 10. How do you even go about approaching album number 10?

[Randy Blythe]

I mean, much in the same way we went about approaching album number nine, number eight, number seven. I mean, I think the biggest difference with us as a band, particularly over the last, I don't know, five or six years, is we have consciously tried to shelve the ego individual members have and like, try and keep in mind the greater whole. Because when you're a younger band and we're five very different people, you're a younger band, it's like nobody hands you a handbook. This is how you be a band. But you're so passionate and it's so important to you and what you put into the music is, is so personal that when someone says, eh, I don't know about that, you know, in the band, then you're like, and we were very contentious for a long time. Writing was very contentious. Somehow in our old age, as we wander off into Alzheimer's riddled legacy territory, we've learned to get along better than we ever did. So we get along great now. And it's because I think when we're writing we're all like, there's a quote attributed to Tennessee Williams, you must be willing to murder your darlings, meaning you're contribution, your art cannot be so precious that if someone else looks at it and it's like that that doesn't serve the greater whole. You gotta cut it. And it's painful. So for us, we've kind of learned as a group to sort of shelve the individual egos and think more about the whole. We have a saying, better is better. It sounds stupid, but it's true. And me just as much as any of the other dudes have certainly been guilty of like, I love this, but this is how exactly it work. And then someone will be, but, but what about this? And it's a hard thing when you care about something so much and you put in so much time to have someone be like, eh, I don't know. But better is better. So we try and say that to ourselves.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You changed the logo on the COVID for the first time in 27 years.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, you know, our logo, to be perfectly honest, needed changing. It's the papyrus font. And had we known, you know, 20, however many years ago that it was going to wind up that we Would wind up looking like a falafel restaurant menu. We wouldn't have used that. But that was. That was before Papyrus font was ubiquitous.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Here's the thing, man. What's the highest grossing movie of all time?

[Randy Blythe]

The highest grossing movie of all time? It's Avatar.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know what font they use?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Papyrus.

[Randy Blythe]

Did they? So, so I'm.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What's the third highest grossing movie of all time? Avatar 2. You know what font they use?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Pretty good.

[Randy Blythe]

You got nine. Have you seen the new one?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Not yet.

[Randy Blythe]

I haven't either. I haven't.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Looking forward.

[Randy Blythe]

I want to go immerse myself in their aquatic dream world.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You went?

[Randy Blythe]

No, I want to. Oh, you want to.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, they got a whole theme park for that.

[Randy Blythe]

When does music enter your life in general?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah. When do you start?

[Randy Blythe]

When do you go?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know what? I think I care about this.

[Randy Blythe]

I mean, when I was little, very little, I remember it was the disco era. I'm a child of the 70s, you know, so did you like that? Of course.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know, like, other than Abba. Did you like that?

[Randy Blythe]

No, I mean, like I was not like some sort of six year old musical impro scenario or something. Like I wasn't like, I gotta have this vinyl, but I'd hear things on the radio because that's all we had in the little tiny redneck town where I lived. And then I remember hearing in their disco era, kiss. I was made for loving you, baby. I love that song.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's their top song.

[Randy Blythe]

I loved it. And that's the only Kiss song I give a about. Really? Yes. And then when. And also I just liked.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You don't like lick it up.

[Randy Blythe]

It's all right. It's like I. I love that song. And then I remember every year around Halloween, there was like this little Halloween fair and this little tiny area where. And they had face painting. I would get my face painted like Gene Simmons, because I thought he was cool. He's dark, bloody, you know, the demon. And then years later, Gene Simmons did one of these fucking interviews or podcasts or something where they play old dudes, newer bands music. And they played him a Lamb of God song. And he's like, you know, I'm no great singer. The band is obviously very, very talented, but this singer is terrible.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And I was like, yes, I got.

[Randy Blythe]

Dissed by Gene Simmons and I used to dress up as a little tiny child. So.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Too extreme for what was too extreme for the demon.

[Randy Blythe]

But no, that. I mean, that's really the first. I really remember having hearing music as a kid. Was Like Funky Town. You remember, don't you? Take me to Funky Town. Yeah, that was on the radio when I was a child.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

How does that evolve into developing a taste for the extreme.

[Randy Blythe]

Punk rock, really?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Well, I think I'm going to make a bet. Please. Alice Cooper.

[Randy Blythe]

No. So I lived in a very small paper mill town in southeastern Virginia. A little, tiny redneck town. And there were no record stores and there was no Internet then or anything. But I was. I didn't fit in. Like most of us, I think. Yeah, of course, we just didn't fit in with people. And. And I, as a young person, I tried to fit in. And I didn't come from money. So, like, people would be like, oh, you're wearing hand me downs. You wear bobo generic tennis shoes. Fuck you. And I'm. I didn't understand, right? Why does this matter? So I tried to fit in, but it didn't work. So that developed this sort of reactionary malice for the general public, I suppose. So punk rock, so. And I. I don't. Didn't want to be like these people. I tried to, but they didn't want me. So I'm like, well, everybody, right? And I got into skateboarding. And the most sort of aggressive music I heard was on the radio was Motley Crue, Shout at the Devil. Right. Shout so. Which is actually, in retrospect, a political song. I know Nikki Sixx now, you know. So, like, really? Yes. It's kind of a punk rock song, like, just through the filter of Motley Crue Lang, you know. Right. So, like, I went to this summer camp in the sixth grade for gifted and talented kids at the University of Virginia. And while I was there skateboarding, there was this guy, his name was Jason Smith. Shout out to you wherever the fuck you are. He's from Virginia Beach, Virginia. And he was a skateboarder, too. So he and I had our skateboards at this. This nerd camp. And. And he's like, what are you listening to? I'm like, I like Motley Crue. And he's like, dude, if you like that, you need to check this out. And he gave me a cassette tape, a dubbed cassette tape. And I put it in and played it, and I heard. And it was Holidays in the sun, the first track of Nevermind the bollocks off the Sex Pistols. Instantly, instantly, instantly, my entire life changed.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So that was instant.

[Randy Blythe]

That's.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I'll never forget the looking glasses.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. And Johnny Rotten started singing. And I was like. I could tell he was pissed off. I didn't understand Exactly. What about. Because there were a lot of weird cultural references to Thatcher's Britain that didn't make any sense to me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

But I was like, she must be awful.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

I'm like, this is real. Yeah. This is angry. This is not boy meets girl. This is not. Everything's going to be okay. This is life. And this is a sonic representation of how I feel because I didn't fit in. I did. I did not like the world, man. And from there, I just sort like. He's like, this is punk rock. This is the Sex Pistols. And from there, I just slowly started learning about it, you know, because this was in the 80s, before the Internet.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Where do you go from there?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, I started piecing it together, and I was very snotty at first. Oh, really? Like all. You've never been a snotty young kid.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Because you throw in punk rock and then the straight edge thing on top of it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We were the worst. I'm the worst, right?

[Randy Blythe]

So I was very snotty because I started somehow, like, finding out about punk rock. And I was convinced that real punk rock, only real punk rock came from England, right. Because the Sex Pistols were from England and the Clash. And I'm like, oh, that's where punk rock comes from. And through the skateboarding community where. When I was visiting, like, my mom down in Cape Fear, North Carolina, she lived at the beach, or a lot of Fear. Yeah, that's a cool place. Wilmington. Yeah, Cape Fear. Yeah, Wilmington. Wrightsville beach area, where my mom lived, my dad and my brothers and I lived in Virginia, and my mom stayed in North Carolina when they split up. But I would go the beach and skateboard, and there were a lot of surfers and skaters there. And at backyard ramps, etcetera, they would be playing this music and. And. Or they would tell me, hey, you. You want to check this stuff out? You want to check out, you know, Black Flag? I'm like, where are they from? Los Angeles? I'm like, that's not real punk rock, right? Like a shitty little.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's not real punk rock, right?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's not fucking punk rock, right? And I'm from little redneck Southampton County, Virginia, and I've already got a shitt attitude like. Like all little kids do, I guess. Not all little kids. Maybe just me. And. But eventually, through the skateboarding scene, I started listening to stuff. I was exposed to stuff like Black Flag, the Misfits. Yeah. The Bad Brains, you know, all through skating, all through skateboarding.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's such a thrasher.

[Randy Blythe]

Thrasher. Magazine used to put out the compilations called Skate Rock. And there was Skate Rock Volume 3, which I recently bought on vinyl for an obscene amount of money. You know, I found it on the. But I had a cassette of it. Skate Rock Volume 3. And on that was septic death plus head span, the accused from Seattle animosity era CoC. This aggressive, like, stuff, you know.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You remember what Accused song would have been on there?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, yeah. I think Splatter Rock, it's a. It was one of the splatters. It's a different version of splatter rock. We can all live together. I think I could look it up. I have it on my phone, like so. But that was the sort of aggressive stuff. Through skateboarding, I was exposed to this music, you know, and. And common.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

A very common introduction.

[Randy Blythe]

Many people will tell you that pretty much the.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

A couple generations prior to us. It's like always. I mean, even me, I was. I skateboarded.

[Randy Blythe]

Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

How I met the drummer in my band and.

[Randy Blythe]

Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We've been friends ever since.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, when you were skateboarding, how old are you?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

38.

[Randy Blythe]

Right. So when you were skateboarding growing up that people think you were a homosexual because you skateboarded, did anyone ever throw a beer bottle at your head and. And call.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

They threw slurs, Randy.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, the F bombs. Yeah, for sure.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah. But it wasn't. No, it was very. It was in vogue for sure.

[Randy Blythe]

Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It was cool. Right.

[Randy Blythe]

So in the 80s, it was not cool too, because. Did you maybe out here.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

And maybe in certain sections of like, Virginia beach, that was the capital of the east coast, skateboarding for a while.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, really?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. But like everywhere else, like, you would, like, see these stickers or you see them. Skateboarding is not a crime. People were just like, fuck you. Wow. They get mad. They'd see you skateboarding. So this music came with it. Yeah. You know, and.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And surely dressing the part. Oh, yes, that's part of it.

[Randy Blythe]

The identity 100.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So the natural next step must be finding this locally live.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

When does that start happening?

[Randy Blythe]

So the first. The first show I ever remember seeing, and I do not know the band's name, it was a local band in Wilmington, North Carolina. I was down there visiting my mom and I had made some skateboarding friends down there and they're like, we're going to go see a band. We're going to go see a show tonight. And I'm like, who is it? And they told me, and they're like, we'll give you a ride. I went with them and it was at one of these. Storage space. Like, you rent storage spaces? Yeah, of course, you know. So this band had their setup set up there, and there was like 40 or 50, like, local punk rock kids, hardcore kids, skateboarders, dirtbags watching this local band. And I was like, this is fucking killer. Right? There's. There. There's no. Because I was underage. So it's not like I have to show an ID and get stamped or I can't go here. I can't do that. It was like, we're just going to play music and we're going to play it in this environment that is meant for something else, and if you like it, show up. And I was like, this is very, very fucking cool, you know, so. And then I was still living in this little tiny town. And then in my last two years of high school, I started going to the Virginia Governor's Magnet School for the Arts, which is basically. They had dance, theater, music, and visual art. Right. And they sent me there, I think, because they just wanted to get me out of regular school because I could not fit in. And there. There were a bunch of other skateboarders, really, and punk rockers and goths and weirdos, like art freaks. And we were going to school for half a day during the school year every day at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. And there is a strong scene there. So I started traveling up to Norfolk to see shows and stuff. There was a pretty good scene there. And those. My Norfolk and Virginia Beach. The earliest name show I remember seeing, if you'd like to know that, please, was the circle jerks with 7 seconds opening up.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Hell of a show.

[Randy Blythe]

And I got thrown out during Making the Bombs.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Because they weren't British.

[Randy Blythe]

Huh?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Because they weren't.

[Randy Blythe]

No, I got thrown out. No, I had already gotten over the whole, like, punk rock is English by then. I already started learning about hardcore, you know, But I think it was either sneaking a beer or doing something stupid. I got thrown out, you know.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Did you catch Seven Seconds, though?

[Randy Blythe]

Yes, I did. Okay, cool. I saw all the side. They were. They were the opener. Yeah. Saw Seven Seconds, you know, it's not just boys fun. And then. And then I saw, you know, most of the Circle Jerks, but I got thrown out during my favorite.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You had a little too much fun.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, had a little too much fun.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You are very open about not really being much of a metalhead.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Which I like that.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, I admire that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I think every interview I've ever seen or read from you is like, first off, I don't really like this.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, it's not that I dislike metal. I think. I think I say all this stuff because I do like metal and I do like some metal bands, but I do so much press where people like. As a die hard metalhead, you grew up and they tell me like, you just probably just loved Iron Maiden and whatever, you know, And I'm like, no, dude. Like, that's just not the world I come from. It's just not.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So it's. But it's not with great reluctance that you accept this. The faith that you've been handed.

[Randy Blythe]

I mean, what do you mean?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Like Titan of American medal?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, oh, yeah, that's right.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

I read me a little prize.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I will, you know, we can work on that, Chris. We can work on that.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. The Hard lore Freedom Metal.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

The Titan American.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We both have to put it around.

[Randy Blythe]

Our fucking president is taking imaginary prizes. Why can't I?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Exactly.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We'll get you a big.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, bigger.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's what it's all about. Some people say, too big, too big. When do you end up in Richmond?

[Randy Blythe]

In 1989, so. And because I was going to shows, I graduated high school in 89. And I was told you have to get a job or go to college. Either way you're leaving the house, right? So which is cool. Cause I definitely wanted to go. I don't want to live at home. I do not understand kids today that live at home forever. I'm like, what the fuck are you guys?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

A lot of people can't afford nothing else.

[Randy Blythe]

This is true. This is true. This is true. And I should shut my bitter old. I suppose I just don't understand it. I'd rather squat. So. And I have. So, like, I wanted to go to Richmond, to vcu, because once again, it was an art school. Yeah, right. And I knew there would be a lot of weirdos and I knew Richmond had more punk rock shows. Like, I saw really good shows back in the day in Virginia Beach. I saw Agnostic Front with the Vandals. I saw Agent Orange, you know, the Undead. Fucking. A lot of great bands. A lot of great bands. But Richmond had more clubs. So I moved to Richmond to go to college, right? And college was the school.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

This was a school of hard knocks, Right? You graduated?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, I did not graduate, so I spent. I was a student off and on for about seven years.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Excellent.

[Randy Blythe]

Just burning money.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's seven more than me, so. You did great.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, true. Six more than you, six more than me.

[Randy Blythe]

I was way more interested in going to shows Drinking and chasing hot girls. Unsuccessfully mostly, but I did.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We've all been there.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

What did you been to Richmond? Yes, but. So once you finally became a resident. Yes. What was that community like for you? Were you. Oh, hey, it's the kid from Southeast.

[Randy Blythe]

No, no, no, no, no, no. It was very. Richmond at that time was musically in a very interesting state. The late 80s to the early mid-90s was incredibly fruitful as far as music. The bands there that we were watching, all the dudes in my bands, you know, who I didn't know until we were in a band together.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Interesting.

[Randy Blythe]

But the bands we were watching were in general, they were people that had come out of the punk and hardcore scene who had started gravitating more towards heavy, weird, odd time signature, like math metal type. Sure, Right. So there's a band, old school hardcore band from Richmond called Honor Roll. I don't know if you're familiar with them. They morphed. Their guitar player, Penn, is kind of a legend. Like, if you talk to a lot of older heads, they're like, oh my God, that dude's a guitar freak. You know. He made a band called Butter Glove, which morphed into this band called Breadwinner. There was a band that really huge influence on us.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

From Butter to Bread.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. There's Mike Bishop, who used to be Beefcake in Gwar and is now back singing in Gwar. He left and he had this weird, like, heavy band called Keypone.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

There was a band called Slang Louse, that very, very heavy, very off time, sinister type music. So these are all bands that are coming from like the punk and hardcore underworld, but like changing shape.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Sure.

[Randy Blythe]

You know, and the musicianship was very intentional. It wasn't like, let's just bang out some aggressive shit. It's like, let's be fucking weird. So like, all of those bands were like important to me. And one of the guys in one of those bands I went to, I went to English class with in the university and he gave me a flyer. He's like, what are you doing tonight? My band's playing. And I came and went and saw him. There were this band called Brain Flower. And they remind me, I guess, the most of like kind of current Neurosis. You know how Neurosis has gotten all like really weird and stuff. But they were already doing all this really weird shit when Neurosis was still more straight forward, big time interesting hardcore. So, like, the music was a bit more cerebral in Richmond at that time. I still knew some of the Richmond hardcore people, like Taylor Steele from Four Walls Falling, if you're familiar with them.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I know they're more your contemporaries, but when I mention A Vale to anyone from Richmond, they start levitating.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Something happens. There's a scientific response where I go, Avail. Are they one of like the marquee Richmond bands too?

[Randy Blythe]

Sure. In the. In the punk rock world, for sure, man. And we. It was interesting because they moved to Richmond In, I think, 91. They were all from Northern Virginia, the suburbs of D.C. okay. And it's a cultural wasteland up there. Okay. You can go into D.C. i guess, to shows, but Northern Virginia is just suburbia, you know. And they. I don't. Tim told me. I can't remember how they decide on Richmond. I think it was from playing shows down there. So they moved down and got a house on Gray street, like a block away from my apartment, the Avail house. And they were playing shows and it was really fun. You know, they were a local band that all of us enjoyed going to see. And then they got really, really popular and it wasn't fun to go see them anymore. It was just too much.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You lost your secret thing.

[Randy Blythe]

So they. So they would have secret house shows. So you'd get a call, you know, and at like 4pm on a Friday, and it's like house show at the Veil House tonight. And then you'd show up and there'd be, you know, a hundred people in a bedroom watching a veil do their thing full on. And it was great, you know.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's awesome.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, they were. They're a little. They started a few years before us. Yeah. You know, so I wouldn't. We're as old as them, but just a different. Yeah. Different scene before.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Before we move on to.

[Randy Blythe]

But Richmond is all mixed up.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

That's the thing. It's very mixed up. So, like, there's a band called Bioritmo, which is a bunch of punk rock guys who. Some of them had Puerto Rican ancestry. They started a salsa band, a traditional salsa band. So like. And now they're big. Like, they tour and we'll play in Puerto Rico and all that stuff.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The salsa version of the band.

[Randy Blythe]

They are a salsa band. They are a salsa band. So like. But they. When they started, it was just all of us going to go see this salsa band play. It's just very mixed up.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I gotcha.

[Randy Blythe]

Richmond is very like.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's a wild place. And there's a street that's just called Boulevard.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. It's now. It's now Arthur Ashe Boulevard. Oh, they Gave it a name, renamed it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That sucks.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We were just talking about.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I think about Boulevard all the time. I live over. You lived on Boulevard?

[Randy Blythe]

I lived on 712 North Boulevard. Most dangerous house in Richmond.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Really?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Boulevard.

[Randy Blythe]

A bunch of drug dealers and you. Yeah, it's a good time.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Shout out to Boulevard. What's your first band?

[Randy Blythe]

My first band that I was in.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Was a band called Black Friday in. In high school, hell of a deal with my friend Alex Podesta, who went to this art school with me. And we would rehearse in his garage. And he had. He had constructed out of, like, old speakers, some sort of rigged up pa, like an old stereo system through a mic input or whatever, and hung these speakers. And we had someone who played drums. I can't remember I asked him this recently. And he would play guitar and I would attempt to sing. And we were just playing this sort of blues punk stuff. Okay. And I was singing a lot of. Just making up lyrics on the spot. A lot about drinking vodka and.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Were you singing melodically?

[Randy Blythe]

No, just yelling. Just kind of yelling and. And like yelling, yelping along.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

And singing. I just remember singing a lot about drinking because that's what we were doing at the time. It was foreshadowing. But we never played a show and we never made it out of the garage. He says he has tapes of it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So we would like to see that.

[Randy Blythe]

I would like to get the band back together.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

And see after.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know, get back to.

[Randy Blythe]

That way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, see if 35 years later or 40 years later, we could make some music.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Is Burn the Priest your second band?

[Randy Blythe]

No.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay, talk to me. Fill me in.

[Randy Blythe]

So my second band is how I got in Burn the Priest.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay. Pray it all out.

[Randy Blythe]

So I joined a band called Stink Hogan.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay. Hogan Does Stink RIP Stink Hogan.

[Randy Blythe]

And nobody. I was like, what is a Stink Hogan? I asked for guitar player Abe. He's like, it could be anything bad. It could be like, you know, indigestion or a piece of dog shit on your carpet. That's a Stink Hogan. Whatever. So Stink Hogan was me, this guy Abe, who was a guitar player, this guy Jim the Rim. Because you two had the edge. We wanted the Rim and this guy Bryant Murphy on drums. And we were four very different people with four very different ideas about music. So, like, Abe was like. I think he wanted to be a combination of Jimi Hendrix and maybe Sepultura. Jim the Rim was classically trained, so he wanted to be Charles Mingus on the bass. And Our drummer was at that time, like, into, like, the Smashing Pumpkins. And I wanted to be, you know, HR Johnny Rotten. Yeah. So it was this Stink Hogan train wreck of music. And, like, they were actually good musicians, but it did not coalesce. Yeah. And I was not a good lyricist and I was not a good singer.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

And we eventually changed the band name to Furious George. Right.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Now there were up to no good.

[Randy Blythe]

Now there is a punk rock band from Florida named Furious George. Oh, really? Where? A guy. But we were before them, parallel thinking, right? Yeah. And it's a guy named George Tabb who used to write for Maximum Rock and Roll. You guys know that Mag?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, of course.

[Randy Blythe]

So. But he had a band named Furious George. But anyway, our band just fell to, like, fell to pieces.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

We played one show out of town in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, at some college party, and then we'd play some local shows, and Furious George fell to pieces. I wasn't really digging the music. It was too complex. And I decided you're describing jazz, when you describe it was very jazzy at times, but it did have a Richmond flavor to it because, like I said, there was a lot of odd time signatures and some heavy rifts. Sure. Okay. So I was done with it. And I had had about enough of college. I was just working in restaurants and working on developing my alcoholism. So. And that is a main goal of mine.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Were you roofing at this point yet or were you. No.

[Randy Blythe]

Working in restaurants.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay, so no roofing yet.

[Randy Blythe]

No roofing yet. We'll get to it. So I was working in restaurants and just kind of floating through life. And I decided alcoholism. Yeah, we're working on my alcoholism. Developing it 10,000 hours. Yes. I got there, man.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

And I decided that I wanted to go to Berkeley, California, to see shows at a place called Gilman Street. Right. And so. And I also decided I wanted to ride freight trains.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, wow.

[Randy Blythe]

Okay. So me and my buddy Tyler, who was like this punk rock kid who was really into the band Filth. You ever heard of them? The Lookout Band. He loved them. And we decided we were going to ride freight trains to California. And so we did, through trial and error, we rode freight trains to California, and we wound up squatting out in Oakland and in Berkeley. Right. Oh, before I left, I forgot to tell you this. Before I left to go be a bum squatter, hobo, Right. Our guitar player from Stink Hogan slash Furious George, Abe, came to me and he said, I have a new band. I want you to sing for it. And I was like, Abe, I don't know about you. Oh, dude, I don't know. The last one was. Let's be honest, it wasn't great, you know, I'm gonna go be a bum for a while. And he's like, dude, you need to sing for this band, right? And I'm like, I got better things to do, like go be homeless in the Bay Area, you know. So I hopped out to the Bay Area.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Can I ask you, what does trial and error mean when it comes to very dangerous things?

[Randy Blythe]

It's very dangerous. Well, for instance, from the beginning, it was. We didn't know. My friend Tyler and I didn't know how to do it yet, so we thought we were just gonna. We knew where there was a freight yard, right? So we went down to this freight yard off the boulevard. It's right off the boulevard, cuts through it, and we snuck in and we got into this. It's like. It's what they call a gondola car. And it's half of a box car, basically, with no door but just open. And we climbed in there.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We're like, we're in.

[Randy Blythe]

Okay, we're going. And eventually this train sort of took off and it went very slow and it went very slow for two or three days around Richmond until finally this train worker spotted us. It had stopped, and we got off to take a leak. And he spotted us. And he's like, look, he came up to us, he's like, look, you guys should know that this is the garbage train. This is a junk train. All it does is move garbage around Richmond. You're not going anywhere. And he's like, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I know you're going to do it anyway. If you want to get out of here, go to this other freight yard, which our friend Tim Berry from Avail knows about. He's hopped out of there fault. So we're like, oh, okay. Thank you. So we rode from this freight yard in Richmond to just over in the West Virginia border and got off in a freight yard, had to hitchhike a little bit, and wound up somewhere in Ohio, caught another train and went to Chicago. And along the way, we started meeting people who were riding freight trains and kind of telling us, learning, learning, wow, how to do this. I full disclaimer. Do not fucking ride freight trains. No.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So my wife's childhood best friend passed away climbing freight trains. She got her into, like, dystopia and all kinds of crusty stuff.

[Randy Blythe]

Played shows with dystopia.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And one of the last things she gave her was a burn CD with as the palace is burned on.

[Randy Blythe]

Really?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So rip Christina.

[Randy Blythe]

She passed away climbing on a freight train.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Freight trains. It.

[Randy Blythe]

It can take your life.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Very easily.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Wow.

[Randy Blythe]

And do not do it. And I think also when we did it, this was prior to September 11th.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

I believe that post September 11th, the sort of legal ramifications, depending on where you are can be much greater if.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You'Re crossing state lines.

[Randy Blythe]

It depends on the train. You know, there's Homeland Security. Yeah. Who knows what could get involved? But I know after September 11, it got a little bit more serious. So I haven't hopped a freight train since I was 23 years old. Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Nobody needs to be doing it, but.

[Randy Blythe]

I did it twice. So anyway, I went to California.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You made it to.

[Randy Blythe]

While I was out in Berkeley, I met this kid named Mikey Brosnan. And we were living on the streets, squatting and stuff. And he was from Philly. And he's like, hey. After a while, he's like, are you sick of being here? I'm like, yes. I don't want to live on the streets anymore. I want to go home to Richmond. He's like, well, we have a van and we're going back to Philly, me and my friend Jay. Do you want a ride? We don't have any money. We don't have a gas cap. So we had a sock stuck in. So I'm like, yeah. So we spare changed our way back across America in this broken down van. It was fucking crazy. And I kept in touch with this guy, Mikey. This is important. Remember his name. Mikey Bryson. So the second time I rode freight trains, I rode all the way back. I didn't get a van back. The next summer, I went and did it again.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh.

[Randy Blythe]

And I got off in the west end of Richmond, Virginia. And the only person I knew with a car was my old guitar player, Abe.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Abe.

[Randy Blythe]

So I go to the Food lion, like, parking lot, the grocery store parking lot out in the suburbs, and I'm like, abe, I'm. I'm back. Can you come pick me up and give me a ride downtown where I'll find some place to couch to sleep on? And he's like, yeah. And my band is playing a party tonight. You got to come. And I'm like, oh, man, I just.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Want to lay down.

[Randy Blythe]

I like this band. Yeah. I'm like, ah, there'll be free beer at least, you know. So I wind up going to this house. He told me where the house was. And I walk in and I see These three dudes. I hear this fucking heavy music, and it's just. And I walk into this garage and I. And I see Abe and John and our old drummer, Chris, and they're playing this music, and it's heavy as. And I'm. I was like, oh, they're good. And I looked at the girl I was with at the time, and I was like, that's the band I'm gonna sing for. And she's like, whatever, Randy, you know? But the cops came to tell them to stop. And, like, the garage door had, like, these glass windows. And I remember they pulled up and they were shining these spud spotlights in there.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Stop, stop, stop.

[Randy Blythe]

Cause it's so loud. And they didn't stop playing. They just got down lower like. Like an ostrich. You can't see me. Sticking his head in his hand or whatever and just playing. And they were ripping. I was like, holy, how many people are there? Oh, I don't know. It was a house party, so. 100, 150, you know, something like that. It's crowded. And so I talked to Abe. I'm like, that's the band you want me to try out for? He's like, yeah. I'm like, killer. Give me a cassette of one of your songs. So he gave me a cassette of, like, three of their songs, I think. And I picked one. The working title is Dwayne, which is our guitar player, Mark. Dwayne Morton. It's his middle name. He was originally in the band, and he had left to Chicago to go to school to get his master's degree.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Welcome.

[Randy Blythe]

So, in political science, which didn't work out so bad for him, but he gave me this tape of this with these three songs. And I wrote lyrics to this song, Dwayne. And the song is about TV and how it rots your brain. And the Internet didn't exist then, but it's the same.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Applicable.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, it's applicable now. It's the same thing. And I've written since Song about the Internet. So I. For 30 years with this fucking band, I've been singing about the same thing.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Right now, TV feels productive.

[Randy Blythe]

Wouldn't you agree? Yeah. Yeah, I suppose. But I wrote the lyrics and I worked out a pattern listening to this boombox cassette tape. It wasn't like a proper demo or whatever. I went into their practice space and sang the one song, and that was it. I was in the band now.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

In Stink Hogan.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And of course, the following. George, were you doing the.

[Randy Blythe]

I know. Approaching it. It was approaching it. At times, every now and then, more like a scream would come out, but it was more kind of, like, pitched, you know, let's stop that. Okay, let's not do that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's exactly what he said.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So then, for. For this tryout that you did, were you then closer to that direction?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, that's what I was.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It fit because.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, because the other thing is, is I was known for being able to do the metal boys.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I see.

[Randy Blythe]

Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So I do it as, like, a joke. Like. Yes.

[Randy Blythe]

Total joke. Yeah. At a bar. That's precisely how it happened, of course. And we were at a. At a. At a bar. I was in a bar slash club called the Metro, and some. And the bartender was playing like, some, you know, Cannibal Corpse or something. I was like, oh, I could do that. And people were like, whoa, you could do that? And so there was a band, a sort of hardcore, ish, weird punk, noisy band from Richmond called Hoes Got Cable. I don't know if you ever heard of them.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Certainly not.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, great band. Okay. They would play shows and stuff. They'd be like, jump on stage, do the metal guy voice. And it was just funny. I see. It was all a joke. So me just, like, kind of clowning it because my brother listened. My younger brother listened to all the metal.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

Right. He was handing me, like, obituary and bolt thrower.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Really? And you were the punk old head.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. And he was just like. Just metal. And I was like, ah, it's cool. But like, punk rock is my thing's my thing. But then, you know, eventually some of that stuff I. I did.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I mean, both.

[Randy Blythe]

Amazing. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So when you are joining what would become or was already called Burn the Priest, Were. Was Abe and them, were they like, hey, do that voice. Or were you just like, I'm gonna do this?

[Randy Blythe]

No, I just did what I was gonna do. I think he knew. He knew I could do that. Wow. And so it was metal and very, like, kind of like grind influence, like, sloppy. We, like. We didn't. My guys didn't know how to play their instruments as well as they do now. Primordial. Yeah, it was a lot more raw power slot.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, exactly. Pardon this interruption. We swear we don't want to interrupt this very important, very special episode with this titan of American metal, but we have two very important things to talk to you about. First off, Guilty Party, the greatest menswear store in North America. Tell them about Guilty Party, Bo.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Guys, we basically exclusively wear Guilty Party. It is brought to you by none other than the drummer of foundation, the great Champ Hammett, one of our dear, dear friends we love. I love going there. I love shopping there. I love everything they got. What do they got, Colin?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

All of our favorite brands. Ironheart, full count, free note, Samurai, the French, Straight Up Dude. And the first. The first pair of Red Wings I ever bought in my life were from Champ when he worked at some boot store 15 years ago. And now he's running his own spot. Boots, belts, bags, shirts, jackets, pants. You can transform your life with a few little things from this place. Couple things and you can shop. Pay in installments, which is good, because that's what we do, you know. So go to guiltyparty co, use code hard lore, get 10% off, and if it's a nice pair of denim, it might be over $300, and then the shipping will be free.

[Randy Blythe]

Hello.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And if you're anywhere near in Atlanta, go in, try some stuff on. They'll hem it for you on the spot.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Say that one more time, Champ.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Hem it. Because that's what he'll do. And if you have any questions about a certain pair of denim, hit them up. Hit us up. We'll help you find something. We love it.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Absolutely. We get asked all the time what we're wearing, what this is, what that is. We're happy to share. We're not gatekeeping. We want everyone to win.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So go over to GuiltyParty Co and use Code Hard lore and change your life. This episode is also brought to you by Danny Wimmer presents, specifically Sonic Temple and welcome to Rockville, both of which Lamb of God are playing.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I have played both of these fests just last year. They're both fantastic. They both have great headliners. Colin, tell them who they got this year over at Sonic Temple.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Sonic Temple in Columbus, Ohio. You can see not only Lamb of God, but Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Napalm, Death, Sepultura, Biohazard, Suicidal Tendencies, Citizen, the Story so Far, Carcass, Tool, My Chemical Romance, and many more.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's insane. Down way down Daytona Way. And welcome to Rockville. You got a little band called Turnstile.

[Randy Blythe]

You ever heard of them?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Creator Deicide and a lot of other bands. You just got to go and check them out.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We just named a bunch of bands and they're all playing that too.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

They're in great venues. They're easy to get to. Everything is great. I could see myself going to them if I lived even remotely close to either of these fests.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And I think we may just be there. So go grab a weekend pass or a Single day ticket right now on their respective websites. Back to the episode. How long have you been sober now?

[Randy Blythe]

15 years.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Congrats.

[Randy Blythe]

15. Thank you.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Has the. Has the vape been instrumental in.

[Randy Blythe]

This is my last fucking vice.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

This stupid nicotine. It's the last one. And I keep on trying to get to it, but I used to smoke two packs of Marlboro Reds. Wow. Yeah, not good. So once I get done with this, several of your compatriots have told me I can get my X tattoo for sure. Nailing myself to the X, that would be awesome, actually. I'll do it, man. Once I get rid of this, I'll be like, yes. Finally nailed to the X.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Have you tried any of them Zim pouches?

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You still prefer that, though? Is it the.

[Randy Blythe]

I'm lazy? No, man. It's just easy to.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I'm done.

[Randy Blythe]

I don't know. It's. Don't do this, kids.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

No, don't do it at all.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

They already are.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So we've had one secondhand interaction.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You and I.

[Randy Blythe]

And I apologize in advance.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's funny and it's my fault.

[Randy Blythe]

How drunk was I?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I don't think you were.

[Randy Blythe]

You weren't.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It was. It was the vape. This is post sobriety. So we're on tour with Hate Breed. We're playing first.

[Randy Blythe]

Twitching Tongues.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Twitching Tongues, yes. And I think, you know, we're about to start. We're playing a big sample something, and I see out of the corner of my eye, one Randy Blythe walk in and I'm like, dude, this is sick. He's gonna watch us play. We come in, we're in C sharp standard. Alec, our bass player, C standard. For some reason, he forgot about the sharp aspect this particular show.

[Randy Blythe]

And we got the.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

But his goes. And I see you react to the bass being out of tune and go, turn and walk away.

[Randy Blythe]

I'm sorry.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

No, no, no.

[Randy Blythe]

If it sounded off, I'd be like, in the moment.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I was like, this sounds like shit. And there he went. All right, I guess I'll sing now. But yeah, that was. That's the only interaction we've had. So welcome.

[Randy Blythe]

Where was that show?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

North Carolina, I think Wilmington, North Carolina or something.

[Randy Blythe]

Wilmington?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, somewhere. You did. It might have been a Raleigh. You did Doomsayer that night. It was the only time on the whole tour they played Doomsayer.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, it's one of my favorite hate breeds.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's one of the best all time.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Banger, hardest mosh park, some would say.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We just saw them play an actual hardcore set in at FYA in Orlando. And they played only Rise Brutality. And before.

[Randy Blythe]

Right. They satisfied. Did they do the tour with the whole Satisfaction album? That was.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That was the tour.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

What a baby.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Now this truck.

[Randy Blythe]

Love, Jamie.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Now the truck. Now it's an helicopter suddenly.

[Randy Blythe]

Love, love, love. Wayne too, dude.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

He's back. Rock.

[Randy Blythe]

I was at his first gig back.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Really?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

How was that?

[Randy Blythe]

I was like triumph. I bitched at him a little before. I'm like, don't go too hard.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

They opened your fucking head for real, you know. But I got pictures of him and got picked. Let me see the scar, bro. She's hard.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It is hard.

[Randy Blythe]

Shit's hard.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

He's incredible.

[Randy Blythe]

Crazy Wayne.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We love to hear it Burn the Priest. Self titled.

[Randy Blythe]

Okay.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Share some memories of that time.

[Randy Blythe]

So I gotta tell you how it happened.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, tell me how that happened.

[Randy Blythe]

So I told you a name. Mikey.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yes.

[Randy Blythe]

Remember that name?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I remember.

[Randy Blythe]

So we started playing shows around enrichment and stuff. And I was still in contact with my buddy Mikey, who I'd been squatting with.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Is he still out?

[Randy Blythe]

He's in Philly. Where? He's.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, he's in Philly.

[Randy Blythe]

Right. Because he went back and so he's like, hey, man, I'm starting to book shows and warehouses up here. Do you want to. You have a band now? Do you want to come up and play?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

And I'm like, yes. So there were three sort of houses in West Philly. There was Stalag 13, which was Mikey's Fake Time. No, Fake House and Kill Time. There were three houses, like in like a.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Was the house called Stalag 13?

[Randy Blythe]

It was a warehouse called Stalag 13. Oh, wow. And so we started going up there and playing shows with a lot of like crustier bands and some hardcore bands in these warehouses. So we started going up to Philly and playing shows that my friend Mikey Brosnan was booking in these warehouses. And we were playing, we were playing with some of the local sort of Philly bands. But also we did shows with like Coalesce.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, cool.

[Randy Blythe]

Logical nonsense. Who else but like some hardcore and punk bands, they would come through. It's a very vibrant scene.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, big time.

[Randy Blythe]

And so people from record labels are starting to come out and see us. But like Relapse because they're. They're up there. Yeah, they were like, oh, man, they're a great band and they're drawing big crowds here now. Packing out this like 200 person warehouse. 2 or 300 people would cram in there. Nuts but we were maniacs and drunk and, you know, would fight each other on stage and there were train wrecks. So I think labels were like, these guys are really good, but they're not going to last. Sure. They're going to implode.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sure.

[Randy Blythe]

So why would we invest in these guys and put out a record?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Sure.

[Randy Blythe]

So my friend Mikey, who I met squatting, who was booking us, Mikey from earlier is like, I'll put out a record for you. So he put out. He started a record label and put out our first split 7 inch. It was burn the Priest and this band called Zed from Philly. And then Rich from Brutal Truth, his little label, put out our second split 7 inch with a band, a power violence band called Agents of Satan in California.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Intense still.

[Randy Blythe]

So we now we had a couple of seven inches. We're getting good reviews, but no labels are putting anything out. So my friend Mikey again says, okay, I'll really start a record label and I will put out the Burn in the Priest record. And so he started what was originally called Goat Boy Records and then it turned into Legion Records.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

And we had a $5,000 budget.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Damn.

[Randy Blythe]

Pretty good, that he maxed his credit card out.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's like $300,000.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Today's money is a lot of money.

[Randy Blythe]

And we went to record with Steve Austin from Today Is a Day in Clinton, Massachusetts, and slept on the floor of the studio.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Braun from Mastodon was playing for Today Is a Day at the time, and he was living in the studio. So me and Braun became friends before Mastodon ever existed. When we were recording the Burn the Priest record, we just became very close friends and are to this day. We were there when Bill from Macedon tried out for Today Is the Day because both of them, before Macedon existed, were in Today's.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Interesting.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So I would say all of your, like, modern contemporaries are from New England.

[Randy Blythe]

Man, people thought we were from New England.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You know, up. Up north. People thought we were from up north because a lot of our modern contemporaries, of course, Shadows Fall, Kill, Switch Unearthed, God Forbid, and the Macedonian guys were originally from Rochester. Oh, interesting. Two of them. Wow. Braun and Bill are from Rochester. Like, we were up there a lot, you know, and people thought we were from up there. But we're the sole sort of southern band to come out of that city.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So Mikey gets his shit together.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. Gives you five grand, carries us up to record this record. Wow. The first record, we did the Burn the Priest record with Steve Austin, and then we did the first Lamb of God. New American Gospel with Steve Austin, same studio.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

The Burn the Priest record I did in 10 hours. Vocally, yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

All the way through Jesus.

[Randy Blythe]

And New American Gospel I did in eight hours. Jesus. Because my band takes all this time getting all their. You ding, ding, ding, ding, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. And then we have a $5,000 budget. It's like, go. And so I'm like, what the fuck? And also they kind of wrote some new shit while we were there. I never sang it. You can barely understand the thing I say on the New American Gospel record. Because of that, you know.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Why the name change?

[Randy Blythe]

Because our guitar player Mark Morton, with some foresight, he came up with the name Burn the Priest. Right, okay. And he's like a 20 year old metal kid or whatever. Sure.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

He's like, we need a edgy, good. Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Metal name. Yeah. When you hear the name Burn the Priest, you don't think it's going to be a soul band. You don't think it's going to be jazz. You don't think it's going to be anything other than what it is.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Right.

[Randy Blythe]

Of course there's also the sort of religious connotation around that. And at that time, Satanism had sort of re entered the consciousness due to all the crazy black metal shit that was going on in Norway where they were murdering people and burning churches and all that stuff. So we were looking at that and. And while we were still playing mostly with hardcore and punk rock bands, we were definitely known as being more of a metallic band. And people were like, burn the Priest. Are you guys part of this Satan? You know what I mean?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, I see.

[Randy Blythe]

And Mark, our guitar player, I probably wouldn't have changed the name because I was like, ah, you?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

But it was important to him.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Sure.

[Randy Blythe]

And so he's like, let's change the name. So Mark.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So you got pigeonholed a little bit.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Or potentially.

[Randy Blythe]

Mark just did not want the perception that we were a Satanic band, you know, he didn't want that. And also when Lamb of God has.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Gone on to cause maybe just as much confusion.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. But the coolest thing is that it's a bit more cerebral in its confusion because people hear it and they're like, what does that mean?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

So Mark was like, no. So we put out the Burn the Priest record with my friend Mikey. Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Priest's not supposed to be on fire.

[Randy Blythe]

And we did some touring, you know, mostly. Well, not mostly all of it. We booked ourselves through something called Book youk Own Fucking Life, which is a Resource Maximum Rock and Roll put out awesome, which is a print magazine with all the different kids in every different city.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, really?

[Randy Blythe]

Who would have basement shows and VFW shows. So we called them and routed this and showed up and played, you know, the Squat or the VFW hall. Just hoping for some spaghetti and a floor to sleep on that night, you know, in a broken down vans. So we did that for a few years and we started playing up in New York. And at one point Mark, who had had enough of going for his master's degree, he's like, I want to play music again. Move back to Richmond from Chicago and rejoined the band. So now we had Mark and Abe and the guitar players. And Abe was a photographer, very talented, still is. And wasn't so much into like, he wanted to pursue his career in photography.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, okay.

[Randy Blythe]

So there was a split. The last show he played was our first show at cbgb. He's like. He's like, I want to at least play the CBGB show. Yeah, that's cool.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Who played that?

[Randy Blythe]

Do you remember? I know the person that booked it. The first band or the headliner was Disassociate Ralphie Boy. I don't know if you know him. He's from the New York scene. He was in a band called Jesus Crust 2. Disassociate. Heavy ass grind band.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Cool.

[Randy Blythe]

He put on something called the Mad Grinders Ball. It was us and it was us and like eight other bands. And we were first.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You were first on the CBs?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, first on. And I thought, this is it. I've made it. Yeah, this. This is the birthplace of punk rock. This is where the Ramones came up, you know, Blondie, the Dead Boys. Yeah, The Bad Brains during that magic formative period. This is where it happened. I have now walked into history, you know, and it was. I've never had an emotional reaction to playing any stage bigger than that, ever. Wow. And I played Madison Square Garden. I played in front of 100,000 fucking people at festival. That's nothing compared to what I felt there. Because that's how important this music is to me. It's my life, you know. So we started getting label attention finally.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And you're partying hard.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, hard, hard.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So that ceases to matter.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yes.

[Randy Blythe]

So we started getting label attention and we talked to a few different labels and then we went with Prosthetic.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Which is a division at that time of Metal Blade. Right. The two guys, E.J. and Dan, worked at Metal Blade. And they're like, we want to Sign Burn the priest. We're like, killer. Killer. By the way, we're changing the name. They're like, no. And we're like, either name change or we go with someone else.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

And so we did. And. And then went on to record the first Lamb of God run.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Let's talk new American gospel.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Well, before we get there, are you roofing yet?

[Randy Blythe]

No.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You're still not roofing?

[Randy Blythe]

Still restauranting Still.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The roof is the roof.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The roof calls.

[Randy Blythe]

Mark was roofing. Okay. Mark was a roofer longer than me.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Well, we could talk about it. We're. I'm referencing.

[Randy Blythe]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm. Oh, okay. I can tell you. Yes. Oh, yes. I was roofing right after the shift from burn the priest to Lamb of God. Okay, perfect. I started roofing.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I knew it. I felt it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Tell me about the roofing.

[Randy Blythe]

It sucked.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Early on, I learned a lot. Early on in your book, you mentioned having essentially a panic attack.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. On a roof.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

On the roof.

[Randy Blythe]

It's the only one I've ever had.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Where you just froze.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

What was that about?

[Randy Blythe]

I don't know. It's the only time you hear of people that happening to roofers. Yeah, right. Like, I was on this ledge, a copper ledge. It's about like this wide, you know?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Plenty big.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, plenty big, but. And it wasn't even that high up. It was like two and a half, three stories or something. There was a window beside me, and I was soldering this. This seam of this copper roof. And all of a sudden, I was working. No problem. And all of a sudden. And it was a flat little roof. It wasn't like a steep one.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's a good roof.

[Randy Blythe]

Solid roof. It was hot. But all of a sudden, I remember just starting to sweat, but being cold at the same time. And I looked at the ground, and it was grass. It wasn't even concrete. But I was like, oh, my God. And I was like, I need to get off this roof right now. I'm not supposed to be here. And I was frozen. Completely frozen with terror. It was horrible. Complete entire body. Feel it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

For no particular.

[Randy Blythe]

For no reason? No. I'm not afraid of heights.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You've played in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Later on, wouldn't have a panic attack.

[Randy Blythe]

No, no, no, not at all. So, like, I was just like, oh, my God. And I just couldn't move. So I yelled out to the guy who owns the roofing company, our buddy Noel, like, no. And it took him like, a half an hour to get me down off that Roof. He had to like come up and then put my foot on the ladder and I'm just like this, like.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh.

[Randy Blythe]

Like. It was the weirdest thing. I have no idea of why that happened. I'm not afraid of heights. It never happened again. And I've been on much sketchier routes, but it just came over me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Were there any substances?

[Randy Blythe]

No.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Did this happen in this time period that we're talking about?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Perfect. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's fascinating. I read that and I just wanted to pick your brain about it.

[Randy Blythe]

If I think about it, really think about it, I can remember the feeling and it's awful.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Wow.

[Randy Blythe]

But it's the only time and I've talked to other people who. That have happened, that's happened to have frozen at a height, you know, and it's. It's dangerous because if you're immobile, you lock up. You might fall, you know.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Unbelievable.

[Randy Blythe]

Take me there.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

New American Gospel. The. The debut LP for Lamb of God Proper. Tell me about the writing and recording and anecdotes that come to mind when you hear these words.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, I recorded. I was. We were living on the floor of the studio again, I believe, up in Clinton, Mass. Drinking heavily. And I remember a certain band member wanted me to record songs in a certain order. This is back in the day when my band members were still allowed in vocal sessions. Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I got you.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Rookie mistake.

[Randy Blythe]

No more. None of that. Yeah, Love them. But you guys. So, like, I didn't really know what I was doing. And when they're recording all their stuff, I leave them alone. Right? But they're all done and they're sitting in the control room and I start singing. And all of a sudden someone's like, wait. And I'm like, I just started. Right. I don't need your. You have to let me. I'm not interrupting you in the middle of the solo, telling you you hit a fucked up note. Like, you got to get through it, you know? So I just remember being very stressed. I remember Steve Austin famously said.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

What?

[Randy Blythe]

Looking at me one time and saying, if you don't get this right the next try, I'm going to shoot you. He threatened to kill me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That'll do it.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. And I was like, gee, Right? Right. Enough.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Nailed it.

[Randy Blythe]

I just remember we were really broke and in Massachusetts. I don't know if that's. It's still the same. If you carry your beer cans back, they have a machine at the 5 cents. 5 cents right here. So we were collecting all these cans to go recycle to buy Ramen. It's amazing. And more beer.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No kidding.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

How much was a pack? A packet of.

[Randy Blythe]

He loved beer.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

How much is a packet of Ramen at that time? They're like a quarter.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. 25 cents.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Five cans.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Unbelievable. Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

And so 45 cans.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You're all eating dinner.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. It was very. It was. It was very stressful, but it was. It was cool. Like, my biggest memories of that time, recording those two albums or what came out of them. The most important to me is a friendship with Braun, my friend Bron from Mastodon, that's when he and I really became friends.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And are they already a band?

[Randy Blythe]

No.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

By 2000. No.

[Randy Blythe]

No. He's in. He's in. Today is the Day with Steve Austin, him and. Him and his guitar player. They were in a band called Bill. They were in a band called Lethargy from Rochester.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

Kind of arty off time stuff. And then they went down and joined. Today is today.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Very cool. American metal gets thrown around so much when you hear about Lamb of God that it's easy to forget kind of how lumped, like, especially to me and to us. You were lumped in with hardcore a lot in the early 2000s. And I think it's music, musically, it has more in common with Hunter Demons than it does anything on liquid metal, you know? But it's crazy to me, going back to listen to this record, how fully formed the idea of Lamb of God is musically.

[Randy Blythe]

New American gospel.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Feels fully formed.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I think so. I think at least the.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The. The direction.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The trajectory of the music.

[Randy Blythe]

The intention was there. Yeah. For sure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Do you ever revisit this?

[Randy Blythe]

Only when I have to relearn lyrics. I very rarely listen to our music. By the time I'm done with it, I'm just like, oh, my God.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, I'm the same way.

[Randy Blythe]

And then we're going to go on tour and I'm gonna hear it.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

So sometimes, like recently, Mark and I both have listened to some, like, some new American gospel and some Burn the Priest. I know. I know I have. And like, man, that's killer. Yeah. Some of the rest.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's what I'm saying.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You know, you can listen to something out of this first one and hear where the song Redneck comes from. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, like. Like that's what I'm saying is like, same guys. There's a progression. It's there.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, it's a progression.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So is it. Is it 4 out of 5 of you now that are OG Lamb of.

[Randy Blythe]

God, you Mean at this point right now. Right now?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, right now. Is it four of you?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Except for Chris.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, yeah, well, Willie. The other thing is after Abe quit to go do his photography, right? He played the CBGB show.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah. The send off.

[Randy Blythe]

And Chris is Willie's brother. And he already was like, I want to bring Willie in. And I already hated Willie. I never met him. Right. Because Willie was living out in Washington state and he was like, had some hippie van. Right. And they had their dad's AAA card. Right. Your auto. Yeah. Like you break down when you get pulled and you could get towed a hundred miles a day. Our van on one tour was a disaster. We, in fact, we changed the transmission in a Walmart parking lot. Holy shit. Yeah. Because Abe was really good at stuff. He could do it. We changed it ourselves in a parking lot, but when the van would break down, they bust out the AAA car dust that. But it was only a hundred dollar one hundred miles a day. Right. And then Willie's. Willie proceeded to use it at the same time to tow his hippie van because it was breaking down. And I was like, fuck Willie. Fuck that guy. I've never met him, but fuck him. He's like, oh, we're stuck here for the night. Willie used the tow already, you know. But then Willie started kind of roadying for us. And by roading, I mean getting really drunk and causing problems. And so I didn't know if he could play guitar or not.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Sure.

[Randy Blythe]

Chris is like, dude, he rips.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Are you also getting really drunk and causing problems?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, of course.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay. That's.

[Randy Blythe]

Sure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So you're psyched about the drink, the problems?

[Randy Blythe]

I'm not. I'm. No. In our band for a long time, it was always. There was always finger pointing. Someone had to be the clown.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Right? Yeah. And it took heat off you.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's good.

[Randy Blythe]

And different people wore the clown hats at different times. You know, no one does now, which is a good thing. Excellent. But Willie, for a while, as a sort of accessory, wore the clown hat a few times.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And you would come to find that he could in fact play weird. Plays a little weird.

[Randy Blythe]

Dude, why are people. So you play? Yeah. So, yeah. So many people. People look at his. His guitar like, and they're like. I've seen, like, comments on social media. I don't normally look at our. Our social media. In fact, my social media is deactivated right now. But I've seen comments before where it's like, why the does he hold his hand? Like that hurts my Hand. People getting kind of upset about it.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

He play. He plays real weird. I was talking to him at the. That casino show we did late last year, and he was warming up and I was just kind of watching. Yeah, but, yeah, he can. No, well, it's like.

[Randy Blythe]

It looks like he has some sort of disorder, right? Like muscular, like seizures.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Right angle. You know how Hanneman would do, like, whole arm.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's kind of fascinating.

[Randy Blythe]

It's weird. So Willie, though.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

But he could play once.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. It's like, okay. Willie can play.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

And then that is when Lamb of God became what we. We were. It was Willie, Chris, John, Mark, me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay. That's like. And Chris's drumming to me as a young lad. And a drummer is like, really? I was rewinding parts, trying to decipher things. He was like a God.

[Randy Blythe]

So you guys are. Are actual musicians. You should know.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We like it.

[Randy Blythe]

You know, you should know that. Like. I know nothing about any of that stuff. People will talk to me about our guitar players. I know about the weird guitar people.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, sure.

[Randy Blythe]

But the way he did this. And I'm like, huh, huh. So you heard to me about amps.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You hear the fill and ruin and you're like, cool.

[Randy Blythe]

It's part of the whole.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

No, it is, sure. But it's a real soundtrack for me.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Good part.

[Randy Blythe]

You understand? Yeah. I don't dissect it because I'm not talented enough to play any of that shit. I'm the overpay jumping around. Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I love music, you know, when it rocks.

[Randy Blythe]

I know when it rocks, but I don't. I. Okay. Not fair. I dissect vocals.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, sure.

[Randy Blythe]

I dissect singers.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's what you do.

[Randy Blythe]

I miss your profession because that's what I do.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's fair.

[Randy Blythe]

But all the other stuff, and drummers in particular, by the way. Listen to the drums. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're like drums, drums, drums. Yeah, they're very obsessed.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sick.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes, sick.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You take them away. What's left?

[Randy Blythe]

Sick, twisted people.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

As the palace is burned. Let's talk about it further. Refining the Lamb of God sound. It's a. You got progressive time signatures, overtly political themes.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Did 911 and the Bush administration have a big impact on the next two records?

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. As much as I. As I despise G.W. bush, I kind of owe him for two records. The muse.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Your muse.

[Randy Blythe]

Things were much like now, very fucked up. But there was a much more concrete thing to. To aim the. The sort of bio. At something you could put Your finger on. Instead of. Yeah. Today's world of everything is like, you know, it's like, holy. So. But yes, that was. Yeah. The war in Iraq. And also, you have to remember, man, like, I. I have friends who didn't come back from that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

So. And I also have friends who went over there for the first one because GW Was trying to finish his daddy's war. You know, being from Virginia. Yeah. One of my old roommates was in the army, and he joined the Army. He's a punk rock guy from Newport News. And he joined the army to get money for college. Right.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

As many do.

[Randy Blythe]

And once he was in the army, they discovered he could shoot really well. So they dial him into the school for bang bang, you know? And then at 19, he gets shipped over to Kuwait and Iraq. Right. During the first one. And years later, we were living together and he got drunk and he was like, let me show you something. And he pulls out this VHS cassette and. And it's a video of him in the oil fields. And he's 19 years old and he's lean. He's in the desert with a fucking gun. And the oil fields are burning behind massive, massive flames. And he. They weren't supposed to have a video camera there. He's like, I'm not supposed to have this. But he named all his friends back home.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Was it a video or photo?

[Randy Blythe]

It was a video. And my grandfather.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The exact same photo in front of the exact same oil.

[Randy Blythe]

He's. He's. He's like, talking the video, and he talks to his friends back home. He's like, hey, it's Mike. I just want you guys to know, if I die over here, we are not here for freedom. We're not here to liberate anything. We're here for this. We're here for oil. Don't believe it. Don't believe it. That's why I'm over here. This is up. And it. It's him up.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You know what I mean? So those are people my age, you know, it's not some nebulous thing that you don't think about. It's like, oh, I know people who went over there. I have friends.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Well, no, this is zero degrees of separation.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Zero degrees. Right. This is real life. And so that informs those two records, you know, and September 11th certainly forms those two records.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So is that. Is that all of that the royal. That the first thing that comes to mind when I just even bring up these records?

[Randy Blythe]

Those two records? Absolutely.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

100%. I mean, like, Ashes of the Wake was our major label debut. Like, it was a time when our band, like, suddenly was playing Ozfest and all that other shit. And it was paradoxically, a really good time for my band. And so was as the Palace's Burn.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Because there was a moment, I remember on as the Palace's Burn, we were touring on the Headbangers Ball tour, which was us, Kill Switch, Engage, Shadows Fall, Unearth. And then on another leg, it was God Forbid, and these are our compatriots, they come. The quote unquote, new wave of American heavy metal. Right. And I remember sitting on Kill Switch's Engage's bus outside the Electric Factory in Philly and seeing this huge crowd and then going back to my bus and looking at my guitar player Mark, and I'm like, something special is happening right now. This is a special time right now, right here. And it was, you know. So that was sort of a moment, and it was a good moment, but overarching, like the political and war. That's what informed us. Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I mean, Ashes of the Wake, certified gold. And it's a very extreme record. Very rare. Ozfest is very much in full swing by this time.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. You guys do it this year, 2004. Our record came out while we were on there.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Do you have any.

[Randy Blythe]

By the way, Macedon's Leviathan came out on the same day.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Aha.

[Randy Blythe]

That's nice. Jesus, that's cool. Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So the decade is defined in one day, basically. Do you have any fond memories or anecdotes that come up in regards to that? Ozfest.

[Randy Blythe]

To Ozfest. Oh, God, yes. Tons of them. I mean, like, my liver still hurts from that. It was like. It was wild, man. It was just like this huge heavy metal summer camp. And there were some bands more from the hardcore world on that as well, you know.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Was Haprid on that one?

[Randy Blythe]

Haybreed was on that. We were on the second stage. It was all rotating slots except for the three headliners. And it was us, then Hate, Breed, then Slipknot.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's the second stage.

[Randy Blythe]

Headlining the second stage. Everybody else was rotating, but I believe Bleeding through was on that, you know, from out here, God forbid. Our homies from New Jersey, just a bunch of us, and we were just hanging out, grilling, you know, in the parking lot, partying like fucking maniacs, you know, like Maniacs. And then at night, cruising over, invading the main stage to watch Slayer and Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, the original lineup.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What's better than that?

[Randy Blythe]

Not much. Not much.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Beautiful.

[Randy Blythe]

Free beer all day long.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That was priority number one.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. I mean, in a lot of ways, it sucked because we didn't. You know, the showers were like, port. A shower.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

This is the shower.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. And your bathroom was a porta potty. So everybody was trying to wake up early to get to the porta potty to take a shit before it became foul.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Amen. Something I like about you, Randy, and I've always liked about you, and that a lot of people don't actively think about how often you're just wearing band shirts and photos and videos from that time.

[Randy Blythe]

That's. It's important to me, and it's important to me today.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Could not agree more. You look at. If I see a band promo and it's like, Jack Daniels shirts and plain black shirts. I keep scrolling.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I'm not interested.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I want to know what your influence is.

[Randy Blythe]

Much too. And it's been a little bit of a bone of contention with management at times where they're like, plain black shirts, you know, blah, blah, blah. Plain black. Plain black. And I'm like, this is not a fucking GQ ad. Exactly. So this time I showed up in a swan shirt for our photo shoot. So all the stuff. But I like wearing on stage. I'm very intentional on, like, what I wear. And in fact, I'm very intentional in wearing this here today because there might be some younger people who watch it and are like, oh, who is his hero is gone. And I'm like, you need to check out the record Monuments to Thieves. It's fucking sick.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Remember Tragedy, the band I lectured you all about a couple weeks ago?

[Randy Blythe]

It was a band before that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Exactly.

[Randy Blythe]

I wore a Tragedy shirt in one of our video shoots.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

See, this is what I like. I'm sick of the plain black shirt. Knock it off. This is an official psa. Wearing our influences on our sleeves is how we bring people.

[Randy Blythe]

And it's how you show love to these bands, man. It's how you expose people. Because when I was young, dude, even in metal, you would look at, like, a Slayer record. And there's hanneman in a CoC shirt. Classic with the skull. Or if you look at an old Metallica record, there's Cliff Burton in a Sam Haynes shirt. Yeah. It's like, oh, what is that dude listening to?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's what it's all about.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Part of the culture.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Exactly.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I was told to ask you, have you seen the Leprechauns?

[Randy Blythe]

Have I seen the Leprechauns?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Somebody said, none of them have seen the Leprechauns.

[Randy Blythe]

From Mayhem?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I don't know. I was told you'd know what it meant.

[Randy Blythe]

They're Oompa Loompas on Mayhem Fest. I think.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That was from Tony Foresta. Thanks, Tony.

[Randy Blythe]

Tony Foresta. You know what? Okay. Can I do this on camera?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

I swear to God, this is the truth. For the last two days, I've been meaning to send Tony a message. His girlfriend made this. It's a little, like, chain thing, right? Yeah. And I can't wear a regular old school chain wallet anymore because I'm old and it's too big. Too big. I need a little wallet, but I will lose it if I don't have something. And Tony's girlfriend made this, and he gave it to me. And I would just like to say thank you to both of them for this.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Thanks, guys, for this little choice.

[Randy Blythe]

And it means something to me. I cherish it.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's really nice.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Are you involved in writing the musical part of Ashes Awake or. As opposed to.

[Randy Blythe]

No.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No. So it's all. No.

[Randy Blythe]

I have one riff on a Lamb of God record.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

All right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Really?

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. And I gave Mark on this new one, I gave him a very specific outline for a song structure that I wanted with different influences. And it's not what he did. It turned into something else different. But he took my ideas and kind.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Of did it better.

[Randy Blythe]

Those are the only two things I do have one riff, and that is the chorus to Resurrection Man. I wrote that on guitar.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Or are you going.

[Randy Blythe]

No, by saying that? I said, mark, play this. And he's like. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. He's like. I'm like, there it is. You're fucking flat, Mark. So I wrote that.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So is Mark primary songwriter?

[Randy Blythe]

No, this time Mark and Mark and Willie.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Mark and Willie.

[Randy Blythe]

There's three dudes that write Lamb of God's music. Always have. Always. I'm not saying we won't, but always. That's just the way it always is.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sure, sure.

[Randy Blythe]

Mark, Willie, me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Is there a song or songs from these first three records that you remember them presenting to you and giving you the CBGB's for the first time?

[Randy Blythe]

From those first three.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

First three, I'm just like, holy shit, guys.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, sure. Particularly stuff some of this stuff off New American Gospel, I think. You know, I love the last track on that. And. And that's in my wheelhouse.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The song. Now you've got something to die for.

[Randy Blythe]

Mm. I didn't write the lyrics to that one. Oh, really? No. That's a Mark Morton.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay. Fascinating. Has One of my favorite. So my favorite lamb of God part is before the big pit. It's the burn.

[Randy Blythe]

I wrote the burn.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

There you go. There we go. Hey, I love that.

[Randy Blythe]

I get like one go or one burner record. You know, I restrict myself and then live the week. Well that which is fine. And so now when they. When they play it like it used to be very metronomic because we used to be on a click. Now we aren't. Thank God.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Oh, wow.

[Randy Blythe]

But Mark sometimes links it. So like I have to watch.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You got art are looking at each other and I'm his show and it. It's. Sometimes I'm like, just do it straight. Let's just get this done. And then sometimes I'm like, nah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The drama. Beautiful, beautiful Sacrament Talk to me what comes to mind.

[Randy Blythe]

And my least favorite record.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Really?

[Randy Blythe]

Kidding. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

How about that?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Also went gold, so.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, both of my gold records I auction for charity. I don't give a Right.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah. You're all about that. Which said earlier, you practice what you preach.

[Randy Blythe]

I don't. I don't. I don't need a trophy. I mean it's cool and all. I'm not dissing anyone that has a gold record that puts on their. Their shelf. But like mine's going to sit in the closet and gather dust. I'd rather it help some kid with cancer. You know what I mean?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

100%.

[Randy Blythe]

So sacrament I was. Alcoholism was advancing.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

Heavily. Heavily.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What does that mean for you?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, what is it?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What does that entail?

[Randy Blythe]

It means that when we signed with a major and ashes of the wake 2004 we had to make a decision. Are we actually going to try and make this our living or are we going to continue sort of being the weekend warriors working straight jobs? I've been working at jobs since I was 12 or 13 years old. It's extremely frightening to be like, I'm gonna go be a professional musician. Yeah. You know what I mean? We signed with Epic and I got a check. The advance, I think check was for like $35,000. That was my piece of it. And I thought I was fucking a millionaire dude. And I had to get a bank account because I didn't have one until then. I went to the check cashing place or I got paid in cash, but I had to get a bank account because the check cashing place is not going to cash a $35,000 check.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And that went straight to checking.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So like the IRS went red.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes, sir.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

On him.

[Randy Blythe]

So I like we made this decision and now we're going to be professional musicians. And we started actually getting paid, because you have to realize up until that point, we were on tour sometimes at that point, we were even in a tour bus. From time to time, we're out going out, signing autographs and all that stuff. And then coming home with no money for eight or nine years, you know, I come home.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

This is the pivotal moment.

[Randy Blythe]

Live on my girlfriend's couch.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Nice.

[Randy Blythe]

Come home broke. Can I have some money for cigarettes, honey? And you know. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So get my purse.

[Randy Blythe]

So, yeah. So we made this decision, and then all of a sudden, I had enough money to live, but I didn't have a responsibility when I wasn't on tour or in the studio.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

What else are you going to do?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. So I started drinking coffee when I woke up, and I drink a whole fucking pot of coffee like this. I got to mellow out. My chick has gone to her job. What am I going to do? I need to mellow out. Fuck it. And so. And it was. That was a fun free time during the Ashes time. Yeah. You know, but by the end of that. And I only know this in retrospect, you know, being sober 15 years, I only know, like, watching the progression of my alcoholism, when the throttle was twisted a little bit more. I see. And when we got done with Ashes and the offers started getting bigger, the gigs started getting bigger, the advance for the next record was a little bit bigger, and I really didn't have to go to work, but my alcoholism was progressing, and I was getting drunker and drunker more and more and more and.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Existing and being dependent on being drunk.

[Randy Blythe]

That's what being an alcoholic is.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sure.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. No doubt about it. Can't live without alcohol.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

First.

[Randy Blythe]

First.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Grant. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Talk to me before we move on or talk about that. I brought it up before the song Redneck.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I just want to hear you talk about it. I've always wondered, what. What is this song?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

First Grammy nom.

[Randy Blythe]

I didn't write that one.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You didn't write that?

[Randy Blythe]

Mark Morton wrote that one. And part of that one. And it's that time is about me. Wow. Really? Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Please tell me more.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, well, I mean, it's. It's about me and a certain other person. I won't say who it is, because that's not my. My point to say, but it's definitely about the sort of mess that I've gotten myself into, you know, And Mark wrote that song musically kind of feeling a coc. Vibe, like a. What is the record that Albatross is on.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's the one with. Yeah. After Blind with the speaker on it.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my favorite CoC records. I can't remember. Anyway, sorry, Pepper. But he wrote sort of that with that in mind. And the vocal sort of approach to that is very much influenced by that.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The main riff is very subtle.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. But we. We have that in our DNA. Mark grew up listening to all that Southern rock stuff, too. He's from Williamsburg, Virginia, you know, So I hated all that shit until I moved out of the redneck environs. Yeah. And then later I could appreciate Leonard Skynyrd and some of that stuff, you know. And also, it was not punk rock.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You know, it's not British, so. But like that. That. I know it's a big song, but I just. I would never issue anyone a motherfucking invitation. It's some of the dumbest lyrics I've ever heard in my mind. But people. People connect with it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Is.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Is it?

[Randy Blythe]

And people are like, oh. I'm like, no, Mark is inviting you. Go to his house. I've never invited anyone anywhere through our music.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Is it the closer most nights.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Invite them to go home.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Go.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, invite them to get worn out. And. And look, I. You know, it. It was a. It's. It's a good song.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You know, it is a good song.

[Randy Blythe]

And then always wondered, not talking out of school, but like, a lot of it dealt with, like, me being so fucked up. And then I got sober. I'm not talking out of school because Mark has written a book about his fucked upness. And then he went down. So some of the lyrics. For years, I was singing to him on stage. I was like, you wrote this about me, but now you're the mess. Come on, boy. So it's very bad, but he's now like seven years. That's what's over. Yeah. Welcome. So, yeah. It's one of my greatest joys. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Everybody from the. From.

[Randy Blythe]

I think Mark is nailed to the X.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's what's up. Mark.

[Randy Blythe]

No. Yeah. I know he doesn't smoke. Maybe every now and then he'll have a cigar, but he doesn't. Yeah. Yeah. He's not nailed to the X.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sorry, everybody. You know, peripherally, from the Lamb of God camp, from just that one show we played together was. Everybody was very happy. Everybody was very cool.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Very chill. Yeah. Very welcoming.

[Randy Blythe]

We try not to be dicks. No.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It was a really pleasant experience.

[Randy Blythe]

We learned coming up, we were told, you know who you see on the Way up is who you're gonna see on the way down. And also, there's just. I don't have any time for the rock star bullshit.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

That's not the world I come from. That's why I love the punk rock scene so much. It's because, like, they're not these mythic rock God like people. It's like you go see them and then after the show they're at the merch table selling T shirts.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know what the best monsters make the best. No, no, no.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's the only genre.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's the only genre where that can happen.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The only genre where the guy standing next to you can simultaneously be the guy on stage and be your best friend.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. It's awesome.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Or the guy in the pit is eventually.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

If they stick around long enough and are cool at all, going to end up in some cool band or, or booking shows or making flyers, making art, contributing in some positive way.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, I, I can. You know, I was a. I did fanzines before I was ever in a band.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's what it's all about.

[Randy Blythe]

I wanted to be a part of this world, you know?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So Sacrament Deluxe Edition had a bonus disc with stems to the entire album on it.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Did anything cool or creative come from that? That's your.

[Randy Blythe]

I doubt it. I had mixed feelings about that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Pretty wild.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It is wild and very progressive.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Nobody's separating my vocals. I'll tell you what.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, I, I, I, I don't want nobody about that, you know? But I mean, it's like whatever.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You were probably put onto some soundboard for prank calls or something.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Yeah. Who knows? I mean, today, the way people can manipulate data, it's scary.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You can do anything with anything, you know? But I mean, it's over.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We do this for three hours a week every week. Every word I've ever said in my life is on the Internet.

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You know what I mean?

[Randy Blythe]

So. Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's just reality.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. For sure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I actually have a boson.

[Randy Blythe]

I actually have a check coming to me.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

Because I was part of a class action settlement with an AI company. All right, that trained their AI on pirated books.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Wow.

[Randy Blythe]

And stuff. And mine was one of them. And many of my author friends was one of them.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No kidding.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So get that money. Fuck them.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Burn them.

[Randy Blythe]

So they. They stole all our books to train their plagiarism machine.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Scumbag.

[Randy Blythe]

Are your.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I didn't, I didn't check this. Are your books on audiobook 1? Is the first one.

[Randy Blythe]

Second one second. Because I wanted to do an audiobook for the first one, and my publisher, Hachette, they were like, nah, there's not a budget for it now. They're like, hey, do you want to re record the first one? Because audiobooks had blown, and it was in my contract for my second book that I had to do an audiobook.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Are you doing the reading?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's awesome. Do you want to do one for your first one?

[Randy Blythe]

No. No.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

I don't want to keep it analog. It's about a dark period in a long time, and it's really long, and. And there's a lot of foreign accents in it that I don't know if I can do.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Justice Rollins, get in the van. His audiobook is one of my favorite.

[Randy Blythe]

I've never listened to the audiobook, but I own a first press the first printing of the original. Sure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Because he reads it, elaborates on things.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

He reads it and then can. Yeah, he'll veer off and tell a little more than what's on the book.

[Randy Blythe]

I'm buying. That's great.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's great.

[Randy Blythe]

Thank you. All right, that's purchase.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's like a 15 hour podcast.

[Randy Blythe]

Henry's a good. Welcome, Hank. Henry's good.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

People never met him.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's what I hear. He's in heat, you know.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

He wasn't pretty cool. Wrath. I feel like this period is kind of. You toured with Metallica a lot.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

How was that?

[Randy Blythe]

It was great. And I wound up getting sober on.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That tour, my man.

[Randy Blythe]

So.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It was.

[Randy Blythe]

Alcoholism is a progressive thing.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

So we're touring the world. We toured with Metallica for about a year. Over the course of two years, we did a few legs in the States, we did Europe, and finally we did Australia. And we're playing with fucking Metallica, the biggest band in the metal world. One of the biggest bands in the world. And we're getting treated really well by them. They're such cool dudes. And we were playing and a couple of times, James and some of the other guys on his crew were sober, you know, and I would. I had been trying to get sober for a while, like around for about four years. Like, I wouldn't drink when I was at home because my wife at the time was sick of my. I can't blame her. And I would wait until we were leaving for tour, and then I would get dropped off at the airport, like two hours early because I couldn't wait. And I'd be at the bar immediately before tours even started. So how much Money?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Are you spending way too much?

[Randy Blythe]

I. I shudder to think about the amount of money I would have if I hadn't spent so much on alcohol and other assorted dry goods. I was also generous when I drank. So when I'm drinking. Oh, let me buy you. I also like to buy a bunch of dumb shit when I was drunk at the truck stop. Do tell. Yeah, like remote control robots. We had one named Steve that I bought.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Steve. Steve.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Steve rules.

[Randy Blythe]

Just all this stuff. Stupid. Ask Jamie Josta about it. He'll tell you about my. My truck stop proclivities because I rode on Hay Breeds bus forever. Truck stop touring. So, like, we were on tour in Australia and one day I woke up and I didn't want to live anymore. So I was like. I went to the gig in Brisbane and I talked to James. I'm like, guys, help me. And they're like, okay. And my first day sober, I played in front of 14,000 and people weeping my eyes out. No.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, yeah. Was it out of pain relief? Fear, anxiety?

[Randy Blythe]

Complete. I don't know what's going on with my life. What have I done with myself? Luckily, I had long hair, so nobody could see. Wow.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

But you're at the top of the mountain.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And all you're thinking, well, utterly died.

[Randy Blythe]

Right. Went to die. All the, like, waking up in the hospital, getting in fights, getting divorced, not having anywhere to live, no money, all that shit. I could just drank through all that because I could blame it on someone else, on something else I had something to drink at. But then when you were sitting in a hotel suite in Australia, which fucking rules, and you're on tour with Metallica and you're getting paid and you're still miserable. There's one direction to look. Yeah. Wow.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And it all comes crashing down at once.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

How's the car?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So what does day two of that look like?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, my God, what's going on with my life and James and them going, it's okay, dude. Hang in there.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Because he'd been there.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

They'd all.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Yeah. All these guys knew, you know, and they were like, just go out and do your job and worry about today. All you got to do is make it to the end of the day. You're going to be okay. It was 15 years ago.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That was it.

[Randy Blythe]

That was it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Congrats.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah. Congratulations. That's amazing.

[Randy Blythe]

I'd be dead if it. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We could not be having this conversation.

[Randy Blythe]

I don't miss it. So that's. That's a cool thing. I Don't miss it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So that means Resolution is the first album you made, so.

[Randy Blythe]

First record sober.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Great segment.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What was like. What was that like?

[Randy Blythe]

Very interesting and. And more focused. That record has too many songs on Happens because, you know, and my guys will tell you that because you didn't want to trim it, we learned to try and trim it. So there was that frustration. And then my guys also were getting more and more fucked up during that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So they're not seeing what tremendous mental success you're having.

[Randy Blythe]

They are, but, like, it's like they can't. And I can't like, be like, you guys gotta get something. Yeah. You gotta do. This doesn't work because I got preached at and it's like, you. Yeah. You know, so it was frustrating.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Good for you, man. But I don't need that.

[Randy Blythe]

I'm fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And. And like, it's a. It's a place of denial. But eventually they all came to like this. You gotta face yourself eventually, you know.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So everybody has to hit bottom.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, yeah. Nobody quits drinking because everything's going great. You're having a good time.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah. It's the best part of the day.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's a really good point.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Nobody quits drinking if everything's cool.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

This is your second Grammy nomination on Resolution.

[Randy Blythe]

Was it?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I think you lost an Iron Maiden.

[Randy Blythe]

This time, which is fun, you know, I don't know. I didn't go to any of the Grammys. I don't give a. About that.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You just don't give a shit about that.

[Randy Blythe]

No. Flavor Flav. Who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy? I auction my Grammy medallions all for charity.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Really?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's a good man. Yeah, it's a good man.

[Randy Blythe]

That's how you get into the Grammys. It comes in a little Tiffany box. It's like, nice. Auctioned off for charity.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So this. But this is when the dark days come.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The ones you wrote about.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. In the memoir. Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Let's talk about it. Let's break it down in 2012.

[Randy Blythe]

I wrote a 500 page book, by the way, if you want to know about this. So you know what happened.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

But there's no audiobook, so.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So for the people listening, so here we are. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, how do you even set this up? I really just want to hear about, I guess, your first day in actual incarceration.

[Randy Blythe]

In prison.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

In jail or in prison?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Prison. Well, I guess J. I mean, the process is so fucking insane. It is objectively one of the most insane things to happen to anyone in our. Our or adjacent to our world.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The very first thing in that book about this subject is your. Your letter in your handwriting.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And the line that really got me was that you had no idea what had happened. And the next day or whenever, when it was like, yo, this just happened last night or whatever.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The shock and just the complete.

[Randy Blythe]

What? Yeah. It's not. It's not cool.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No. No. And we're not at all making light of it, but it is.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's insane.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's. It's fascinating in a way that is. You had to go through something that I. I can't even imagine.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That also in the post dimebag world.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know, you truly never know. And you don't know at that level. It should not have been your responsibility to remove someone from stage.

[Randy Blythe]

No. And it's. You know, people know the story. I was found not guilty. I was charged with the equivalent of manslaughter of intentionally throwing this young man off stage and hurting him, which I certainly never intended to do anything. But I still have to take moral responsibility because what I should have done is stop the show. Right. It was out of control the whole time from the get. People were on stage running and stuff and it was tiny and our equipment is everywhere. It's just too much room. Stage diving. Yeah. Just craziness, all that. Okay. And it should have stopped the show. And we have an agreement. Our. Our tour manager advances his show. It's like, we need a barricade. It needs to be this high, this sort this far from the stage. We need this many security guards. Blah, blah, blah. None of that was there. So it was just like fucking crazy. And it's. It's like. It's not like I didn't communicate to the crowd, like, stop. No, no, no, no, no. And it just kept happening. And so I should have at that point said, okay, we're done. Sure. But I didn't.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You don't want to let. Yeah, I understand.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. But I would rather piss all those people off or, you know, maybe they would have started to turned on us. Who knows? But. And I've seen that happen, you know, so all of that, there could have been repercussions and we certainly would have been called rock star assholes or whatever. But like, I would much rather that than a fan of my band be dead. Yeah. So I take responsibility for that. And I carry that with me till the day I die. It's not something I sit in and dwell and cry over every morning or something, but it's a part of my life and it's a serious, serious thing. And I take it seriously to this day.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And you were in a prison in the Czech Republic?

[Randy Blythe]

Yes, in Prague.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

In Prague. Pankrats, which is otherwise a beautiful place.

[Randy Blythe]

Wonderful thing.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Have you played Prague since?

[Randy Blythe]

No, no, no, no.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Can you play Prague?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Okay, I. I won't. Unless there's clearance by the family of the young man involved and the money goes to charity.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Beautiful.

[Randy Blythe]

Because if we were to go back, you have to understand something. I was the number one news story in the Czech Republic, like, straight up. Wow. They're like the marauding American has come to kill, you know, like they're number one taboo. Their paper is like a tabloid paper. Very, very crazy. So, like, if I were to go and play there again, it would be a big news story there.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Understood.

[Randy Blythe]

And that would cause pain to this young man's family who did nothing wrong, who never came at me in the press. They just want to know what happened to their son. I do not wish to inflict any more pain on that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Sure. That's beautiful.

[Randy Blythe]

It's ethical.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah. But like, ethical is what we hope is bare minimum nowadays with everyone.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. It's not what we get. No, it's not. And, but, and it's frustrating, you know, But I think the only thing any of us can do is hold ourselves to a higher standard, you know, that's what I tried to do. I fail.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We all do. But I think, I think you succeed more often than you fail.

[Randy Blythe]

I try, man. You know, I'm a human being.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

First day in prison.

[Randy Blythe]

Shit. Scary.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

In prison is the story out there. Like, does do the fellow.

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, everybody knew I was in there.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Wow.

[Randy Blythe]

So the, the more accurate question to ask if you want dramatic is like, what is the first day in general population?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. You know, because I was in a they for the first. I don't know, I forget how long it was, like week or two. They put you somewhere to be monitored for depression, Right. To make sure you're not going to hurt yourself. So where would you put someone to monitor them for depression?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Isolation.

[Randy Blythe]

The most depressing part of the prison, which is down in the basement, like isolated. It's horrible, you know?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

So eventually. And this guy in a cell next to me had a psychological evaluation after about a weekend there. And I was. The guy in the cell next to me spoke a little English and he would speak it through the window. And I told him, I have this psych evaluation. He's like, whatever you do, don't tell them you don't like it here. Right. Don't tell them that you hate it here. And I'm. I'm like, why? And they're like, because you'll stay in the basement longer. That's what I did. So he had been down there a month. When the shrink is like, so how are you finding the prison? And he's just like, it sucks. What do you think? You know, you're depressed. You better stay down here longer.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Oh, my God.

[Randy Blythe]

So when this woman asked me, you know, how are you finding the prison? I'm like, oh, it's not so bad. I don't see why. I hear people complaining about things. I don't think it's that bad. She's like, very good. And then they moved me to population.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Wow.

[Randy Blythe]

So. But when they put me in, me and my cellmates got moved into general population because I had two cellmates, both Mongolian. And then you're allowed out once a day to walk to the yard to walk. And when we. They walk. They let us out, and they line you up in front of the cells, you know, 150 dudes or whatever. And when I walked out, everybody went. They're like, there's the guy. There's the guy. That's the guy.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Is it mostly Czech men, I would imagine?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, mostly Chuck. There was two black guys in the whole prison, I think from Africa. I met them. Czech and some Vietnamese.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No other Americans?

[Randy Blythe]

No other. There was Americans? No. No other Americans. Oh, and a lot of Ramany people. Like the gypsy.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Runs the Politically Incorrect, but that's what they told me to call them. There you go. Okay, cool.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, sure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Are there.

[Randy Blythe]

And they were discriminated. They were discriminated against. Very much so. By the prison authorities and some of the white people in there. A lot of discrimination against.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Are there Czech metal heads who are psyched you're in there with you?

[Randy Blythe]

No, there's no Czech metals that are psyched that they're in there with me. But there is a prison guard who came to my cell after two or three days. He's like, randy, I saw you at Rackham Ring, and I saw you watching Alice in Chains with Vinnie Paul by the barricade. You have to leave here, Randy. And I'm like, I'm trying, dude.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I'm trying.

[Randy Blythe]

He's like, you must leave. And he's like, I'm not supposed to be here. He worked in a different part of the prison, and he handed me some cigarettes, and I was like, wait, I had some guitar picks. In my pocket that they let me keep. And I gave him some. And he treated me like a human being. And I was like, thank you, thank you, thank you. And I wrote in that book dark Days. I was like, whoever your name is, dude, if I ever see you again, I'm going to buy you a beer. And we were on a cruise, doing a cruise. And this guy introduces himself. Do you remember me? And I'm like, I know I'm the prison guard who brought you. And I was like, oh, shit, it's him. So he came onto the cruise. So we did like this Q and A thing. The band was. And I made the guy stand up. And I told a Ray, I promised this guy I would buy him a beer. So I told my guys, I'm like, go bring him a beer. And then I told everyone on the boat, I'm like, get this guy fucked up. And that was the last I saw him. I heard he was just hammered the whole time. So everybody was taking care of because he looked out for me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And that's beautiful.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Wow.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

When you needed it most.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, just. Just a little. You're a human being. Yeah, you know.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

How long were you in there?

[Randy Blythe]

37 days.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

37 days.

[Randy Blythe]

That'll do.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I mean, that'll do it.

[Randy Blythe]

Long enough.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

There was a universal relief around the world when you. When you're sentence ended and you got home. Like our whole world breathed a little bit.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, I know. I know some friends tried to come visit me. I know. I believe for Resta and them were trying to figure out a way to come visit me. I know the guys in terror canceled a show. And check, they're like, we're not going until you guys let him go.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Solidarity.

[Randy Blythe]

So I was like, man, love, love, love all those people, you know.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Do you remember the first thing you did when you got home and the first meal?

[Randy Blythe]

No.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

No, I don't. I remember eating because I had to hide in Prague for a few days, like a day or two, and I was hiding in my lawyer's house. And I remember we went out and got a steak near his house. And I was just like, this is fucking awesome.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So that sticks to mind more than anything you had in America. Okay. 7 Sturm Undrang.

[Randy Blythe]

Mm.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Have you ever in your life experienced musical catharsis quite like this?

[Randy Blythe]

I mean, yeah, I think people kind of view a lot of this stuff. They. You're kind of providing the answer you want to hear in the question there. Yeah. You know, true reverse hit you with it. So, like, I wrote this Book about that whole experience. And it wasn't like this cathartic thing for me. It was like, I just want this done to be as honest as possible, to have this out here. And when people ask me, what was it like in prison? I can say, here's a 500 page book that'll answer all your questions.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

But the, the, the process of writing that record, obviously there's some stuff from that.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You know, and some of the lyrics I wrote while I was in prison.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh.

[Randy Blythe]

So like 512. I wrote part of that song and in Prison, which I remember actually was also a Grammy nomination. Hey. But, like, by the time I get around to, like, recording.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

It's not like this catharsis in the vocal booth. We've dialed it in.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

It's like an execution.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

True. Understood.

[Randy Blythe]

It's an execution.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Interesting.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Understood.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

But hearing the finished products back for like the first, first time, getting the master back, there's no, like, relief there. Of, like, not only am I home and safe, but I've made another album.

[Randy Blythe]

I mean, there's. It's definitely. I don't know, man. When I was locked up, I, like, I was trying not to really think too much about, like, what about my band, what about my career? What about all this stuff? I'm just like, I need to get through this and, and not focus on the external things. I need to be focused in here on. On what I can do. And when I was awaiting trial because I was out, we had to go on tour as soon as I got out because lawyers are fucking expensive.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You know? Yeah. And so people are like, what are you gonna do? And I'm gonna go back to trial. What'll happen if you find you're found guilty? I'm like, I guess I'll go to prison. What if. And I'm like, I don't fucking know. I don't have a crystal ball. So I'm trying to, like, stay here and in the moment and deal with things and do the right thing.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You know, So, I mean, I guess it's like. And there's definitely relief, but I wasn't, like, happy when I got out of prison and the trials and I wasn't stoked. Dude. Someone died. Yeah. So it's not like. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's like. And I mean, that's the way I think about it. Like I said, I don't dwell in it, but it's not like, got away with that. Didn't go to prison for 5 years or 10 years.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Can't wait to talk about it 10 years later on a podcast.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, exactly.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It would take five years and a pandemic to follow it up with your self titled eighth record.

[Randy Blythe]

Right. Before we get there, please hit it.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The last show that Harm's Way ever played before the Pandemic was on Valentine's Day 2020, with one lamb of God at the Chicago House of Vans.

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, you guys were on that gig?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We were the only other band on that gig.

[Randy Blythe]

Holy. I was going through some personal things at that time unrelated to the band. Just some personal. Sure. Relational difficulties.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It happens the worst and the best of us.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And I think that was the last show we played for like. Like three years.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, that show was really. That was the last show we played.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I think it would have to be.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Unless you had a tour right after.

[Randy Blythe]

No, no, no. That was just that last show. Yeah, it was Valentine's Day.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yep.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, we played that at House of Ants and I. Free show. Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't see you guys, but I was. I was in a really busy headspace.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Figuring out my life.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

But it's. It's the. One of the most bizarre, like, since. Since that show. Something has always kind of brought us back to Lamb of God in some good way.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And we're just continuing that with the rest of the year with the cruise.

[Randy Blythe]

Coming at the end of the year and everything.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

So it's just one of those funny things. But yeah, one of our. One of my first memories of that whole time period.

[Randy Blythe]

Let me ask you, this pandemic and everything. Did. Did you guys have a record coming out?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We were supposed to be touring on a record. On a record, like, for like the. The second half of the cycle.

[Randy Blythe]

Right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Like the end of the cycle.

[Randy Blythe]

So the record had come out and you had done some touring. You were in the second half of the.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, yeah. Basically we had a little bit more to go, so then we just wrote and recorded it during the end. And it came out 20, 24.

[Randy Blythe]

Right. So our album was in the can at that time.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, no.

[Randy Blythe]

So it was done. And we're like, it's gonna come out. And I had a art gallery at that show with 10 photos that were in. They were the art in the insert. Oh. Albums. So they put that up there. But we were like, okay, our record. That was Valentine's Day. Our record was supposed to come out in April.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Bad time.

[Randy Blythe]

Perfect, I think.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So was my wedding.

[Randy Blythe]

And it was like, okay, we're gonna have this new record and we Love it. We love the self titled. It's one of my favorite things we've ever done.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

In fact, late stage, self titled.

[Randy Blythe]

Cool. And so we're all pumped about it. And then Covid happens and the pandemic keeps going and we're like, okay, let's push the release because nobody knew what was happening. Remember how? We didn't know.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Crazy.

[Randy Blythe]

Nobody knew. And different cities had different levels of like lockdowns. Yeah. And so the album release kept on getting pushed and pushed and finally us management and us were like, well, we can't delay it forever, so let's put it out. And it got really good reviews and people really connected, particularly with the song Memento Mori off that record. It's one of our biggest songs. You know you don't get one of your bigger songs in late. Late career, right? Sure. Yeah. But we didn't really tour on it. So that record just feels like Lost. Lost, man. And it's such. And I'll get pissed if I think about it too much.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Understood.

[Randy Blythe]

But it feels like it never got the shot that it should have.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know, you could do some kind of. You could do a record release for it now. That'd be fun.

[Randy Blythe]

So we put out the. The self title and we're not touring and we're not making money. And I mean, we're okay because Richmond is not la. The cost of living is not a zillion dollars. But we're like, well, we got to do something. And our label's like, we want another record. So we're like, well, I guess we'll start writing another record since we're not doing anything else.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

This one's just there.

[Randy Blythe]

And. And that's what we did.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And that was Omens.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Where you experimented with more melody than ever.

[Randy Blythe]

I guess you're singing on that thing.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What was putting that together like, and then returning to live music post Covid?

[Randy Blythe]

Well, I didn't, man, I didn't realize, like we say, we don't really take what we do for granted. We realize that we're lucky to do what we do. But I didn't realize exactly until something like Covid happened how much we do take it for granted. Because I felt when we did a live stream, right, from a club called the Broadberry, you know, and fans could buy ticket and see the live stream. A lot of bands were doing that. And then, you know. But we went to rehearse at Mark's house and I remember getting the energy of like, holy, we're making music together again. Where normally a Band practice is just like, okay, let's go through this so we can get this.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It is our least favorite thing.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. This song done. And go on tour, you know, I mean, I gotta relearn these songs from like three albums ago that someone's decided they want to play, you know. But I remember rehearsing for that live stream and I hadn't been with my guys in so long, I hadn't been able to hug them or anything. Yeah. And, and, or make this music and just being like in practice, like, wow, we're a band. Yeah. We don't know if we'll ever do this again, but we are a band. And it was like this really intense feeling, man. You know? And then when it came time to tour again, so we wrote and recorded the other record relatively quickly on the heels of the. Of the self titled Omens. But when it came time to tour, I think we had already written that record. And when they were trying to book us a tour, we were going out with Megadeth. And In Flames was supposed to be on it, but somehow they couldn't get a visa due to Covid. And the tour dates kept on getting moved. And our booking agent, Tim Bohr, I don't know if you know him, it's from our world, you know, he was like trying to figure out routings. Management is constantly trying to figure out stuff. I felt like it sucked not getting to play music, but I'm like, I'm glad I'm not a booking agent or management because there. Every day it must have been like waking up and taking a handful of darts and just throwing it at a board and be like, what can we do today?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You know, Everything.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Just like, we'll see what happens. Because everything kept on getting changed. And then finally we went out and other tours had tried it before us, but most of them got. People got sick. The tour got, you know, interrupted. Like, people died.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah. Hundreds of thousands of people.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. But in our world.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

People that.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Well, I was, I was going to bring it up and it's a somber thing, but over that time, not necessarily due to anything else going on, we lost our. All of our mutual friend Riley Gale. Power Trip, who you guys had taken out shortly before, a couple years before the pandemic started. I remember you played Age of Quarrel or you played a Chromag song with us.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Right.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We gotta know.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. And they were playing it at soundcheck.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And you were just like.

[Randy Blythe]

And I was walking through the club and I heard it and I was just in the audience, like, freaking out. They're like, let's play it. And we played it then. Oh, yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And I. I just. I remember that was one of my first inclinations of like, oh, they might be cool. You know what I mean? Like be cool kind of thing.

[Randy Blythe]

Because I didn't know, you know, it might be this. Not this weird metalhead.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

But I. I bring it up because the last memory I have of Riley after trying to break into Fred Duras private bathroom at a fest that we were playing, it was. It's funny because we talked about it with. With Brett also. But there's a fest in Germany with all the big diggers. I think it's brutal assault or full force. One of them lama God played Riley and I watched you standing next to each other. That's my last memory of him in person. Was watching you guys play.

[Randy Blythe]

He. They were supposed to tour. It was power trip. We're supposed to tour create Europe with creator and us in 2019.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yep, 2019. That was it.

[Randy Blythe]

And we were supposed to do this song together, which I wound up doing, obviously without Riley. But Mark was kind of chasing him. Our guitar player Mark was kind of chasing him. Some like. And Mark, clean and sober guy, he knew something was going, you know, and it's really sad. And I. I did not know. I wish I did. Gone down to Texas trying to help him, you know, but yeah, it's super sad. The last show I remember seeing them was in kind of a honky tonk bar down in Jacksonville, North Carolina. I went down there to see them and it was them and Gate Creeper. And I got great pictures that night. Pictures of Riley backstage. It was always a good time with him. And he is a big nerd. So like me, we like to talk.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Big comic book guy, but didn't like superheroes.

[Randy Blythe]

No, but we talk about books a lot.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

And.

[Randy Blythe]

And he recommended some really good books to me. So. Yeah. Miss him. He's a good dude.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Great dude.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Well missed. Yep.

[Randy Blythe]

Well loved.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The heavy music boom. We're in a new boom. Are we 22 and on? I feel like has the post coveted live music boom. People were dying to just go see some live. Oh, dude.

[Randy Blythe]

Rock that first tour back.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah. Did you see? Did you notice it?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, God, yeah. People were stoked. Yeah. Because it's Medicine Man. It's like where we come together and let it out, you know? But yeah, when we finally got on the road after several false starts and we actually made it to the end of the tour without having to Cancel. We were one of the first tours to do it, I believe. But the whole time it was just. It was still weird because people were still wearing masks and like distinguish and distancing and all that shit. But it was like, it was still weird. And I was really, as a singer, paranoid about it because I did get Covid on one tour and we did have to cancel. We had had some people fill in for me and we had Mark from Chimera fill in a gig.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Wow.

[Randy Blythe]

And then we had the singer from Fit for an Autopsy fill in like on like one day notice. So they did the best they could. And then Mark was supposed to fill in the rest, but he got really sick. So we had to cancel one gig, but I had Covid. I remember I woke up, we played in Jacksonville, Florida. Started feeling weird, and then all of a sudden I started getting really sick.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

And I separated myself from the band and got a rental car, drove and drove by myself and full sniffles. Just. Just driving by like, like out of my. My mind. Yeah. Sick. As there would have been no way I could have performed. So when people were like, oh, Covid, don't be a. It's like, dude, you get up there and try and explain this. You know, of course, especially the OG strains. They seem to have decreased in, in, in severity. But like the Delta Wave. Come on.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That one took me down.

[Randy Blythe]

Finally I got to Chicago and posted up at a hotel outside the airport there. O'.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Hare.

[Randy Blythe]

O'. Hare. And I got prescribed. What is this? It's an antiviral that you can get relatively.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Ivermectin.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

No, that's the horse one.

[Randy Blythe]

No, no, a real one.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, whatever.

[Randy Blythe]

The real ones, not the horse paste, you know, apple. I forget what it is, but I got it in like somewhere in Indiana where you couldn't get it anywhere else. And I went, they. They just gave it to me. They're like, yeah, nobody here will take it because they don't believe Covid's real or whatever, you know. So I got it and holed up in a hotel room outside o' Hare for like three days until I tested negative. Yeah. And then rejoined the tour in South Dakota.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, wow. Was it the. The Hilton in o'? Hare? Like in the middle of it.

[Randy Blythe]

No, no, that's a good one. A little ways I like that one.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Into oblivion.

[Randy Blythe]

And our tour managers wife was so kind and brought me food.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Oh, legend.

[Randy Blythe]

Because he's from Chicago.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Okay. Come on. Do you eat meat?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Are you a Portillo's guy?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, yes, yes. Oh, yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

This is my culture.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Oh, man.

[Randy Blythe]

Beautiful. I went there the last time I was in Chicago.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Beautiful.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

So did I.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You gotta pray. You gotta go to the hospital.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I gotta pray at the altar of. What's his name?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Dick Portillo.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Dick Portillo, yeah. Into Oblivion.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Here we are. Album 10.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You recorded vocals at Total Access in Redondo Beach. How cool was that?

[Randy Blythe]

Amazing.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, cool.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The RC Records.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Our producer did very well in finding that place. Josh knows me. Our producer, Josh Wilbourne, he's like, you're gonna love this place. Because when the owner started that studio, Greg Ginn, obviously from Black Flag, owner of sst, came to him and he's like, okay, if I give you this much money, how many records can I get done? Kind of like a group rate. I see. And he gave the owner this money and then the fabled SST producer spot came in and did a lot of those records. So when I walked in, they have all the records they've done on the wall there. You see Black Flag, My War. And you see the Descendants, I Don't Want to Grow Up. And you see who's Cardews in Arcade. And you see the Minutemen and it's just like. I walked in, I'm like, I love this place, you know?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

And the owner is super cool. He's had it since it began. And he would just. I'd just like bug him for old school punk rock stories.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

About shit that had happened there.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Some hard lord, if you will.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. Some hard lore. Somebody. I got some real life hard lore. Some crazy stories about Henry Rollins, like being on the roof of the studio one night on acid, just freaking out, howling at the moon, you know, and then neighbors being called, like, what is going on?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That was the Henry Warfield days. I'm going to cut you guys in on something. We've heard the record song number four, the Killing Floor.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Mm, Banger.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's a good song.

[Randy Blythe]

That's good to hear.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

What was the. What are you writing about? What's the approach in 2025?

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, obviously the.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

How awesome the US is right now.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. The ongoing disintegration of the social contract here in the United States of America and the broad reaching geopolitical ramifications that may lead us to World War three.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Something, something from just beyond the light. You said I am offended by humanity.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Is a quote that you had something that stuck with me.

[Randy Blythe]

That was a note. I put it's one in my cell phone one day. I was like, I am offended by humanity because I find These things years later, you know?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

And is. Is this something that you pulled from for this record?

[Randy Blythe]

Well, no, that's just a note I found in there. And I'm not offended by all of humanity.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Okay.

[Randy Blythe]

I. I used to be sure, because I was very angry and very drunk. I'm not offended by all of humanity, but I'm certainly offended by the shift in tone by a segment of our population towards cruelty and the dehumanization of others and the sort of binary us versus them shit that's happening right now. It's unacceptable. And not only that, it's unsustainable. So. As is the wealth inequality gap. So if you look at historic empires, what's happening right now are the end stages of those empires. A few people get very, very, very, very, very rich, and then everybody else gets poorer and poorer and poorer and poorer and poorer. And then empire falls. Yeah. So we better straighten our shit out. Fuck the billionaires, Fuck the fascists.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Straight up right now. I mean, racism, sexism, homophobia are like the status quo, you know, I think it's. And it will come to a boiling point.

[Randy Blythe]

I don't know if it's a status quo. I think there's been a permission structure being given to people to act out, and there's a segment of the population that has had that within them, you know, and then there's, sadly, a segment of the population that has been raised in this environment and that's being instilled in them, you know. But I do not think that that is the majority of people. I think that most. The majority of people are, I don't know, inherently good, I guess.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I think so.

[Randy Blythe]

I think so. But there, there, right now, there is like a sickness in America. It's an illness.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Would you attribute, I mean, with all due respect, coming. Coming from a small town in Virginia, Right. Would you attribute your not getting sick with that same illness to this music we've been talking about for the last couple hours?

[Randy Blythe]

That and having subculture. That and having amazing parents, you know, who raised me not to not judge others for economic status or the color of their skin or any of that, you know, And I did grow up in a small town and there were, you know, the stereotypical rednecks with that sort of redneck attitude. But there is good people there too, you know. Of course. And there are everywhere. And I think that right now, the media, it's fucking chaos every day. When you look at the news, it's like, what the fuck has happened? You know, that is by design by these people. Once again, to quote Steve Bannon, flood the zone with shit. It's all a wag the dog sort of distraction, I think. But it's so much input from all this stuff. Everything's crazy, everything's bad. I think that is the value in coming from a scene like ours, because we have human connection and we know, okay, we can come together. This is possible.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

We can talk.

[Randy Blythe]

We can talk about. Yeah, we may not agree on everything, but we can talk. You know what I mean? When you're on your phone, paradoxically, social media is not social anymore. And paradoxically, these communication tools which are supposed to bring us together, I think, are separating us.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

They're designed to get you mad so that you engage, they keep you together.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

In your bubble, but they separate you from everyone else.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, yeah. So, like, there's this feeling of separation. I don't think the way things are sustainable. And, you know, I hate to say this, but I think the rest of this year is going to continue to get worse, for sure. I do think at a certain point there's going to be a tipping point and we're going to start seeing some daylight.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's coming. Any plans to give fiction a whirlwind?

[Randy Blythe]

Yes, that's what I'm working on right now.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

All right.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No kidding.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. I've started my first novel. I actually wrote a novel years ago, a really rough one, just as an exercise for this thing called NaNoWriMo. Every year it's 30 days. You're supposed to write a book in 30 days. I wrote a novel. Maybe I'll revisit that. But this is my first novel that I've started it. I'm not a guy who can write at, like, the cafe. Like an artist or something. I wish I was.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No, you need to.

[Randy Blythe]

I gotta be alone. Yeah, yeah. And I can't listen to music if there's any vocals in it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, because then I'll start paying attention to.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I got you. I'm a big ambient electronics kind of guy.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. Tons of that.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Just noise, really.

[Randy Blythe]

Or. Or like in the winter when it's cold. Have you heard Vardruna?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Vardruna? Yeah. Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

That's great.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The first Warjuna record is unbelievable.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes, Unbelievable.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Believable. The white kind of white one with the red symbol. The later ones are a little too produced, right?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

But the first one is Give me the Racket. It's. It's pretty racketous. It's the dude, the drummer from Gorgoroth.

[Randy Blythe]

Singer. From Gorgoth.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Singer.

[Randy Blythe]

No, no, no.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Gaul was the singer.

[Randy Blythe]

Gorgoth. Yes. Gall was on.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, he's in that.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. Gall's on the first wardrobe, but the.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Main guy was also in Gorgoth, I believe.

[Randy Blythe]

I don't know. I, I, I've, I can't remember. Inar is.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, Inar. And then Lindy Faye. Hela is the girl.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

She's incredible.

[Randy Blythe]

It's incredible. So it's incredible music and. Where do you live?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Van Nuys, California.

[Randy Blythe]

Oh, Van Nuys. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It doesn't apply.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You know, I can't.

[Randy Blythe]

Chicago. Chicago. Walk around in the snow listening to Ardruna. It is.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It was 83 today in January.

[Randy Blythe]

We, It's.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We simply don't have time.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

One of my favorite quotes that I saw in the book, just beyond the Light. I want to read it so that I make sure I get it right.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You have to engage in the creative process to become an artist.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I think that is beautiful.

[Randy Blythe]

It's true.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It almost seems as obvious as better is better.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You know, but it is a succinct, identifiable way to distinguish an artist from a participant or an artist. Journalism from journalism. Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You talk a lot about photography, which is obviously an art form that you love.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You talk about surfing.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Which is kind of an art form. I would say it's like a physical art form.

[Randy Blythe]

It is. When really good dudes do it, I'm a mediocre server. So it's an experience.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's an expression, artistic expression between man and nature.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Top of the head.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Good shit.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Are there any other things besides writing, besides photography? Any other artistic creations, artistic endeavors you're into?

[Randy Blythe]

I mean, I've done a little acting. I'm a very bad actor. It's very hard. It's very hard. I thought I would be, like, natural at it, you know, because I'm kind of a clown performer, you know, A performer. But it's, it's very hard. I've done a little. And that's fun, you know, done. You know, I wouldn't mind doing some more of that, but. No, man. I mean, like, I do music. I've. I've composed music on my own and worked with some people. I did some music for the Richmond Ballet. Well, yeah, a good friend of mine choreographed some pieces for them. He's professional ballet dancer. And then I do my band and various other things. I, I've kind of wanted to try to paint. Yeah. I don't know if I would be any good at it. I think that's why I liked photography. So much because I'm not very good visual visually.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I took a Bob Ross class. Yeah, it was pretty. I'm dog, but it was pretty good. So give it a shot. All right. You'd be surprised.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Pretty little trees.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

The gorgeous trees.

[Randy Blythe]

Let's talk about draw a pretty little floor punch.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That'll just. Exactly. That'll be our little secret.

[Randy Blythe]

They're all the gorgeous little spin cake.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Mark Porter in the barn. Let's talk about the thing that binds all touring people.

[Randy Blythe]

Diarrhea.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Diarrhea.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

This is the cause of it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

How do you get there? How do you get to diarrhea?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Step one, food.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

A delicious meal.

[Randy Blythe]

That's right.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What are your spots? What are you? We. This is a question we ask every guest.

[Randy Blythe]

What are my spots?

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, I'm in Chicago. Portillo.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's right.

[Randy Blythe]

Goddamn right.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Let's say you're in a mythical place where they all exist in one place.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Every chain and every anything.

[Randy Blythe]

I try to avoid the chains, but you know.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

But we all know.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. On a day off in the middle of nowhere outside Boise, Idaho in the Walmart parking lot.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

You gotta go somewhere. Where are you going? Well, a. I'm gonna go to Starbucks. Okay.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Start the day off right.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

At least get a cup.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, I make coffee on the bus, but then I'm gonna go to Starbucks after I've had my two cups. I'm gonna get a medium iced mocha, no whipped cream. And I'm going to get a double smoked bacon sandwich.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That thing is good.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Interesting.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's the like croissant bread one.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Never. I've never partooken.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, that one is good.

[Randy Blythe]

If I gotta go fast food.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah, you do.

[Randy Blythe]

I do.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You really do. Or accelerated.

[Randy Blythe]

If I have my druthers for fast food. I'm gonna go to Arby's and I'm.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Gonna get Dark Horse.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

He's got the.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Perhaps the darkest horse.

[Randy Blythe]

I'm gonna get a double beef and cheddar.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Really?

[Randy Blythe]

Wow. Slather it in RB sauce. Dude. Arby's gonna be sloppy and the cheese is going to be running down my arm myself.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

One of the only proprietary sauces that I like.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Cuz it's not creamy.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Because it's not creamy. Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You cream guy.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Really?

[Randy Blythe]

No mayo. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't say that word. Really.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I'm the same way.

[Randy Blythe]

Is a morally reprehensible condom. It is disgusting.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's two of the best things whipped together.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah. But you get really sick if mayo sits out too long. I've never sick. Yeah, I never have.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You get sick multiple times a day, every day.

[Randy Blythe]

Mustard Never.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Mustard rules.

[Randy Blythe]

Mustard is a superior kind.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I don't have to choose, though.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I'm a man of excess. It's the land of plenty.

[Randy Blythe]

You're a man with a faulty palate. It's.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I mean. I mean, it's faulty in many ways.

[Randy Blythe]

Mayonnaise is foul.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

Sour cream. I get angry when I think about. About it. I wrote about it in the book. About.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

How do you feel about Ioli?

[Randy Blythe]

Well, it. That's fresh. That's made right there.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's just garlic mayo.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

There's a.

[Randy Blythe]

You can make it.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

How about.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Sour cream. Ranch.

[Randy Blythe]

All that sour cream I can do.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You can do sour cream?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Not him.

[Randy Blythe]

Not me. No. Can't do it.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I'll do all creams at once. I prefer it. Really.

[Randy Blythe]

Feel sick.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You disgust me.

[Randy Blythe]

I don't know. You're a foul creature.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I'm a good guy. Let me ask you something crazy. It's not that crazy to me, actually. Maybe crazy to him. Have you. You have been a pretty. Pretty haunted part of the country? Some would say yes. Do you have a belief in the supernatural? Have you seen a ghost?

[Randy Blythe]

I believe in ghosts, but they don't believe in me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Isn't that a shame?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Same with him.

[Randy Blythe]

I believe in them.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

No, they believe in me.

[Randy Blythe]

Our guitar player, Willie. Yeah. Believes in all of it.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Really?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I should have talked.

[Randy Blythe]

I got him a hat with Bigfoot on it that says, I want to believe.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

I get him big. I do believe he goes. He goes to like whenever we're somewhere, like it's supposed to be haunted. He'll go and take pictures.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

For the ore.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

I told this guy I liked his pickups. I could have been talking to him.

[Randy Blythe]

About this and should have said, I like your. He loves all that. Like him and his wife that, like. Have you ever been to Savannah, Georgia? Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Spooky.

[Randy Blythe]

Real spooky. They go and do the haunting tours and all that.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Plantations and stuff. It's creepy for sure.

[Randy Blythe]

So. Yeah, I mean, I love that creepy stuff. I'm a big.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You've never seen one?

[Randy Blythe]

No. I'm waiting. That's why I talked. I'm like, come to me.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Come, come, come.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's the problem. You want it? Too bad.

[Randy Blythe]

They're shy. Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

They're cream based. You know ectoplasm. You know what that is? Oil and eggs.

[Randy Blythe]

Oil and eggs.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Gross.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Randy, could you tell us your top four hardcore records of all time?

[Randy Blythe]

Well, yeah, I was thinking about this.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Can't imagine why.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, well. And in defining hardcore and what would be considered up to you or hardcore number one, I'll just go with straight New York hardcore. And I know a lot of these people in this scene. And I don't want to offend anybody, you know, I don't want any beef with any of you motherfuckers. You all know me.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Randy Blythe]

But the greatest New York hardcore record of all time, without a doubt, is the Age of Quarrel by the Chroma Case.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Understandable.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, it's fantastic.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

No, really.

[Randy Blythe]

Agnostic Pride. Love me some Mad Ball. All those guys, man, could, you know, look like something about.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What are you gonna do? You know?

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's unbelievable.

[Randy Blythe]

I gotta give some love to Hate Breed. Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Which one?

[Randy Blythe]

No Cream.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Listen to good bands.

[Randy Blythe]

This is my guy. Yeah. It doesn't sound the greatest, but Satisfaction.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It doesn't sound the greatest.

[Randy Blythe]

You think so, production wise? Production is under produced, for sure. Well, I mean, it's what was available to them. Yeah. Satisfaction. I will say this. If you are going through a hard personal time and the woman is left and you don't, your life is shit and you are crying and you just hate everything, there is only one man that could save you.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's a fact.

[Randy Blythe]

And that is hate.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Crowbar will make it worse.

[Randy Blythe]

Well, there's a time and a place for Crowbar. New Orleans. I have great love for New Orleans. One of my favorite bands. I hate God. You know, good friends of mine, you.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Know, who you filled in for.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Oh, yes.

[Randy Blythe]

I love them. But there's a time and a place for I Hate God. And there's a time and a place for Crowbar. And there's a time and a place for Hate.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

There really is. And it's the gym and a terrible situation.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, exactly.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Driving alone.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

All right, so we got Age of Quarrel. We got Satisfaction.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You're on a roll.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Which I love the production of, Steve.

[Randy Blythe]

So I am going to call this Hardcore.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

I like it.

[Randy Blythe]

And my friend who plays bass in this band may or may not even agree with me, but they're my favorite band of all time. Oh. I'm going to call the Bad Brains Aurora cassette the first 100%.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

It's undeniable.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's as core.

[Randy Blythe]

It fucking is phenomenal. Yeah. Phenomenal, you know.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Perfect.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It does not get any better than that.

[Randy Blythe]

No. One more so.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The hardest one.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, it is the hardest one. So we got Age of Coral, Satisfaction.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You're doing really just so good.

[Randy Blythe]

And the first Bad Brains Roar. Cassette. Ah, this is so hard.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yes. Fun for us.

[Randy Blythe]

See, I want to throw a younger man a band a bone.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Respect.

[Randy Blythe]

And I have to. I have to throw a younger band of bone.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

The genre is about the youth.

[Randy Blythe]

Yes. And they're. And they're not young. Young. But I gotta. I gotta throw a band younger. Which includes almost everybody younger than mine because we've been 30 years out of Richmond, Virginia, division of minds. First.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Dude.

[Randy Blythe]

Wow.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Respect. That's awesome.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

That's huge.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You hear that, guys?

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Lee Jacobs, number four.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Great job. Damn.

[Randy Blythe]

Wow.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Cool answer.

[Randy Blythe]

Gotta do it, man. You gotta do it. You gotta keep it moving. Gotta keep it fresh.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

You really do.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Absolutely.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

That's what we say. Randy, can't thank you enough for joining us today.

[Randy Blythe]

Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

What a beautiful chat.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yep.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah, lovely. Even with the garbage truck. Yeah.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

You know, sorry we called the city, but they don't care.

[Randy Blythe]

They don't care.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

This is real, you know? This is as real as it gets.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

We hope you've all enjoyed this as much as we have, which is impossible. So thank you again for joining us. Into oblivion. Out very soon. Or a few months ago, depending on when you're listening to this. Or a few years ago. Welcome back. Hello, Randy, you're the man. Is there anything you'd like to leave the world with here? Imparting words. Mmm.

[Randy Blythe]

Don't be a dick.

[Host 2 (possibly Chris or Colin)]

Yeah, that's nice.

[Randy Blythe]

Yeah.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Don't be a dick.

[Randy Blythe]

It's easy. It's not hard.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

It's really the easiest thing you can do.

[Randy Blythe]

Don't be a dick.

[Host 1 (possibly Colin or Chris)]

Yeah. Thank you all. Thank you, Randy. Thank you all. See you next week. This episode is brought to you by Mad Vintage.