Vio-Lence’s Phil Demmel Back with Lamb of God for Some Upcoming Shows
Lamb of God’s Willie Adler won’t be able to play in a couple upcoming South American shows, so you know what that means: former Machine Head and current Vio-Lence axeman Phil Demmel will be there to fill in. Starting with last night’s show in Bogota, Colombia, Demmel will play with Lamb of God tomorrow night in Santiago, Chile and this Saturday night at the Summer Breeze festival in São Paulo, Brazil.
Demmel is no stranger to the way Lamb of God does things, having previously filled in for Adler during Lamb of God’s European tour last year, their January 2022 ShipRocked cruise, and for some of the Canadian leg of “The Metal Tour Of The Year” they did with Megadeth. Not content with covering for just one Lamb of God member, Demmel has also filled in on bass for John Campbell when he had to handle a family emergency during “The Metal Tour Of The Year.”
As it turns out, Demmel’s pretty much been metal’s “Johnny-on-the-spot,” making himself available to high profile bands whenever they need someone to fill in. Back in 2018, as Gary Holt’s father was in his final days, Demmel joined the iconic thrash metal band in Europe on two days’ notice, effectively learning the set in about a day after his final show with Machine Head.
At the time, Demmel said he learned of the Slayer opportunity after receiving a text message from Kerry King on extremely short notice.
“I wrapped up the Machine Head tour — I quit Machine Head, did our last show — and the next day I got a text from Kerry King saying, ‘Do you think you can learn 19 Slayer songs and be out here in two days?’ So, my wife had been at home with our son and running our business, and I had been gone for two months. And I showed her the text. She was so happy to have me home. So I showed her the text, and she had said, ‘You’ve gotta go. You have to go do it.’ So I started studying [the songs] on the plane. And I came out and played my first show [Monday] night.”
Lamb of God hasn’t officially stated why Adler won’t be able to perform with the band the next few days, though he’s expected to rejoin the fold in time for their show in Mexico City on May 2. After that, who knows? Maybe Metallica will need him to fill in for Kirk during the M72 tour?
