Randy Blythe Explains Why Lamb of God Need to Take a Break
Being in a band is hard work. As fans, we get albums when they come out, we watch shows, we buy merch… but we don’t necessarily think of the hundreds of hours of work that go into creating those things. Even touring — whatwith the popularized image of rockstar excess — is incredibly intense and grinding beyond just the one hour the band members play on stage.
In a nutshell, that’s why Randy Blythe says he’s looking forward to some downtime from Lamb of God when the band wraps up their current tour with Slayer and Behemoth. He needs a break, needs to recharge his batteries. Needs to focus on other passions, like surfing and photography. Needs to allow himself the possibility of sitting on his couch and doing absolutely NOTHING if that’s what he feels like.
Blythe explains in an interview with BlackCraft:
“The band takes up so much of my mental space that it’s really hard for me to concentrate on these other aspects of my life, both creative and personal,” he said. “I mean, to be frank, I just need to spend some time with my wife, I need to hang out at home and be like a normal human being. I understand that the fans always expect new stuff and they want you gone, gone, gone, gone, but I’m a human being. I’m almost forty-seven, and I need to be with my wife. I’m a normal guy. Everybody else gets to go home; band guys, that’s not what happens.”
Blythe also spoke a bit about what his next book may be about:
“The last book [Dark Days] was so dark — it was about getting locked up and all that stuff — so I told my agent, I was, like, ‘The next book can’t be depressing at all,’” he said. “I wanted to just write fiction, which I have a couple of outlines for novels. And he was, like, ‘Write another non-fiction book first, because you’ll get an advance immediately.’ My last book was a best seller, and the company was just, like, ‘Write us something more. We’ll pay you.’ So there’s the pragmatic level of that.
“It’s gonna be about perspective and things that have changed my perspective for the better in my life,” he continued. “One is travel. I think people that don’t travel… it narrows your view on life. I think people need to go…. Wherever you’re from, I think it’s important to go outside your area, meet other people, learn about other cultures. That’s changed my perspective for the better. Photography has literally changed my perspective, because it’s changed the way I see everything. It’s the way I frame things, it’s the way I pay attention to life — everything. I’m constantly looking at a picture. So that’s been really good artistically for me, and it’s broadened my perspective. And the other thing that has changed my perspective for the better on a purely physical level — ’cause you can’t just have emotional and mental; you have to be physical as well… Physically, surfing… I started surfing, like, I don’t know… five years ago while I was writing my [first] book. It’s just taken over my mind and my body and it’s made me a much more balanced person, physically and emotionally, I guess. So in order to combine all these things — photography, travel, surfing — tax-deductable surf trips to take photos and write a new book. There it is! I’m a fucking genius!”
We’re for all for Blythe writing another book — Dark Days was riveting — but we wouldn’t blame the guy if he decided to take a complete break from work of any kind. He’s earned it!
[via Blabbermouth]
