RANDY BLYTHE UPDATE: HIS BROTHER SPEAKS, AND A DESCRIPTION OF THE 2010 ALTERCATION
The metal world is still reeling from the news that Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe has been arrested in Prague on charges of manslaughter. Now Metal Injection has updates on the story, about which you can read below.
First comes this television news report from the band’s hometown of Richmond, VA, which includes a quote from Randy’s brother, Mark Blythe. I’m having trouble with the video embed right now, but you can watch the report at Metal Injection.
Additionally, The Gauntlet dug up a description of the incident for which Blythe has been arrested from a Czech blog called Sic Maggot. Note that the translation is rough, and that there is a certain amount of editorializing:
“[Randy] was very irritated when someone decided to join him on stage. At first Randy hit him a lot, then Randy jumped on him to hold him down while he continued singing? When the fan got up, Randy took him by the hair and threw down quite quickly. It was a good thing the fan was so dazed that he probably felt nothing. It took him a little while to realize what happened and as he struggled to get his breathe back. Randy does behave quite pretentious, but the performance was important to him.”
Other comments on the story include:
“Everything OK with that guy who fell down after a stage-push? We saw ambulance late after concert”
“He came down with a thud, when he fell down. The kid died after 14 days in a coma for bleeding in the brain!”
“OMG impossible! The vocalist should be sued then… He pulled him really heavily.”
It’s hard to know what to make of this; it seems pretty clear from these descriptions that Blythe did indeed get into a physical altercation with the tragically deceased fan, but as Metal Injection correctly points out, “Musicians can get quite defensive if they’re feeling attacked on stage, especially after the tragic shooting of Dimebag.” In other words, it seems entirely feasible that Blythe was ostensibly acting in self-defense. We really need more of the facts before we can weigh in.
We’ll continue to report on this story as more news develops.
-AR
