Lamb Of God - Singer Reveals Memoir Excerpts, Recalls 2010 Czech Show
In 2012, Lamb Of God singer Randy Blythe was arrested in the Czech Republic and charged with manslaughter for allegedly pushing 19-year-old Daniel Nosek offstage at a show two year prior and causing injuries that led to the fan's tragic death. In his memoir, Dark Days, the singer Randy Blythe reveals what he remembers of the 2010 show where a Czech fan was fatally injured. Blythe relates the tale of his ordeal during incarceration, trial, and eventual acquittal. The book comes out on July 14th on Da Capo Press.
Blythe was held in Prague's decrepit Pankrác Prison until finally being released on bail 37 days after his arrest; he was ultimately found not guilty in 2013, when he chose - against the advice of legal experts - to return to the country to face trial. The experience inspired two songs, "Still Echoes" and "512," on the new album, VII: Sturm Und Drang; it also led him to write the memoir Dark Days, in which he shares his whole side of the story publicly for the first time. (The book is available for pre-order via Amazon.) In chapter six, he reveals what he remembers of the fateful date, May 24th, 2010, when Nosek was injured at Lamb Of God's concert at the Prague venue Abaton.
Excerpt: "What do I remember about the set we played that night? Not much. It was just a show like any of the hundreds of other shows my band has played in its career. It was loud. It was hot. I dumped a lot of water over my head to cool off. There were a lot of people dressed in black with long hair smashing into each other. We seemed to go over okay with the crowd. Nothing particularly spectacular or horrible occurred to my remembrance. Only a few things stood out when I searched my brain for any sort of clue.
"I remember that right from the beginning of our set, there seemed to be a lot of people onstage. People who did not belong. People who were not in our band, crew or working as security. As a matter of fact, I don't remember there being security of any sort present in the area near the stage, because people kept on hopping up, bumping into me as they ran across the already crowded platform and leaping into the crowd. At every show my band plays, there is a signed contract with the promoter of the gig that states what Lamb Of God as an organization requires in order to put on a show. One of these requirements is trained security and a reliable barricade placed properly in front of the stage, both measures meant to ensure that audience members do not jump onstage and that both the band and audience are safe. Sometimes certain things are struck from a contract or rider depending on the promoter's budget for the show, but never, ever security or a barricade. Lamb Of God draws a rowdy crowd, to put it mildly; if there was no security at our shows, then more than likely our equipment would get knocked over every night, we would get knocked off stage, and eventually someone (probably several someones) would get seriously hurt. On this night, not only was there seemingly no security present, but no real barricade. If there was one, it was flimsy and pushed up flush with the stage, because fans were leaning on the stage, and kept hitting my feet whenever I would prop one up on a monitor, irking me quite a bit and causing me to back away the two or three feet I had into Chris' drum kit. I began to wonder where in the hell security was, and couldn't wait for the gig to be over. This show was a disaster - the club sucked, my crew was pissed off, the stage was tiny and crowded with our equipment. A crowded stage is a dangerous stage for me, because I hop all over the place constantly when we play, despite not seeing well because of my lack of glasses and the stage lights that constantly glare into your eyes. The fans punching my feet and running around on stage made it even worse, and as the nonexistent security did absolutely nothing to stop them, I began to get very annoyed.
"I was particularly annoyed with one young blond-haired fan who jumped onto the stage again and again, trying to put his arms around me as I tried to sing. I watched him fly into the audience at one point and hit the floor pretty hard, only to reappear on stage not too long after. He had already made two appearances prior to this instance, and despite my pointing at him, shaking my head to communicate my displeasure, here he was again. I decided at this point I had had about enough of his shenanigans, figured that he was drunk or crazy, and decided to teach him a lesson. As he came toward me, I reached out with my left arm around his neck, slipped my hip behind his, and took us both to the ground. Once we were on the ground, I wrapped one of his legs with my left leg in what my middle school wrestling coach would have called a half-grapevine, then straightened up a bit and grabbed him around his throat with my left hand. I didn't choke him, but applied enough pressure to let him know I meant business, and in between singing lyrics into the mic I had kept in my right hand the whole time, I began to yell something to effect of "No! No more, you asshole!" into his face. I suppose the best analogy of this whole physical confrontation would be that of a mother dog when she puts one of her pups on its back with her mouth and growls at it - Hey, knock it off kid. I'm serious.
"This young man apparently didn't think I was serious, because he began to grin and raise his hands at me in the horns (the clenched thumb and raised index and pinky finger salute you see audience members doing at all rock concerts now), almost giggling beneath me. I must admit, this slightly pissed me off - I was trying to work, he seemed to think that it was his right to come up and drunkenly disrupt our performance, and now the little shit seemed to be smirking at me. I held my temper in check though, didn't throttle the grin off his lips, and just continued singing and yelling "No more!" in his face until he decided he had had about enough of being on his back and tried to get up.
"Oh, no. That wasn't about to happen. You wanted to be up here so badly, you little fucker, I thought, and now here you are. With ME. You'll leave when I decide it's time for you to leave. He began to look a bit panicked, and started to struggle some more to get up, so I took my hand off his throat, wrapped my left arm around his neck and pressed my whole body down on him. I gave up yelling "No" at him, and pressed the microphone into his face as I kept screaming the lyrics into it. This really seemed to freak him out - he couldn't move and I was screaming into his face from just inches away. I held him there until he looked truly shook up, then I let him go. I figured I had made my point and he would not be returning to the stage. I do not remember him leaving the stage, but I do remember my bassist John looking at me and saying, "That was fucking awesome."
Read the full excerpt here. You can also read other book excerpts on Blythe's Instagram account.
Blythe was held in Prague's decrepit Pankrác Prison until finally being released on bail 37 days after his arrest; he was ultimately found not guilty in 2013, when he chose - against the advice of legal experts - to return to the country to face trial. The experience inspired two songs, "Still Echoes" and "512," on the new album, VII: Sturm Und Drang; it also led him to write the memoir Dark Days, in which he shares his whole side of the story publicly for the first time. (The book is available for pre-order via Amazon.) In chapter six, he reveals what he remembers of the fateful date, May 24th, 2010, when Nosek was injured at Lamb Of God's concert at the Prague venue Abaton.
Excerpt: "What do I remember about the set we played that night? Not much. It was just a show like any of the hundreds of other shows my band has played in its career. It was loud. It was hot. I dumped a lot of water over my head to cool off. There were a lot of people dressed in black with long hair smashing into each other. We seemed to go over okay with the crowd. Nothing particularly spectacular or horrible occurred to my remembrance. Only a few things stood out when I searched my brain for any sort of clue.
"I remember that right from the beginning of our set, there seemed to be a lot of people onstage. People who did not belong. People who were not in our band, crew or working as security. As a matter of fact, I don't remember there being security of any sort present in the area near the stage, because people kept on hopping up, bumping into me as they ran across the already crowded platform and leaping into the crowd. At every show my band plays, there is a signed contract with the promoter of the gig that states what Lamb Of God as an organization requires in order to put on a show. One of these requirements is trained security and a reliable barricade placed properly in front of the stage, both measures meant to ensure that audience members do not jump onstage and that both the band and audience are safe. Sometimes certain things are struck from a contract or rider depending on the promoter's budget for the show, but never, ever security or a barricade. Lamb Of God draws a rowdy crowd, to put it mildly; if there was no security at our shows, then more than likely our equipment would get knocked over every night, we would get knocked off stage, and eventually someone (probably several someones) would get seriously hurt. On this night, not only was there seemingly no security present, but no real barricade. If there was one, it was flimsy and pushed up flush with the stage, because fans were leaning on the stage, and kept hitting my feet whenever I would prop one up on a monitor, irking me quite a bit and causing me to back away the two or three feet I had into Chris' drum kit. I began to wonder where in the hell security was, and couldn't wait for the gig to be over. This show was a disaster - the club sucked, my crew was pissed off, the stage was tiny and crowded with our equipment. A crowded stage is a dangerous stage for me, because I hop all over the place constantly when we play, despite not seeing well because of my lack of glasses and the stage lights that constantly glare into your eyes. The fans punching my feet and running around on stage made it even worse, and as the nonexistent security did absolutely nothing to stop them, I began to get very annoyed.
"I was particularly annoyed with one young blond-haired fan who jumped onto the stage again and again, trying to put his arms around me as I tried to sing. I watched him fly into the audience at one point and hit the floor pretty hard, only to reappear on stage not too long after. He had already made two appearances prior to this instance, and despite my pointing at him, shaking my head to communicate my displeasure, here he was again. I decided at this point I had had about enough of his shenanigans, figured that he was drunk or crazy, and decided to teach him a lesson. As he came toward me, I reached out with my left arm around his neck, slipped my hip behind his, and took us both to the ground. Once we were on the ground, I wrapped one of his legs with my left leg in what my middle school wrestling coach would have called a half-grapevine, then straightened up a bit and grabbed him around his throat with my left hand. I didn't choke him, but applied enough pressure to let him know I meant business, and in between singing lyrics into the mic I had kept in my right hand the whole time, I began to yell something to effect of "No! No more, you asshole!" into his face. I suppose the best analogy of this whole physical confrontation would be that of a mother dog when she puts one of her pups on its back with her mouth and growls at it - Hey, knock it off kid. I'm serious.
"This young man apparently didn't think I was serious, because he began to grin and raise his hands at me in the horns (the clenched thumb and raised index and pinky finger salute you see audience members doing at all rock concerts now), almost giggling beneath me. I must admit, this slightly pissed me off - I was trying to work, he seemed to think that it was his right to come up and drunkenly disrupt our performance, and now the little shit seemed to be smirking at me. I held my temper in check though, didn't throttle the grin off his lips, and just continued singing and yelling "No more!" in his face until he decided he had had about enough of being on his back and tried to get up.
"Oh, no. That wasn't about to happen. You wanted to be up here so badly, you little fucker, I thought, and now here you are. With ME. You'll leave when I decide it's time for you to leave. He began to look a bit panicked, and started to struggle some more to get up, so I took my hand off his throat, wrapped my left arm around his neck and pressed my whole body down on him. I gave up yelling "No" at him, and pressed the microphone into his face as I kept screaming the lyrics into it. This really seemed to freak him out - he couldn't move and I was screaming into his face from just inches away. I held him there until he looked truly shook up, then I let him go. I figured I had made my point and he would not be returning to the stage. I do not remember him leaving the stage, but I do remember my bassist John looking at me and saying, "That was fucking awesome."
Read the full excerpt here. You can also read other book excerpts on Blythe's Instagram account.
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7569  |
Written by LeKiwi on 09.07.2015 at 18:06 I thought it was interesting. He really went hell with all this and over the top, he lost his best buddy. It must be tough for Randy to put on paper.
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| D. Monique Posts: 46 |
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| cossaisVendeurs Posts: 436 |
Quote: Sounds like they're scared of their own fans  On a serious note. That excerpt makes Randy sound like a dick. They attract a rowdy crowd and let's be honest 19 year olds aren't the most mature of people, especially after a drink. While I was reading it I was sort of thinking it was a lad who just wanted to meet Randy when he "put his arm around him".
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| D. Monique Posts: 46 |
Written by deadone on 10.07.2015 at 02:05 Hey Mr. Deadone, that sounds pretty offensive. Have you ever been to Czech Republic? How would you feel If someone wrote similar things about Australia? There were thousands of metal concerts and festivals since late eighties in our country and I don't remember any other foreign band complaining about the way they were treated here. Not all the venues are on the same level though. I'm not sure about the Lamb Of God's popularity in USA or Western Europe, maybe they are used to play only concerts at sold out stadiums there. I'm afraid they are not that popular here. If they play in some crappy club they cannot expect that the owner will hire the most expensive security service, buy some special equipment and rebuild the whole club according to the band's whims. By the way, THERE WERE security guards at this concert and the court decided that most of the blame lay with promoters and security members. Excuse my English, I'm just another illiterate idiot from a typical ex-Commie country. 
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| D. Monique Posts: 46 |
Deadone: Wow, I'm impressed. Are you a lawyer or something?  I don't want to start an endless discussion about this case because I don't know all the details and since the court acquitted Randy of the criminal charges I don't see any point in that. Just a few notes: As far as I know there was an investigation after the concert and Czech police also contacted American authorities in order to get Randy to the court. Since Americans basically ignored all their requests and refused to co-operate on the case, they waited untill 2012 when Randy returned to the Czech Republic, unaware of the fact that someone died at one of Lamb of God's concerts and that he is going to be accused of manslaughter. The bail system in the Czech Republic slightly differs from the systems in USA and other countries and the original amount was probably considered too low and Czech authorities were afraid that Randy wouldn't return for the trial. This may sound dodgy to you but I don't think it was against any valid Czech law. I don't understand what you mean by political point scoring. As I have already mentioned, Lamb of God are not that popular here and most of the population (aside from metalheads of course) didn't even know who Randy Blythe was until his arrest in 2012. There were some articles in newspapers, tabloids, and Internet but most people here didn't give a flying "fornication" about Randy's fate. I admit that I don't like the way this case was handled and I agree that there was definitely some "incompetence" involved but since US authorities pretty much ignored that extradition treaty you have mentioned, I suppose that was the only way to get Randy to the court. Well, they could have contacted him directly and invite him to the Czech Republic to be charged with manslaughter he didn' even knew about. Who would resist that. In the end, the court ended up extremely well for Randy. Despite the fact that it was proven that he had thrown David offstage, he was not held criminally liable considering the circumstances. Regarding Czech Republic, of course there is corruption here but I would not use the word "extreme". In comparison with some other European countries (not all of them "post communist") it's not that bad. Concerning my education, the "Commies" didn't teach me anything. The communist era ended 26 years ago, for fuck's sake! How long will it last until people stop using that stupid "ex-Communist" label. Most people living in these countries were never members of Communist party and they have nothing in common with that ideology. It sounds insulting especially to the people who were born after the fall of the totalitarian regimes.
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| D. Monique Posts: 46 |
Deadone: OK. I can see that you know more about the Czech Republic than I do. As much as I love my country I have to admit that you are probably right about our legal system. There are many things that should be changed and some laws are really bad. I'm not very happy about the current political situation here too and I'm really ashamed of most of the Czech politicians (what a bunch of bozos!). I agree that there were some good things about the old education system but also many bad things (pupils had to learn amounts of useless information, they were not taught how to think independently, their creativity was not supported, etc.). I can see your point with that US race relations comparison but you don't call Americans ex-slave traders, do you? Or would you call some German guy ex-fascist? I bet he won't take it as a compliment. Anyway, I really liked this discussion. You are obviously very clever and well educated. I have only one more question. What is your opinion on the court's final verdict?
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