Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe (11/2009)

I woke up this morning to a barrage of posts about Lamb Of God’s singer Randy Blythe being found Not Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter in the Czech Republic and while this news is awesome, let’s ever forget that the whole story stemmed from a tragic and very unnecessary accident during one of the bands shows in the region. The young fan of the band, Daniel Nosek, is still dead and while the larger opinion is that his injuries were as result of his own actions, it still sucks that a fan eventually died after a show. My hope is that this shines a beacon of light on how to behave at shows among the millions of fans that see them. Be careful, don’t do anything stupid during or before/after a show, and the biggest of them all……STAY OFF THE STAGE. Its not your domain, its the bands and its dangerous. That’s all my soapboxing. Oh the shot above was taken by me in 2009 when the band was opening for Metallica at MSG. In case you wondered.

I copied Randy’s statement from his Instagram account where he says “I have been found not guilty & acquitted of all charges against me. I am a free man. This photo was taken by my friend @aceyslade- it says it all. Please remember the family of Daniel Nosek in your thoughts & prayers in this difficult time. I only wish for them peace. Thank you for your support- Randy” but I did not copy the photo. You should Follow his account on http://instagram.com/drandallblythe/ because its pretty amazing.

My hope is that no snags or appeals come up about this case and that Randy remains free. Stay safe my friends.

Earlier today, Lamb Of Gods singer Randy Blythe returned to the Czech Republic to stand trial for manslaughter charges which are based on the death of one of their fans (Daniel Nosek) who passed away after injuries suffered during a Prague concert by the band just over two years ago.

So much has already been discussed about the event and sad inevitability of it all so I’ll just share a photo of Randy doing one of the things he does best (the other is photography) and wish him the very best of luck during this truly hellish experience. According to some news posts I have read since the singers arrival in the Czech Republic, the trial is already underway and they are expecting a verdict as early as Friday. This seems kind of quick, but then again I am comparing our own justice system to that of a foreign land. As a fan of Lamb Of God I hope for a positive outcome for the singer but still feel much sadness for the family who lost their son. I feel Randy is an innocent man, and that fans should not be on the stage in any sense but they get up there anyway and sometimes get hurt. This is one of the outcomes. It sucks no matter how you look at it. Good luck Randy. The Metal World is behind you at this time.

The other day while reading my Facebook Page news feed I noticed a posting from Metal Sucks that spoke about one of the stops on the upcoming Lamb Of God, Dethklok, & Gojira tour being cancelled and the money refunded to buyers. They wondered aloud if the whole tour would be cancelled because as you know singer Randy Blythe remains in a Czech Republic prison. Needing more insight into this since I have the Events Calendar for our site visitors, I reached out to a Live Nation contact about the whole tour but no information was disclosed at the time but now a few days later we got the press release about the events complete cancellation from their publicity arm. Given the fact that we have so many concert fans reading the PiercingMetal site and blogs, I am sharing the press release with you all to make sure you are in the loop.

From Adrenaline PR Representatives:

Due to the continued incarceration of LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe in the Czech Republic, the band’s co-headline tour with Dethklok scheduled to begin August 1st in Seattle is being cancelled. The band regrets the decision but the uncertainty of Randy’s release makes it impossible to carry on with the tour. Upon Randy’s release, it is the band’s intention to rebook a tour in the fall and at this time the band fully intends to participate in the Mayhem Cruise in December. LAMB OF GOD wishes to thank Dethklok, Adult Swim and Gojira for their support and patience as well as all of the promoters who had dates on the tour. Last but certainly not least, the band thanks all of the fans who bought tickets for the tour and who have been supportive of Randy and the band over the last month that Randy has been held in Prague. Without the fans, there is no LAMB OF GOD.

Facebones Says “Free Randy Blythe!!!”

Sadly, the Czech Republic government is keeping Randy imprisoned and are not allowing him release even after making bail. Let’s not forget that he has yet to be formally charged in this incident. With this being the case let’s all please keep Randy in our thoughts. I have seen the footage that is said to come from this fateful night and it really does not show Randy as being guilty of anything. It’s still unfortunate that a fan lost his life, but it was NOT at the hands of Blythe in my humble opinion. Those with tickets can get refunds for the show they were attending and at this point in time it is far too early to know when dates can be made up. It’s a shame and all I can leave you with is to stay tuned to your favorite providers of Metal information for the latest details in this ever continuing tale. I’ll close with “Hang In There Randy, The Metal Community Is Behind You!”

For more information on these bands please visit their respective sites

Official Website: http://www.lamb-of-god.com/
Official Website: http://www.dethklok.org/
Official Website: http://www.gojira-music.com/

Last night I am out and about doing my usual thing and I suddenly see a mess of postings on Facebook that stated how Lamb Of God’s singer Randy Blythe had been arrested in the Czech Republic for manslaughter. If there was any reason to offer up a WTF it would be now. Here is what I have pieced together from the various reliable news sites that are available to The Metal Republic.

Back in 2010 there was apparently an altercation of some kind with a fan. The end result of this reported altercation found the fan succumbing to his injuries and passing away. That is truly terrible stuff to hear happening but what was the root of this altercation many were wondering. Was it outside of a show beforehand, during, or after it was all said and done? Was it in a bar? Who knew at the time. I could not do much research since I was only dealing with the phone for my supply of updates.

I’ve long dealt with the Lamb Of God publicity team of Adrenaline PR and their official statement to the world came early this morning and I have pasted it below for your edification because it brings a lot more about the overall issue to light….Please read on.

“Lamb of God Management will be issuing an official statement on Monday regarding the charges made against singer Randy Blythe. As no formal charges have yet been made and the case is only in the investigation stages, it would be premature to make an official statement filled with false truths or innuendos.

“Again, until the investigation is concluded this weekend, nothing more will be released, but clarity and the facts needed to be addressed on this one reported point which is totally inaccurate.”

Let’s see what management has to say come Monday. This is some serious business because if he is convicted he will face from five to ten years in prison based on the law. I got that from the guys at the Metal Sucks mansion who had posted the actual charges being made (bodily injury resulting in death). My personal view of the whole situation is that this is a terrible cycle of events that sadly led to the death of one of the bands fans. As I am honored to be in the photo pits of the Metal shows that are staged in my region I can tell you that sometimes the fans are way out of control during the events and they are dying to be on the stage with their favorite performers. However, since the terrible incident/murder of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott back in 2004, the bands are not too hip on having you join them up there because you really never know what can happen. Add to the fact that these musicians are in their zone and entertaining the masses and not paying attention to anything else. One cannot fault someone for pushing an intruder away from them. I strongly doubt that Randy would have ever expected that his quick action would result in someone’s eventual death but it did happen and that is a shame. When the management statement gets out I will append to this piece. Let’s see what happens.

Below please find the official statement from Lamb Of God regarding this terrible situation.

7/6/2012

July 6, 2012

- LAMB OF GOD

The inimitable Lamb of God was back in New York City and it’s been a couple of years since we have seen them here. The last time around they were the direct support for that little tour being held by the hardly ever heard about band called Metallica and that found them on the biggest stages that the Metal world could touch.  Tonight however would change the game for many fans as the band decided to go to smaller and more intimate venues to be more in tune with their kind of fans.  Irving Plaza comfortably holds around 1200 people and since LoG has sold out the Roseland Ballroom in hours you can imagine just how fast this show sold out.  The show would find The Acacia Strain and Too Late The Hero on the bill as well and I arrived to see just how the whole night would play out.  Check out the full coverage of the show by clicking the logo link below and then come back this way to scroll a little further down the blog posting to enjoy some side images that we are only presenting in this location.

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Metallica was continuing to tour for their “Death Magnetic” album and while the last time around the band performed in New Jersey at the Izod Center for a couple of nights with the mighty Machinehead as support, tonight they would be in the historic Madison Square Garden and offer us the direct support power of Lamb Of God.   Leading us off for the festivities would be Volbeat from Denmark and these guys are interesting in their own right.   We must inform you that this evening would not be the “regular” kind of coverage that we do because while able to do the photography stuff that you enjoy so much, we were unable to secure a ticket and hence would not see the whole show.  We wrote what we could just the same and the readers can absorb what we were able to report on and enjoy a wonderful batch of live concert shots by clicking the bands logo below.  As is our usual model, the logo will take you to the article that we posted on PiercingMetal.com – however, we recommend that you continue reading on to capture some of the other things that we presented here exclusively.

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This year Ozzfest was going to be free and also find some of the most brutal of the Metal bands around as a part of it. Getting the ticket was easy if you followed some details and the capacity crowd affair found Ozzy taking the stage with the likes of Lamb Of God, Static X, Lordi, Black Tide, Hatebreed, Behemoth, Devildriver, In This Moment, Nile, and Chthonic as the Metal lead offs. Our travel to the show caused us some delays and hence missing a few acts but we were there to bring you the scoop so to see more just click the logo to go to our article on the main PiercingMetal.com site. It was an incredible day of Metal under the blistering heat of the summer sun.

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Lamb Of God are wisely considered leaders in the NWOAHM, that’s “The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal” if you didn’t know and this show at Roseland Ballroom would be an excellent one. The sold out show featured the might of bands like Machinehead, Trivium and Gojira as their direct support and we made sure to document and photograph everyone on the stage. If you want to learn more about this smoking gig, just click the logo below to be brought to our item on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

Megadeth was full steam ahead with the second go round of their proven popular “Gigantour” that kicked off last year and had given us an amazing roster of bands.  To be honest this was much more of an evenly placed Metal show as opposed to some of the Prog and Industrial Metal that the last one gave us and given the distance to travel for the event we would not catch it from the beginning.  Click the logo below to enjoy what we were able to see as well as some great photos from the mighty Nell.

Slayer had embarked on their “Unholy Alliance Tour” and it was a sick evening of Metal that brought the headlining Slayer together with Lamb Of God, Children Of Bodom, Mastodon and Thine Eyes Bleed. We were not taking photos tonight but a friend of ours loaned us a few. Click the logo below to be taken to our article on the main PiercingMetal.com site.