Even the biggest and best rock and metal superstars – such as Ozzy Osbourne and Eddie Van Halen – can get a bit nervous before playing in front of huge crowds. That said, Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe isn’t one of them; in fact, he’s “exhilarat[ed]” by the “adrenaline junkie aspect of it.”
On a newly uploaded episode of Knotfest’s The Electric Theater with Clown – posted on July 19 and hosted by Slipknot percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan – Blythe spoke about his perspective on performing on stage.
Specifically, Crahan brought up the “fear that we’re addicted to of the unknown, of our dream” before clarifying that he’s “never nervous to get one stage.” In response, Blythe rejoiced, “I don’t get shook at all,” adding:
I can remember the last time – and I wasn’t really scared; I was just taken aback. The first was the first time we played the main stage at Download [Festival], which was I don’t even know how many years ago. And I remember being in the car, and they took me around the racetrack to the stage and I came around and then I just saw that massive crowd. I was like, “Woah!’ And the driver was like, “Are you all right?” And I was like, “Yeah, man. That’s a lot of people.” And he was like, “Yeah. Yeah, it is.” And then I was cool.
He continued: “It had been years before that that I had been even slightly nervous about going on stage. I don’t get nervous about going on stage at all.” From there, he touched upon Crahan’s remark regarding fear, saying, “I think that’s really insightful.”
Blythe elaborated:
It takes me back to why we started doing this in the first place. Performing, you know, getting – being willing to get on stage and take this thing that we’ve created and present it to other people. And there is that sort of — I don’t know — almost adrenaline junkie aspect to it. Particularly in the beginning, when you’re just starting, you’re like, “Okay, here we go. This is some shit we’ve worked on. and now it’s time to put it out there. This is where the rubber meets the road.”
And it’s exhilarating when you do it, you know? Utterly exhilarating, and I think that aspect of fear – beyond my love for just creating art in general – I think that’s super insightful. And I think that is one reason why I enjoy doing other things, because there is that aspect.
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Crahan agreed, doubling down on his prior sentiment:
We’re always searching – I would believe that a true artist . . . [is] always searching and [is] always going to search and we can’t live without that fear because that fear is what the dream is. [It’s] so untouchable, it seems, and even if we think we’ve got it, we haven’t because we’re still searching. . . . I make it mandatory that I take something from every performance.
You can listen to the full interview below.
Last weekend saw Slipknot headline the 2023 edition of the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival, and you can check out plenty of photos of the three-day event here. Slipknot fans have also given the band’s mysterious new member a nickname.
As for Blythe, he proved his fearlessness in another way earlier this month by cutting off his trademark dreadlocks and revealing a freshly shaved head. Naturally, the band posted pictures from the July 12 show (in Canada) to Instagram, garnering a wide range of reactions from fans.
On that note, Lamb of God are still embarking on their summer tour in support of their latest LP, Omens (which Loudwire named as one of 2022’s best rock and metal albums). You can check out the remaining tour dates here and purchase tickets here.
Randy Blythe Talks About Fear and Nervousness on The Electric Theater with Clown
Lamb of God Live in Brooklyn (2022)
See photos from Lamb of God’s 2022 performance in Brooklyn, N.Y.