GOD FORBID Guitarist Issues Post-Tour Update

GOD FORBID guitarist Doc Coyle has posted the following message on the band's official MySpace profile:

"We did a month of touring in the States in May-June with ILL NINO, SILENT CIVILIAN, BLEED THE SKY, and EYES OF FIRE. We had a great time with all the guys on this tour. It was certainly a party tour. Sober nights were a rarity. I recall many iPod wars and dance parties on ILL NINO's bus. I don't know if we exactly fit in with this type of tour, but this was our attempt at branching out to a different type of audience. That and we had been friends with ILL NINO for a long time considering they as are from New Jersey, and being another ethnic band, I think we had a lot of in common. So, I think the tour succeeded on some of those accounts, but not others. Also, our friend Wayne from BLEED THE SKY is in the hospital right now in serious condition. We send our love.

"After this tour ended, we took a trip overseas to jolly ol' England for the Download Festival at Donnington Park.

"Day 1: We arrived the day before we played, and I was lucky enough to see DEVILDRIVER, SIKTH, WICKED WISDOM, ALICE IN CHAINS, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, TRIVIUM, KORN (with mutiple singers not being Jonathan Davis),and of course METALLICA. William DuVall, the new singer of ALICE CHAINS, blew me away. Pulled the songs off perfectly. Big shoes to fill. AVENGED really impressed me as well. Matt and Brian are the best singer/lead guitar player combo in rock right now. I fell a sleep during METALLICA because jet lag is a bitch. I missed 'Master of Puppets' in its entirety. I'm a dumbass, and am still kicking myself. Couldn't party too hard because we had to get up at 7:30 in the morning.

"Day 2: We were the first band on our stage at 11am, which was the second stage. It was in a tent that supposedly held around 16-18,000 people. Being on first, we were worried that our turnout would less than stellar, even though a lot of people told us not to worry. Much to our surprise, the tent packed to the gills for our performance. I'm not sure if it was the biggest crowd we've played to, but I'm it was more or equal to any of the crowds we played to on Ozzfest. The crowd was really active with some crazy pits, singing along, and caused such a dust storm that I was blowing dirt out of my nose for 4 hours afterward. It was great because we could finally drink, and we had literally the entire day to do it. Open bars rock! I love it when someone else is paying for the party. I didn't really watch any bands because I was too busy partying. Got to hang and party with old friends in HATEBREED, DARKEST HOUR, DEVILDRIVER, CRADLE OF FILTH, 36 CRAZYFISTS, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES, IT DIES TODAY, TRIVIUM, EIGHTEEN VISIONS, and we even got to meet our media rivals AIDEN. They are actually super-nice dudes. We talked about how great 'Lost' is. We're fucking nerds. Kept looking for Axl Rose. No luck.

"Day 3: I finally got some real sleep, and I was going to need it because we were attending the Metal Hammer awards that day. As soon as I went downstairs to the lobby of our hotel, I ran into Brian and The Rev from A7X. I hadn't seen those guys in like 3 years since we'd took them one of their first tours. They proceeded to get me hammered on vodka and Red Bulls at noon, and we had some really awesome conversations about music and life for about three hours. It is cool to see that they are still cool-as-fuck dudes.

"Anyway, on to the award show. For those who don't know this is like a real award show that gets broadcast on MTV Europe, but for metal bands. It was a surreal experience to say the least. We walked into the place on the red carpet, for Christ's sake, and immediately, we were being photographed by about 25 photographers that resemble paparazzi. Than, we're ushered along to be interviewed for MTV and 3 or 4 other music news networks who grill us about our Download experience. Than we finally get to go in. It's hot as hell in the balcony, but once again, open bars are blessing. There are performances by VIKING SKULL, DRAGONFORCE, LACUNA COIL, and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE. All of which rock! DRAGONFORCE was really fun and over the top, and I was surprised by how good BULLET was. Jada Pinkett Smith was presenting an award, and she brought Byron [Davis, GOD FORBID vocalist] out on stage unexpectedly, which was a really nice gesture. I partied until 6am, and it was one of the rockstar-esque days of my life. I loved it. Hehe.

"Day 4: There a contest held where the winner got to have GOD FORBID play their house. This was the day of the show. We had no clue what to expect. I couldn't believe it when we ended up at a farmhouse in the country about an hour outside of London. It ended just being a party. There were chickens, horses, a goat, Indian food, beer, and metalheads. What more do you need? Needless to say, I got hammered before we played as there were a couple opening bands who brought the mosh in a barn. We proceeded to play the weirdest, goofiest, funniest, and probably most fun set we've ever played that was filled with improv cover songs, audience requested originals, and unintentional stand up comedy. All I can say is that you had to be there, and hopefully the Metal Hammer article coming out featuring the show/party will shed some light on the misadventures. It was a great way to cap off the extended weekend U.K. trip and 8 months of touring in a row without a break.

"Now we're at home enjoying our first break since 'IV: Constitution of Treason' came out back in September. We're hoping to land some more summer festival touring opportunities in America and Europe, but it didn't work out. So it looks like will be off until September. We certainly need the rest. I think we burned ourselves out near the end, but we have been so determined to get this band and this album exposed that I think we forgot the 'work smart, not hard' credo a little bit. Either way, we'll be back in the U.S. and Europe at least one more time this year. We'll have info as it comes, but in the meantime I think we'll be doing a couple local shows at the end of the summer. Also, check out www.godforbid1.com because we have to a new mailing list set up. Be sure to check that out.

"Like you guys, I'm psyched to check out Ozzfest, Sounds of the Undereground, and Strhess tour this summer. I saw the Unholy Alliance Tour last week, and it was the best SLAYER show I've seen in a few years! LAMB OF GOD and MASTODON brought the house down too. Their new songs were devastating! It's a great time for metal, and it's great to go to see some shows as a fan as well."