LAMB OF GOD Drummer: 'It's Always A Surprise To Me That We've Done As Well As We Have'

The Scream Queen recently conducted an interview with drummer Chris Adler of Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Scream Queen: Based on what you've said in the past, you insinuate that you want to feel the music and not just play it, that you want to bring your music to life. How do you go about bringing it to life?

Adler: Well... Umm... (pauses) It's an interesting question. I mean, I think the magic in this is how people create different kinds of art and it's always trying to explain to people who want to or don't do that kind of thing how that happens. It's not necessarily a mystery, but it's definitely an interesting event, you know. We get together, we all have different ideas of what we like and what we're bringing to the table. Then this kind of magic happens where we create these things together. We argue, like any family would, about how "no, I want it like this," or "no, I want it like that!" And sometimes those arguments are tough, but that's part of the process. And in doing that, not just following one agenda, but working together, I think we create something bigger than any individual. Then when we go to the recording process, we try to make sure it's not a sterilized process that's fixed by certain computer boundaries. Meaning, like when we do, like most bands when they go into the studio, they use a click track, which is... We do as well, but a click track is basically so you know that everything is on time and you can look at a grid on a computer where everything fits. And for us, we use that, but we define click tracks by as music that we write, instead of the other way around. A lot of bands say, "OK, this song is going to be at a certain tempo," where we go in and play the song the way we like to play it, the way it feels, and then we record it that way, then we go back and make click tracks based on how we actually played it. So we're not changing it into like a sterile form, the music is moving the way we want it to move, we study that, make that kind of the blueprint of how it's supposed to go. So, that helps the recording process, makes things feel like they're alive as well.

The Scream Queen: Would you say that because so many artists just play music and not really feel it like you guys do, that is one of the reasons why music today isn't as good as it once was?

Adler: (laughs) That's a loaded question! Yeah, I think there is some music today that's better than music ever was, so I don't know if I necessarily agree with you 100%, BUT I do think that, that process — that sterilization process, that's become kind of the "norm" in the studio, definitely has taken away a lot of the feel of a lot of bands, and a lot of bands nowadays skip the whole process of getting together and writing songs, they're passing files back and fourth on their computer and just writing their parts with their keyboards instead of actually playing, and I think that makes for a pretty dangerous live show, obviously, when no one's actually played the material, but it also comes across, to me, as fake. You got to be (inaudible),you got to work with other people, and that's what makes music better.

The Scream Queen: What do you think is going to be different about this album compared to some of your previous ones?

Adler: A lot of our albums in the past, have come as a result of a reaction to the one before it. Like [with] "Wrath", we really wanted to make a very heavy record because we felt like "Sacrament" had kind of taken us as far as we wanted to go, kind of in a commercial direction, it wasn't... It was a very heavy record, it wasn't really commercial, but after listening back to it, some of the studio tricks and magic that the producer was pushing, just felt like we had gone too far in that direction, so we wanted to kind of rally the other way and make a more raw, aggressive record with "Wrath". But now, I don't think we're very reactive at this point to anything. I think this album is going to be a lot more wide open. Normally people have those kind of boundaries that their art fits within. Of course with a heavy metal band, it's going to be a heavy metal record. I don't think we're going to limit ourselves and say, "This is going to be the heaviest, or the fastest, or slowest, or more rock, or less death metal, or anything." I think we... There's no more boundaries for us anymore, we've really created many records that sound all a little bit different, but show different sides with the band. And I think, hopefully on this one, we're able to be a little more creative and kind of not categorize ourselves, and not have a specific direction where we can kind of have all directions.

The Scream Queen: So, it may be a mesh of everything from the BURN THE PRIEST days up to "Wrath"?

Adler: Well, I think... Me, personally, my favorite records in the catalogue of the band, are from the BURN THE PRIEST record, and the "As the Palaces Burn" record, I think those are... Even because in a certain period of time, of course as well, but I also believe that those probably have our most aggressive material on it. I'm a big fan of speed, you know, that's kind of just raging, prog[ressive], speed metal. That's the direction that I'd like to go in. The other guys, over time, have kind of mellowed out a little bit with more rock-based songs, and that's where songs like "Redneck" and "Set to Fail" and those kinds of songs area little more groovy and stuff like that. So, I think they're going to be both... On the record, like I said, it's going to be a mix/match of everything, but we're not going to limit ourselves to one or the other this time, I think we're going to let both live together.

The Scream Queen: You've said before that you thought LAMB OF GOD's popularity had run its course, but with everything that's happened in the last year or two, do you think the popularity will ever fade?

Adler: It's really hard to say. I mean, I know that metal fans can be very, very particular and very kind of, fickle when it comes to their music. And I think today's fans have very short attention spans, you know, there's a new band every two minutes on Facebook and MySpace. They come and go so quickly these days that it's really hard to believe that we've made it this far. So, like I said, it's always been a surprise to me that people have stuck with us as much as they have and continue to grow; our audience is getting bigger and bigger instead of smaller and smaller. I don't know too many bands that have been around for fifteen years that have that kind of story to tell. We're very lucky, I don't want to jinx it and say that it's going to go on forever. It's always a surprise to me that we've done as well as we have and I'm obviously very lucky to be a part of it. Hopefully it continues. I don't know, I know we've toured for a long time with bands like SLAYER and MEGADETH, and METALLICA, these kind of legacy acts that kind of built an audience, they can go wherever they want, play wherever they want. We would be very, very lucky to have that kind of situation happen to us. But that's not for us to decide, that's for the fans to let us know, and so far, so good!

The Scream Queen: Would you say that LAMB OF GOD has already left some sort of legacy?

Adler: (pauses) I... That's tough to say, I think when the books are written, that's for somebody else to write about us. To tell you something is pretty presumptuous on my part to think that we are anything special. I do think that we came along at a very good time, I think that the heavy metal scene, when we started doing "New American Gospel" and "Palaces", really needed that kick in the butt and a show of somewhat success for other bands to believe that music could come back and be successful. So I certainly think we played a part in that time, but I don't know how in the end it will be remembered.

Read the entire interview from The Scream Queen.