LAMB OF GOD Drummer: 'The Mainstream Has Come To Us!'

Lizar Borowski of Imhotep recently conducted an interview with LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Imhotep: It looks like the moment has come to LAMB OF GOD to make it really big worldwide. How do you guys see this huge recognition you are receiving for the work you've been doing?

Chris: "We've been working very hard for a very long time. We started the band in 1994, so it's been about thirteen years now that we've been working for it. So, there's been a lot of hard work, and we're very proud of where we've gotten to. The attention that we're getting and the success for the band, it's surprising to us but we're enjoying it and I think it's important for us to make the best music that we can and to make ourselves, and our friends and our fans and our families proud of what we're doing! I think we've maintained that the whole time! So, I guess that we're proud and very excited to be here."

Imhotep: On the other hand, some old-die-hard fans have been saying that LAMB OF GOD changed the sonority and got into something a bit more commercial, and focused on the mainstream. Do you agree with that? Would you say that there's a new LAMB OF GOD sound and style on "Sacrament"?

Chris: "I think that when you do more than one record, the sound evolves. It's not always the same. I totally understand what people are talking about, but it's certainly not a change towards the mainstream, I think the mainstream has come to us! You know, we are continuing to write very heavy music and I think the landscape of today's culture is a little more open to it. We've been doing what we've been doing for a long time and nobody expected us to get here and I think just because of the wealth of popularity of the band, the older fans that loved us when nobody else knew about us feel that we can't be their favorite band. A lot of people like having that kind of special band that nobody else knows about and I know how that is, because I grew up on metal and I know that metal fans are very particular and picky about things. For us, we've just evolved. We're better songwriters now than we were when we did our first couple of records, and I think that if we just kept putting out the same record over and over, we would be bored! There's no progression in that. So if we can't continue to grow and evolve our sound, then we should just stop. People think it's more commercial? Fine. I've also heard people say that this is heavier than the last record that we did. So, you can't really win or lose, as long as we're happy with the music then we're gonna keep doing it."

Imhotep: What did it mean to LAMB OF GOD to get signed to a major label? Did you think that they were not going to give the proper attention to you, and just leave LAMB OF GOD somewhere behind since you play metal and this is a style they are not used to promote?

Chris: "They came to us, and initially it was kind of scary, like you say, we didn't know what to expect. At the time we were talking to several different labels, some of which were more metal, and Epic was decidedly not metal. I think the thing that made the biggest difference for us was the people there. We expected it to be just a bunch of suits that just say, 'We're looking at the bottom line. Here's a big cheque, and you better sell or we drop you!' That's kind of what we expected but what we found out was when talking to people there, there were so many people who were so excited to be working with a real band. Because they have been made to make the money off the pop industry and image and all that stuff and they're just so tired of it. They want to work, they want to go out for drinks, they want to hang out with guys who play in a real band, and they love the music! So, we were really excited by then, and I think if they were hungry to work with a band like us, even more so than the metal labels work, because the metal labels do it everyday. Out here these people get to work with something new for them and they're excited about it! That's what made a big difference for us and so far it's been great."

Imhotep: LAMB OF GOD is often labeled by the media as some kind of salvation to American metal, or as the new PANTERA. How do you deal with this?

Chris: "I think that's not something we can say about ourselves. That is something people around us are telling us and labeling us. To have people saying those kinds of things, to have us in that kind of company is very flattering! Those are amazing bands that we have looked up to and really admire, professionally, musically, and to have us share that kind of company in anyone's mind is very flattering. But we can't come out and say that we're going to save anything, or we are the new anything, that's what's being said about us. As long as we continue to make music that we're proud of I think those conversations will continue. It's not necessarily pressure because it not something we put on ourselves so we'll just keep doing what we're doing and hopefully we'll make those people proud."

Read the entire interview at Imhotep.