LAMB OF GOD Drummer: 'We Played It The Hard Way And Kept Doing It Our Way'

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

Metal Insider: How has your confidence as a drummer grown or changed overtime? Do you still feel "challenged" as a metal drummer?

Chris: Yeah, absolutely! Every day! I think that's a secret that maybe nobody will let you know, that all of us are backstage with our fingers crossed. Holding on is a tricky rope. I just have to feel good about the songs that I write and performing them. They're rarely ever perfect, and I still get the jitters before we go onstage. I don't want to say I don't have any confidence as a drummer. I listen back and hear cool stuff and realize that I'm playing in a cool band, but I don't walk into it with a bunch of ego either. I don't go into the studio with the guys and think to myself, "Hey, you're one special drummer that people write about in magazines!" I still have to challenge and prove it to myself all the time. I guess I'm a bit self conscious about it in that I want to be as good as I can for the band. So yeah, it hasn't really changed over time. I've always wanted to never allow myself to, whether it's true or if I've gotten to that place where you're talking about, I haven't allowed myself to swallow that yet.

Metal Insider: With all the current issues surrounding the music industry, namely low album sales, do you think that the instrument brand industry will soon be badly affected as well, or have you noticed it already has been?

Chris: Ah, it's interesting! I think maybe in the past decade the whole industry has been falling apart. I've seen some big improvements in the big companies and what they're trying to do and what they're making available, and how their price points have changed over time. But I don't really know. I haven't dug into it that much. I do keep up with the different kits, drum heads, drum sticks and stuff like that because I want to make sure that I'm using the best tools that I can to do what I want to do. Although they may not be the most popular brands of stuff all the way around, I definitely feel like I've picked the best stuff for what I want to do and for the sound in my head that I want to achieve. So I hope they stay open for a little while longer, but most of the guys who I've talked to in up and coming bands are interested in their gear heads just like we were coming up. If you want to play guitar, you got to buy a guitar. You want to play drums, you got to buy drums.

Metal Insider: Speaking of the music industry, you just recently formed a new record label with manager Larry Mazer called ReThink Records, a joint venture with The End Records and distribution through RED. What inspired you to launch your own label, especially in the current state of the music industry?

Chris: Yeah, it seems almost backwards to do it, and honestly it's almost, in the way I think of it, like the same deal with the book. I wasn't planning to kind of change the world or make a whole lot of money on this. I've just been in contact with so many people that know so many people. And having the opportunity to go out there and meet a million bands a year and hearing a lot of albums that record companies send me, I get millions of stuff every day, and some of these guys just never really have the opportunity, they never had the shot. I don't know if I can give anybody a shot, but between myself and the manager of LAMB OF GOD, who is partners in this with me, we know a lot of people, and it's almost like friends helping out friends. I'm not out there actively listening to new bands and demos. It's just he and I working together with people that we know and using the connections that we have to try and help friends of ours or people that have impressed us in different ways with what they want to do.

Metal Insider: Would you and LAMB OF GOD ever consider releasing music, not necessarily through ReThink Records, but possibly DYI style in the future?

Chris: Well, sooner or later we may have to (laughing). The industry is definitely kind of falling apart, and who knows what's going to happen? I think we may very well have to at some point. We're very fortunate to have the name recognition where we could do something like that, and obviously that model is far more favorable to the artist if you are in a place to have people interested in you. It's just very hard to start there because you need that push and distribution that labels will have to get started, but once you're started it's a good way to go. It's kind of an interesting see-saw there that you have to navigate very gently as you go along. But right now, Epic in the U.S. has done a really good job for us, and Roadrunner, only on their first record, "Wrath", overseas, has really done a fantastic job. The fans overseas probably tripled on this record, and it's because it's the first time a label had worked it properly outside of the U.S. So we really have no complaints.

Metal Insider: LAMB OF GOD really is one of the exceptions to a band being able to keep to its "true self" without much compromise while also being on a major label. What would you say is the key ingredient to making that work?

Chris: I think that if it hadn't have worked, we still wouldn't have changed it. We're really very fortunate, we're really very lucky. We played it the hard way and kept doing it our way, and slowly built an organic base that didn't abandon us when we jumped to a label. I think you're right, we are kind of an exception. I see it falling apart and not working all the time, with people trying to change to make people like them or broaden their horizon. But I think we've just stayed pretty close to where we wanted to be from the start, and I think that is a bit refreshing today (laughing). I guess the secret would be, and it's the same thing that I tell kids when they ask me about drums or anything else, is that you really have to love what you do, and when you do put that creativity and love into it, other people will take notice. There's no real secret. There's no amount of practice or certain place you need to play or people you need to impress. A lot of people can see through a lot of the bullshit. So if your heart's in it, they'll see that, too.

Read the entire interview from Metal Insider.