LAMB OF GOD's RANDY BLYTHE: 'All The Guys In METALLICA Were Nothing But Absolutely Lovely To Us'

In a brand new interview with I Ask No One With Kevin Re, LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe was asked if he ever got any piece of advice from METALLICA's James Hetfield when the two bands toured together more than a decade ago. He responded (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "James is a cool dude. I got sober on a METALICA tour — I got sober on a METALLICA tour in Australia. And I'll just say that James Hetfield helped me out a lot with that. Actually, four or five guys on METALLICA's crew were sober. Three of us actually got sober on that tour and have been sober to this day. And that was over 10 years ago.

"James is a good dude, man," he reiterated. "The last time I saw James was in Oakland when we took C.O.C. out, and James showed up and played a song with C.O.C. He hung out for a little bit. He had driven a Tesla. He had this super-fast fuckin'… He's like a gearhead. We were backstage at this place in Oakland, and I was, like, 'Woah! That's a fucking expensive-looking car. I wonder whose car that is.' And then somebody [said], 'Oh, that's James's.' And I was, like, 'Duh.' He's a total gearhead.

"He's a good guy, man — a really good guy with a really good heart," Blythe added. "I love him to death."

Randy went on to praise Hetfield's bandmates, saying, "All the guys in METALLICA were nothing but absolutely lovely to us — absolutely lovely. People will be, like, talking [crap] about their later music or whatever. And it's, like, 'Did you write 'Master Of Puppets'? No, you did not. Shut the fuck up.' You know what I mean? Or, 'Did you write any classic records that will go down in rock and roll history? No, you did not. They did. So shut the fuck up.'

"METALLICA does not have to carry anyone out as openers," he continued. "Their shows sell out before the openers are announced. They don't have to do that. They carry bands out that they wanna give a shot [to]. And you're definitely playing to a METALLICA crowd when you [are opening for them], so you've gotta keep that cognizant. These people are there to see METALLICA, so you'd better bring your fucking A-game. But they're super fucking cool. And it's not like when you're backstage where it's, like, 'Oh, METALLICA is over there. Don't look at them,' whatever. It's, like, you see 'em — they're just regular fucking human beings."

LAMB OF GOD will issue a three-disc deluxe edition of last year's critically acclaimed self-titled album featuring the full record with two bonus tracks and a live version of the album, along with a DVD performance of "Lamb Of God" on March 26 via Epic Records.

Pre-orders for the set are available now, along with the bonus track "Ghost Shaped People". The live CD and DVD portion of the deluxe edition features the first of LAMB OF GOD's two ultra-successful live stream events from September 2020, in which the band performed their critically acclaimed, self-titled album "Lamb Of God" in full, plus an encore of four songs, including "Ruin", "Contractor", "512" and the debut live performance of "The Death Of Us", a new song the band wrote and recorded in quarantine for the "Bill & Ted Face The Music" movie and soundtrack. The DVD includes a new director's cut with bonus material.