LAMB OF GOD's RANDY BLYTHE: 'I Write Lyrics For One Dude, And That's Me'

In a new interview with Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show, LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe was asked how he and his bandmates are able to successfully come up with fresh ideas for each new album without stepping too far from what the LAMB OF GOD fans expect to hear. He responded (hear audio below): "As far as the expectations of our audience, that never enters my mind at all, because I write lyrics for one dude, and that's me — not for my wife, not for my family and not for my friends. I write lyrics for me. They're my expression. And I don't think about, 'Well, would a LAMB OF GOD fan like this?' Because if that would be the case, if you start writing to appease the fans, or you start doing what fans want, then you become basically a boy band, and you might as well go ahead and get a producer to come down from Hollywood and a songwriter who will say, 'Oh, fans have really been liking this and that,' and start writing stuff for you. And then it's false — it's not art anymore.

"One thing LAMB OF GOD has always done is we write what we want to write," he continued. "We write for five dudes — the five dudes in LAMB OF GOD. Me personally, I write for myself, and I have to work with the other dudes in my band to make sure that that will fit into our framework and that they're cool with it. And generally, they are. And they do the same thing with everyone else, musically. We all bring in a ton of ideas, and not all of them make it, because one person might say, 'Oh, I really love this. I'm bringing this in,' and everybody else will look at them, like, 'Ugh. That sucks.' [Laughs] Usually not that brutally — it's more, like, 'I don't know if that's gonna work there.' But we're at a point now where we're trying to serve the project — we're not trying to serve individual egos.

"Like [American playwright] Tennessee Williams said about writing — you have to be willing to kill your darlings, speaking of characters he's written. Just because he loves that character or something that character would do doesn't mean it serves the piece of writing. And it's the same thing musically.

"So as far as meeting some sort of expectations or not stepping outside the box or whatever, that's never been a concern of mine," Randy added. "I just don't care. As long as I like the record at the end of the day, which I do very much, then I can go to bed with a clear conscience, 'cause I was true to myself and did what I wanted to do, which is make music that I like."

LAMB OF GOD's self-titled album will be released on May 8 via Epic Records. The follow-up to "VII: Sturm Und Drang" marks LAMB OF GOD's first recordings with Art Cruz, who joined the band last July as the replacement for the group's founding drummer, Chris Adler.

"Lamb Of God" was recorded with longtime producer Josh Wilbur (KORN, MEGADETH, GOJIRA, TRIVIUM) and includes special guest appearances by Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT).