LAMB OF GOD Drummer Reveals 'Specific Security Concern' That Led To Cancelation Of Band's European Tour

LAMB OF GOD and MEGADETH drummer Chris Adler was recently interviewed on "Elliot In The Morning", the morning radio talk show hosted by DJ Elliot Segal. You can listen to the chat below.

Speaking about LAMB OF GOD's decision to cancel the remaining dates on its European tour following the Paris terrorist attacks last November, Adler said (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I'll tell you exactly how we decided [to scrap the shows]. And we're not immune to all the chatter and backlash that happened when we did that. And it wasn't something that we wanted to do. The shows were doing great, ticket counts were great… It was really, really disappointing that we had to do it."

He continued: "What happened was… The Paris attack happened. We were just coming out of the U.K. with the shows that we had just done with MEGADETH together. We played a show in Germany and then came over to Tilburg, Holland. And when we got to Tilburg, we learned that… not only… We already knew about the Paris attack, but when we got to Tilburg, we realized that the same night we had played in Germany, about two hundred miles away, was the planned attack of a stadium there; there was an ambulance full of explosives that they found. So we were glad that nothing happened there. And so we got to Tilburg. And there was a specific security concern at the venue, where the venue security found two grown men outside taking pictures for hours of the facility and where the buses were parked and where the trucks were parked. And as they approached them to ask what was going on, the two guys ran as fast as they could, jumped on their bikes and took off. So security came to us, explained that situation and said, 'We don't have any credible evidence, and we're gonna beef up security for the show, but you guys, we wanna make sure that you know what's going on.'"

Adler added: "What really made the decision for us [to cancel the concert] was not that we were scared, not that we were intimidated to play, but the fact that we know now that something… we've been given information that something was amiss. So if we go ahead with this and somebody breaks in and does something horrible, more than likely the band will be able to run off the back of the stage and out the back door and we'll be fine. But we''re putting our crew in danger, we're putting everybody that's bought tickets in danger, and they have no idea that they could be hurt or coming into this event, that something could be going on. So it felt very irresponsible for us to go ahead with the show, knowing that something wasn't quite right. It doesn't mean that something was going to happen — we have no idea — but just knowing… Had we played the show and something had happened, we'd never forgive ourselves.

Chris went on to say: "And then continuing on from there, we felt like this thing that happened in Paris with that particular band [EAGLES OF DEATH METAL], here we are, with this… The band is called LAMB OF GOD; that's a target in itself. We're a bigger band than they are at the time. It's just, are we now more of a target? And as we cruise across Europe, we were heading towards Brussels, where they had just shut down the city, like, two days after we left. So it just looked like it was just gonna get more and more messy. I mean, we probably could have hung around and played Switzerland — you know, nobody is gonna probably blow up Switzerland — but it just… It didn't make sense. We would have been hemorrhaging money all across the continent."

LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe recently wrote a lengthy statement defending his band's decision to cancel their European tour following terror threats on the continent. The frontman revealed that the group had continued touring even after learning of the deadly attack on EAGLES OF DEATH METAL's concert, playing shows in England and Germany, before news of "a specific occurrence" that Blythe did not explain in detail prompted the band to return home to Richmond, Virginia.

Speaking to Fuse, LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton was asked how the band's feelings about touring in general have been affected by the recent concert tragedy. He said: "I think that Paris, obviously, was just kind of devastating for everyone involved in the music world, either as fans or as artists. At least in the context of politics and global terrorism and war, it's the first real instance I can think of that they really, really entered our world on a very, very extreme and obvious level. Our crew guys knew some of the people that were in that room, and I've played that room a half a dozen times. It really, really did hit home."

He continued: "I don't think that for me, personally, it really changes anything that I do. In terms of what my approach is, man, I just want to play my guitar. Every night before we play, I have a little moment with myself where I sit and think about what we're doing and why we're doing it and hope or pray, or whatever you want to call it, that what we're doing translates into joy for people. Whether that be on a level of catharsis for them, so that they can process some of their own emotions, or just unity for the crowd, for people to come together and have a good couple hours rallying around music and the energy in the room. For my part, I think that's all I can do."

The attacks in Paris led to a military response by France against the radical Islamic organization ISIS, as French jets bombed a series of targets in Syria.

The murders have stepped up worldwide concern over ISIS, as well as a debate in the U.S. over whether to accept Syrian refugees.