In a brand new interview with the That Sober Man podcast, LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe — who has been sober for greater than 14 years — spoke about how onerous it’s to navigate the challenges of sustaining his sobriety on tour. He stated (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I am fortunate in the truth that in my band, 4 out of 5 of us at the moment are not ingesting. And I used to be the lone ranger there for a few years. And it was sort of onerous, ‘trigger I give up and I am on this heavy metallic bus with these fucking maniacs ingesting and doing medicine. After which my guitar participant Willie [Adler] give up ingesting. And he hasn’t had a drink, and I have been sober 14 years — I believe he is hasn’t drank in 12. After which for the primary eight years of my sobriety — I am not speaking out of sophistication right here, ‘trigger he simply revealed a guide, my guitar participant Mark Morton, referred to as ‘Desolation’. He acquired actually fucking unhealthy on opiates, heroin. I do not know the way I by no means acquired strung out, as a result of he and I did a fuck-ton collectively, however alcohol, she’s my child. His was opiates. So then for eight years, I used to be rolling sober with him and he was simply getting worse and worse and worse. And it was horrible, ‘trigger I am clear, I am sober and I am, like, ‘This dude’s gonna die. I am gonna discover him in his bunk useless, however I by no means pushed it on him, man, as a result of I did not prefer it when individuals push shit on me. I by no means pushed it on him. I simply tried to maintain my facet of the road clear and type of be instance, and if he ever wished to speak, he got here and talked to me and requested me for assist on occasion.”
Blythe continued: “It was very onerous — very, very fucking onerous — ‘trigger I used to be taking a look at him, and he is a sensible man, and I am, like, ‘Do not you understand you are fucking killing your self? Why are you doing this, you fucking fool? That is horrible.’ And I am taking a look at him considering all that, and that is what individuals have been saying about me for 22 years. So I needed to keep in mind that. I am, like, ‘Simply since you’ve been sober for 3 years would not make you the fucking king of sobriety, you dumbass.’ So I needed to simply be there, man. And he would speak to me, ‘I do not wanna die.’ And I am, like, ‘I do know, bro. That is what you have gotta do.’ After which he’d return out. After which lastly it labored. And he is been clear and sober six years now. After which our drummer Artwork [Cruz], he joined the band. He was nonetheless partying. He is been sober over two years now. So you have acquired 4 out of the 5 dudes within the band that do not do shit. And it is good. It is fucking nice. However for some time, it was me. I used to be a lone ranger. Any individual’s gotta put foot into the pool first.”
Blythe beforehand talked about his sobriety earlier within the month throughout an look on “The New Man” podcast with Tripp Lanier. Requested about how he acquired over the notion that actually inventive individuals, together with nice writers, want alcohol or medicine to search out their greatest concepts or carry out to one of the best of their skill, Randy stated: “That is a type of cultural mythos, particularly in rock bands, and much more so in a metallic band. I imagine that that mythos is type of shifting, that paradigm is shifting, and the younger youngsters do not assume it is as cool to be fucked up anymore like we did once we have been youngsters. It was a part of the deal. And it is a lie, it is undoubtedly a lie that you just want all that stuff to do what I do. Nevertheless it’s a cultural type of mythos that I purchased in to, not simply with music, however with writing, as a result of like some other angst-riddled 20-something male American dude, I liked studying Hemingway, I liked studying Bukowski, I liked studying Hunter S. Thompson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, all these members of this supremely male canon of authors who actually reshaped fashionable English literature. And all of them had a number of issues in frequent — all of them have been wild, did wild manly shit, which I am for. All of them drank to extra and customarily acquired into some sticky conditions on occasion. It is a cornerstone of your id, it turns into so. So for me, in my twenties and thirties, I’d discuss being a author so much and I used to be doing all of the issues that each one these writers, Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson and Bukowski, all these guys did — I did loads of ingesting, I did a decent quantity of womanizing, I did some fist preventing right here and there, I acquired into some loopy shit, I used to be training, I used to be doing all the issues the good writers did aside from the writing half. That is the hart half. In order that’s that cultural mythos with the writers. After which with music, and being in a heavy metallic band, and the type of cultural notion of that, that baggage, and me personally realizing a number of the legends from this who did drink and drug to extra, I purchased in to that. And in a way at first, alcohol was helpful, and once in a while some medicine have been helpful.”
Requested what he means when he says that alcohol and medicines have been “helpful”, Randy defined: “Nicely, when you have a way of stage fright, a liquid braveness, somewhat bottled confidence [would always help in the early days]. And we have been very confrontational band, so our earlier gigs have been at home events, squats and issues like that. They weren’t even in golf equipment, and also you’re on the ground with individuals, and [they were] very bodily. The group can both aggressively not such as you or aggressively actually such as you — both manner.
“There is no faculty to show you the right way to be a frontman, the right way to get in entrance of individuals and do your factor,” Blythe continued. “You are not, like, ‘Okay, I am counting on my coaching,’ like a Navy seal, like falling again on to the extent of your coaching. It is, like, ‘Okay, let’s exit and see what fucking occurs.’ And so that may provide the nerves. And within the early days you, I might quiet these nerves with some alcohol. Most definitely. They do not name it liquid braveness for nothing. After some time, that inhibits your skill to do your job. Fortunately, in my case, I wasn’t doing Al Inexperienced. I am not Pavarotti. So if Pavarotti or Marvin Gaye acquired up there all fucked up, individuals can be, like, ‘Oh my God, this sucks.’ Whenever you’re in a heavy metallic band, there’s a component of hazard to it, which I believe is effective in music, at the least in what we do. And there was undoubtedly a component of hazard to what we did. And alcohol was a part of that. The factor is, although, man, you do not want that. That is a lie.”
Relating to how he turned that nook, Randy stated: “I needed to get beat on the pinnacle repeatedly that I used to be going to die if I did not cease ingesting. I can inform you about my first sober present if you need [to hear it]. We have been in Australia, and we have been on tour with a band referred to as METALLICA. And we had been out with them for a few yr over the course of two, two and a half years. We might carried out Europe, United States a number of occasions, and we ended this tour in New Zealand and Australia. And my final evening of ingesting was in Brisbane, Australia. And I went out with some pals and simply acquired utterly, completely fucked up, aside from that it did not work. I drank sufficient and I am certain had I been given a breathalyzer, they might have been, like, ‘Jesus Christ, how is that this dude nonetheless alive? There’s virtually no blood left in his alcohol system.’ … And the alcohol, for me, was a factor that shut off the voices in my head, the voices that have been offended on the manner the world was behaving, that have been offended at myself for my very own shortcomings and asshole-ish habits or ethical cowardice at occasions — no matter. The internal critic was extremely harsh — and nonetheless is usually. However I am attempting to ameliorate that on occasion. However anyway, I went out and it stopped working. And I awakened in Brisbane on a resort balcony. And I appeared out on the road beneath… And one in all my favourite bookstores on this planet was immediately throughout the road from the resort. After which down the streets extra have been nice eating places, loads of meals. After which over to the left was the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, that are cool. And so they’ve acquired all types of lovely, bizarre vegetation we do not have. And naturally it is Australia, so that you’re gonna see weird-ass animals and birds. It is only a attractive place. And so I appeared out from my resort balcony. And I had a set. It was very good. We’re in Australia. I’ve acquired cash within the financial institution. I am on tour with fucking METALLICA. It is the largest heavy metallic band in historical past, to not point out one of many greatest bands on this planet, interval. I’ve acquired cash within the checking account. My band, I’ve discovered by some means to perform properly sufficient, drunk, that I can nonetheless do my job. I nonetheless had a romantic companion at the moment, a longterm romantic companion that ended ultimately, however at the moment I nonetheless had her. And every thing on the surface was good. And I appeared out over this avenue and all this cool shit and I noticed I did not wish to do something. I did not wish to exist. It wasn’t like I felt suicidal, like ‘I wanna kill myself’, however I used to be, like, ‘I do not wanna be right here anymore. I simply wish to vanish from existence.’ And I appeared over at this desk the place I had set the beer bottles from the evening earlier than ‘trigger I might been ingesting for a number of days and I am sort of a weirdo OCD dude with my environment. So I had very rigorously, even whereas intoxicated, lined these beer bottles completely up on this — you know the way bowling pins can be, like they’re simply completely lined up, touching one another. All of the labels are going through the proper manner. ‘Trigger I am attempting to, by controlling my exterior setting, exert some type of management on the catastrophe that’s Randy. So I appeared over at these beer bottles that have been empty and so they have been stacked there and I noticed that they have been a metaphor for my life. As a result of on the surface, identical to my life, every thing was good and orderly and as a substitute. However, identical to these bottles, I had simply change into an empty receptacle for alcohol and medicines. And all it will take would simply be somewhat push, and people bottles would simply fall and shatter. So I appeared. I used to be, like, ‘Fuck. I do not wanna exist. I am simply an empty beer bottle now. And I believed, ‘Man, perhaps I ought to actually attempt to give up ingesting, truthfully, this time,’ as a result of I might been attempting half-assed for, like, 4 or 5 years. And this time I took it critical. And I used to be, like, ‘Hey, I’ve to give up ingesting.’ And so I requested the universe, I used to be, like, ‘God, please assist me.’ No matter’s on the market. I had this second the place it wasn’t, like… I did not have an image of a bearded dude within the sky or something, however I simply requested — I exploit the time period ‘God’ for lack of a greater time period. I requested, ‘No matter is on the market, please assist me as a result of I do not know what to do.’ I knew then, like, ‘Let’s cease and check out ingesting,’ and a peace washed over me, like immense calm in that second. Once I was simply, like, ‘I am fucked,’ ‘trigger that is the one manner, when you have an issue, you are ever gonna get higher, is when you understand that you just’re fucked. It was a realization of actuality, to place it merely recognizing that I used to be certainly completely fucked. So I had this transient second of immense peace wash over me, and it lasted for about 45 seconds. After which this little satan on my shoulder, like little Devil, he is all the time there or no matter, the demon, it was, like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Maintain on. Let’s assume this by. Perhaps you simply had a foul evening. Perhaps you have simply had a foul 22 years of stable ingesting and drugging. It was loopy. It was loopy. I completely did not wanna reside anymore. And it wasn’t the primary time I might felt that manner. And I might had these repercussions for ingesting… You are feeling like you’ll be able to’t perform. And I felt that. And I used to be, like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. A second in the past you have been all good, after which earlier than that you just wished to die and now you wanna drink once more. You are loopy. You’re loopy, bro.’
“Among the guys in METALLICA‘s band and crew have been sober on that tour, and so they had had phrases with me,” Randy added. “I might been getting indicators for fucking 15, 20 years from mother and father, household, kindly members of the Richmond Fraternal Order Of The Police, judges. I had a journalist in Richmond write a narrative about me, like, ‘This dude must sober up.’ I used to be, like, ‘Fuck you. Fuck you. You do not know what I do. In case you needed to do what I did, you’d drink too.’ So I used to be, like, ‘I believe what I am gonna do is I am simply gonna strive to not drink.’ I decided, ‘trigger there was beer within the fridge proper there in that resort. I used to be, like, ‘I am not gonna go get a beer. I am not gonna go get a beer. I am gonna go to tonight’s present and I am gonna speak to those guys. I am gonna be, like, ‘Will you fucking assist me? What the fuck do I do?’ So I went to the gig, and I confirmed up early and I discovered a few these guys. I am, like, ‘Look, I am fucked. Assist me. I am attempting to be sober.’ And so they have been, like, ‘We acquired you, bro.’ And my hair was nonetheless lengthy then. I walked on stage that evening in entrance of 14,000 individuals, falling to items, weeping hysterically. Fortunately, like I stated, I had lengthy hair, so I saved it in my face. And our music is, like, tremendous aggressive, so I am simply crying… I believe [the emotion at the time] was simply, like, ‘I do not know what I’ll do. What’s going on? What occurred to my life? How did I attain this level?’ It is like somebody had scraped my total pores and skin, like street rash throughout my soul. So I stood on stage in entrance 14,000 individuals screaming my head off whereas weeping uncontrollably. Fortunately, nobody might inform as a result of I used to be simply continually operating and headbanging. And I made it by that present. And that was my first day sober. And that was October 18th, 2010. I have not had a drink or a drug since.”
In a separate interview with the The Lydian Spin podcast, Blythe spoke concerning the challenges of occurring tour and being round people who find themselves ingesting. The 53-year-old musician stated: “I will be sort of delinquent typically anyway. By the top of my ingesting, I simply wished to be alone: ‘Go away me the fuck alone, and let me drink.’
“I can exit,” Randy defined. “I am going to go wherever. I am not afraid of being round alcohol or medicine. If I used to be, I’d by no means tour once more. For me, being round completely shitfaced individuals is pretty insupportable now. And so if I am going to a celebration, if there’s like a home get together, pals of mine are having dinner, I am going to hang around and I am going to hang around till individuals hit me with the ‘I really like you, man,’ like a pair occasions. I am, like, ‘Okay, it is time to go. I had a good time, and also you guys can keep on and God bless. Good luck and godspeed. I am outta right here.’ So, I haven’t got an issue [being around people who are drinking], and I do not stroll round like some type of offended curmudgeon, like, ‘Do not fucking speak to me.’ And when I’m trapped by these individuals, I take a look at it as a karmic debt. I take a look at it as a karmic debt, as a result of I fucking terrified and irritated numerous individuals for many years. So it is, like, what comes round goes round.”
Randy beforehand mentioned his sobriety throughout a September 2022 look on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. He stated on the time: “It isn’t enticing to sit down up and fucking drink and snort coke and say a bunch of silly shit with a bunch of morons once you’re [in your early 50s]. It is simply not. [Laughs] I have not had a hangover in over [more than a decade]. I do not know if I’d survive one now.”
Requested by host Eddie Trunk if it was “powerful” for him to be on the street the place alcohol will be discovered in all places, Randy stated: “No. Hell no, dude. Seeing individuals get together and stuff, particularly after they ‘get together get together’ and get silly… I do not decide, however it makes it extra repulsive to me, ‘trigger I used to be, like, Jesus… I used to be fairly unhealthy. No person seems to be cool after they’re wasted, so it simply would not attraction to me. And I’ve higher issues to do. I am attempting to do good issues with my life — write books and do images and shit like that. I am unable to try this once I’m drunk. Plus, man, I drank sufficient. I did it for 22 years. I am not gonna uncover something new in medicine and alcohol.”
Pressed about whether or not it bothers him when individuals round him are ingesting, Blythe stated: “It would not trouble me. It solely bothers me in the event that they’re fucking wasted and saying silly shit to me after which I run. Nevertheless it would not make me wanna do it, if that is what you are asking. It has the other impact. Seeing individuals drink doesn’t trouble me in any respect. The one factor that bothers me is after they’re hammered and in my face. However apart from that, I do not anticipate the remainder of the world to behave… I am unable to anticipate the remainder of the world to behave in the way in which I do and never drink as a result of not everyone’s an alcoholic like me. Some individuals are completely okay, and that is no downside. God bless. Have time. However when you’re wasted and the ‘I really like you, man’ begins, then I simply dip out. It isn’t an issue.”
Blythe mentioned his battle with alcoholism and the way he acquired sober after a few a long time of ingesting throughout a book-signing occasion and question-and-answer session for his memoir, “Darkish Days: A Memoir”, in 2015. On the time, he stated: “Most individuals, after they cease… It is completely particular person… Some individuals hit backside as a result of they get up in jail, as a result of their spouse has left them, as a result of they have no cash left, as a result of they misplaced their job, or as a result of they simply cannot… they cannot take it anymore.”
He continued: “Once I awakened the morning… I wrote about this in my guide; I wrote concerning the final evening I drank and the primary day of sobriety. I awakened, and I used to be on tour. I used to be in Australia. I used to be opening up for the largest band in metallic, on this planet — ever, within the historical past of metallic. I used to be in a wonderful place. I had cash in my checking account. My spouse hadn’t left me but — and she or he nonetheless hasn’t, by some means amazingly. And every thing on the surface of my life, to anybody taking a look at it, past the truth that I appeared sort of busted, every thing would look good. Like, this dude is on this band, he is on this tour on this lovely place. It is Australia, it is paradise. He is getting paid…. Not hundreds of thousands of {dollars}; do not get me fallacious. However he is getting cash. I awakened sooner or later and I simply didn’t wish to do something. It is the strangest feeling to not wish to… I could not consider a single factor I wished to do. I did not wanna eat, I did not wanna sleep, I did not wanna learn a guide, I did not wanna go to work, I did not wanna… drink. I could not think about not ingesting. I did not wish to do something. I felt utterly empty.”
Blythe added: “So, for me, it was a really emotional flatline… like, backside. It wasn’t something traumatic in anyway. I simply reached a degree the place I used to be, like, ‘I’ve gotta do one thing else, or else I’d as properly be useless.’ And I firmly imagine I’d be useless [by now if I hadn’t stopped]. So it was only a bizarre factor. I do not know why. I drank 22 years — heavy — and at last I acquired sufficient ache the place it is, like, ‘Okay, this sucks. I’ve gotta cease.’ Nevertheless it’s completely different for everybody. Anyone who’s ever had a ingesting downside can inform you that it is completely different for everybody.”
Blythe‘s second guide, “Simply Past The Gentle: Making Peace With The Wars Inside Our Head”, got here out on February 18, 2025 by way of Grand Central Publishing (GCP).
“Simply Past The Gentle” was described by Blythe as a “tight, concise roadmap of how I’ve tried to take care of what I imagine to be a correct perspective in life, even throughout tough occasions.”
In December, Blythe introduced extra spoken-word and question-and-answer occasions to advertise “Simply Past The Gentle”. The particular “night with” occasion features a spoken-word efficiency, an viewers question-and-answer session, a replica of “Simply Past The Gentle” and a chance to have the guide signed.
In 2012, Blythe was arrested within the Czech Republic and charged with manslaughter for allegedly pushing a 19-year-old fan offstage at a present two yr prior and inflicting accidents that led to the fan’s dying. Blythe spent 37 days in a Prague jail earlier than finally being discovered not responsible in 2013.
Blythe‘s jail expertise impressed two songs on LAMB OF GOD‘s 2015 album “VII: Sturm Und Drang”: “512”, one in all his three jail cell numbers, and “Nonetheless Echoes”, written whereas he was in Pankrac Jail, a dilapidated facility constructed within the Eighties that had been used for executions by the Nazis throughout World Conflict II. It additionally led him to jot down his first guide, “Darkish Days”, through which he shared his entire facet of the story publicly for the primary time.
