Lamb Of God's Randy Blythe: I'm a musician, not a spokesperson

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Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe says artists can be "the voice of society" but feels he shouldn't have to be a commentator

Randy Blythe
Randy Blythe (Image credit: Getty)

Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe says he shouldn’t be expected to take responsibility for society as a musician in the public eye.

Though he says artists are in a way “the voice of society” – the vocalist feels he shouldn’t have to speak out on social and political issues.

When asked what responsibilities he has as a musician, he tells Full Metal Jackie: “That’s a question I ask myself often. You know, ‘what is my responsibility, if any?’

“Sometimes I think as an artist – in arts in general – you’re a reflection of society and the state of it. We are the voice of society in a way.

“You can go down the route of taking yourself way too seriously that way. Sometimes I think as an artist, it’s important to at least be an articulate commentator on the events of today.”

Blythe continues: “Then on the other side of things, coming from the underground scene, I don’t feel that I’m responsible to anyone for anything, other than just making what I want to make – my own music. Why should you expect me to be some sort of spokesperson?

“I signed up to play music, not to be on CNN. But I think that if there is a responsibility, I think it’s to do no harm. That’s just life in general, though.”

Lamb Of God will play Gwar’s annual Gwar-B-Q event in Richmond, Virginia, in August. They’ve also scheduled dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan later this year.

Lamb Of God tour dates 2016

Aug 20: Richmond Gwar, VA
Oct 26: Auckland Vector Arena, New Zealand
Oct 28: Boondall Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia
Oct 29: Sydney Olumpic Park Qudos Bank Arena, Australia
Oct 31: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Australia
Nov 01: Adelaide HQ Nightclub, Australia
Nov 03: Fremantle Metropolis Fremantle, Australia
Nov 06: Mihama Ward Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe co-writing movie with Billy Bob Thornton

Christina O'Neill

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.