Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe talks about his new book, Dark Days, with Songfacts’ Greg Prato.

Asked how therapeutic it was writing the book, Randy responds: “I think people expected me to have some sort of weird post-traumatic stress disorder after this whole ordeal, and that writing this book was going to be some sort of therapeutic "purging" or whatever. And it really wasn't. I'd already kind of come to terms with what had happened before a literary agent approached me about writing this book.

It's not like I wasn't thinking about the whole thing while I was going through it. I lived it for a long, long time. And as soon as I was found not guilty, we went on tour and talked to a lot of people about this. So it's been this constant sort of "dealing with it”.

I think what the book did more than any sort of therapy was, it helped me really process the exact order in which things happened and step back and be able to really look at the whole situation in one whole piece, rather than this thing I'm constantly looking at little tiny pieces of when people ask me about this or ask me about that. It gave me a clearer picture I suppose of the entire experience. But I wouldn't call it therapeutic. In fact, it really sucked writing that book. [Laughs]

I learned a lot about writing. I learned a lot about the discipline it requires to write a book, because it's a sustained creative effort. And I sharpened some of my skills, but it wasn't fun. There's some really - what I consider - funny stuff in there, because it was just a bizarre situation. I made sure I laughed every day, even when I was in prison. Trying to keep a positive mental attitude.

There was some funny stuff in there, and some of that comes across in the writing. But it wasn't fun, man. I wrote about all the worst things that have ever happened to me in my life in that book. It was kind of anti-therapy. But sometimes things aren't fun, but they need to be said. You do what you've got to do.”

Read the full interview at this location

In 2010, a 19-year-old super-fan rushed the stage during a Lamb of God concert in Prague. To protect himself, singer Randy Blythe pushed the fan away. Unbeknownst to Blythe, the young man hit his head on the floor when he fell and later died from the injury. Blythe was promptly incarcerated on charges carrying a prison term of five to ten years.

Thirty-seven days later, he was released on bail to await trial. Although legal experts told him not to return to the Czech Republic to face the charges, Blythe explained that he “could not run away from this problem while the grieving family of a dead young man searched hopelessly for answers that [he] might help provide.”

After a five-day trial, he was acquitted on March 5th, 2013.

In Dark Days, Blythe tells the story of his incarceration and the wild life that led up to it. As he explains, “Most substance abuse books end with the author getting sober. My book starts there.”

 

 

Dark Days is available now via Da Capo Press. Random House will release the book in the UK and associated territories. Order at this location.