Music

Lamb of God on AUX TV's HARD

by Theo Kapodistrias

Influential metal band Lamb of God recently stopped in Toronto on their tour with metal legends Metallica. AUX was able to sit down and talk with bassist John Campbell about their tour alongside Metallica and about Lamb of God’s relative mainstream success while maintaining their underground status.

“To be able to take these weeks and tour with the biggest band in the genre that there ever has been is amazing for us,” said Lamb of God bassist John Campbell before opening up to an eager ACC crowd. “We get to play in front of sold out arenas. It’s ridiculous to think that we were playing in basements 15 years ago.”

Despite a couple of Grammy nominations thrown in the band’s direction, Lamb of God is still considered to be a vital part of the underground metal scene. Campbell comments on being an underground band while being acknowledged by the mainstream. “Part of the reason that we’re still considered an underground band is because we make, for lack of a better word, ‘extreme’ music. I think there are fans of metal where it’s a lifestyle—this isn’t a fad for them—this is what they do. We have maintained a level relative to today’s market we are successful; but we are still very much an underground band that relies heavily on the fact that our fans are very true to the genre—as are we.”

Campbell continued to talk about the band’s underground roots and his optimism for emerging underground artists. “I think a yin and yang existed where there was a healthy underground to balance out this insanely monstrous mainstream. I think with band like ourselves starting to become more commercially successful, which in some people’s eyes pushes us into mainstream music, it will be really interesting to see what this means to the underground scene in the long run. It could mean that I’m just too old and not cool enough anymore to know what the underground scene is all about and there’s some kids doing some stuff that we’ll hear about in another 10 years and I’m sure it will be passionate and great.”

Lamb of God is currently on tour in Europe supporting their newest record entitled Wrath.

See a full video interview with John Campbell Wednesday night at 10pm on AUX’s HARD followed by the HARD video flow.

Check out more information on Lamb of God here.