Cult Of Luna frontman Johannes Persson has spoken out against the return of As I Lay Dying and their frontman Tim Lambesis to the metal scene. Lambesis of course went to prison after having attempted to hire an undercover cop posing as a hitman to kill his previous wife Meggan back in 2013. He pled guilty to a charge of solicitation of another to commit murder and was eventually paroled in December of 2016.
He has since remarried and reunited with his former bandmates in As I Lay Dying, with the group having recently released their first new album since 2012, “Shaped By Fire“. In addition to touring with the band, Lambesis has been pursuing a career in addiction treatment counseling. He was shown to have been addicted to steroids around the original time of his incarceration.
While Lambesis has issued numerous apologies for his behavior, including this mini-documentary, his return has remained somewhat controversial. A handful of As I Lay Dying festival appearances and shows were cancelled since his release amid public outcry over his involvement.
Speaking with The Quietus, Persson didn’t name Lambesis specifically, but made it rather clear that he was referring to him. Speaking of the Swedish metal/punk scene that he himself came up in, Persson offered:
“The background that I’m from – the musical background – was very much integrated with a lot of ethics and it was a very political scene too, which when you come from that kind of scene you think that everybody else thinks the same way in a sense.
So, for example, when a person that just tried to [have his wife killed] – something that happened just a couple of years ago – is out touring and people are happy to have a forgive and forget attitude about it? I cannot get my head around it. I cannot. How is that not a person you now don’t want anything to do with in your entire life?
How can [journalists] write about that band? There are a thousand other bands you can write about. How can you go to their show? How can they not be constantly questioned every single day about it? I don’t understand because with my background we call bullshit on people.
However, it might not sound like it, but I’m all for second chances, as long as that person has shown deep regret and I think that some time must-have passed before you can actually see if a person is sincere enough, and most of all you see it through their actions, not through their words.
For example, OK, let’s talk about this case right now – I’m not even going to say his name – but if you’re sincerely sorry, like I said: fine. Take all your proceedings, everything from every tour and donate it to a battered women’s shelter. Of course, you can take enough to make ends meet but just saying, ‘I’m sorry’, doesn’t cut it, especially when your band called you a sociopath before.
That’s how they work. They adapt to what fits them at this moment. I’m not buying it. You donate your money – at least that’s an action, that’s something that shows you’re going to do something that’s not for yourself. This is also about those coward fucking band members who threw shit on him one second and then when their other band didn’t work well [they welcomed him back] – money talks. That’s how it works.”
During Lambesis‘ incarceration his As I Lay Dying bandmates spent time in an outfit called Wovenwar. Members of the band were shown to have condemned him for his actions at the time.
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