Randy Blythe, vocalist of multi-platinum Richmond, VA groove metal band Lamb Of God, recently caused a stir with his public condemnation of Elon Musk. Upon the aforementioned world’s richest man delivering a controversial salute twice onstage during the inauguration celebrations for U.S. president Donald Trump this past January, Blythe went on to lambaste Musk, though not explicitly just for the salute itself.
The salute in question has been seen by some as being a ‘sieg heil’ — a salute frequently used by the Nazi Party during the height of their power in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Musk for his part publicly brushed off the allegations of his salute having ties to Nazism.
Weeks into the second term of Trump‘s administration, Musk has since become ingrained in politics, heading up the highly controversial Department Of Government Efficiency, which aims to minimize government waste.
Blythe has been doing the press rounds lately for his latest book, last month’s ‘Just Beyond The Light: Making Peace With The Wars Inside Our Head‘, and was recently asked by NME about his above-mentioned takedown of Musk. He replied:
“What I see is not the Italian version of fascism or whatever, not that specific political structure, but the sort of hallmarks and the early signs of that kind of thing. I come from the punk rock scene and we’ve been warning about this for a long time. There’s a band called Corrosion Of Conformity who released a record in the ‘80s called ‘Technocracy’, and that’s what we’re heading into now.
When you have the richest man on earth giving what is a Nazi salute… That was not a fucking mistake. He did it twice. People can say he’s self-diagnosed autistic or he was giving his heart, blah, blah, blah. Go fuck yourself, you know? If we are afraid to say, ‘Hey, that’s not cool’, we’re screwed. I will not swallow that bullshit, and I will not comply with fascism. Fuck you.
I don’t know if you can print this shit or not, but I get very upset about this stuff. It’s dangerous and you’re seeing it not just in America, but in other parts of the world as well. Power is consolidating. All you have to do is follow the money. If you look at Trump’s inauguration, how many tech billionaires are there? Someone like Elon Musk, he’s not doing it for money, he has all the money in the world. Some of his contemporaries have said that he’s bored with money, now it’s time for power. It’s just obvious, and anyone that can’t see that is blind.”
When asked by NME if he felt there was ‘a disconnect between the general public calling out for change, and those who have the authority to make a definitive impact’, Blythe responded:
“Well there is a big difference between me and Elon Musk. With some elected officials there has got to be a common ground, but I don’t trust politicians. I never have. I come from the punk rock scene. I learned my lessons from Black Flag and the Sex Pistols. I don’t believe that all politicians are evil, machiavellian-type people out to get you, though. I believe a lot of them start with an honest intent to serve the people. The problem, I think, is the system, and there’s such a disconnect between the working person and the people in power.
In America, there’s this disconnect where you feel as if your vote doesn’t count – therefore people don’t engage in the political process as much as they could. So I think there is a bit of a disconnect between the common person and people who can affect change. The only way, I think, to change this is to become politically engaged. I believe that apathy and the feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness is what has got us where we are. People want a solution handed to them and, regrettably, that doesn’t work. You have to engage with the world. You have to engage with politics if you’re going to change anything.”
Later in the discussion, Blythe was asked where the band are at with new music, to which he responded:
“…There will definitely be a new record, it’s just a matter of us getting it all together. We’re always writing. I’ve been writing lyrics, my dudes write riffs all the time, and we’re always documenting stuff. For now though, our guitar player, Mark [Morton] has got a new solo record [‘Without The Pain’] coming out, so he’s been working on promoting that. I got my book coming out too, so people are always doing various things. But yes, there will most definitely be new Lamb Of God music and it won’t take five years to come out, I promise. As of right now though, there is no concrete release date.”
