According to the Czech news web site Novinky, vocalist Randy Blythe of Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD was arrested earlier today (Thursday, June 28) in the Czech
Republic and charged with manslaughter over an incident that happened more than two years ago.
Blythe, 41, reportedly got into an altercation with a fan who had come on stage during the band’s show at the Prague club Abaton in May 2010 and the fan later died of his
injuries.
After the 2010 incident, those who know the band heard the intruder may have been struck with a microphone before the security team forced him from the stage, reports Richmond’s TV station
CBS-6.
When LAMB OF GOD arrived on Thursday to play a show at the Rock Café in Prague with SKELETONWITCH and ALL SHALL PERISH, the local police brought
the musician in for questioning. LAMB OF GOD‘s appearance at the venue was canceled later in the day.
LAMB OF GOD‘s representatives have said that Blythe is wrongly accused and that they expect him to be fully exonerated.
Randy‘s brother, Mark Blythe, told CBS-6 that he’s awaiting further details and said the charge is « bogus and outrageous and will be dropped
immediately. »
Shortly after 9 p.m. EST, the #freerandyblythe hash tag was posted on the @lambofgodband Twitter account (which is run by a fan and not the bandmembers themselves).
A recovering alcoholic, Blythe‘s drunken fight with LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton was included on the band’s « Killadelphia »
DVD. But Randy stopped drinking completely more than two years ago.
« I drank for a good 20 years, » the singer told Spin.com in a February 2012 interview. « A year or two ago, I’d had enough and got sober. I always thought nothing could ever beat
me. But drinking beat me into a state of submission. . . . I can tell you from personal experience, if you’re an alcoholic, you are most definitely fucked. It’s never gonna get any better. Talk
to somebody else who got sober. That’s what I did. I wouldn’t go to an orthodontist for back surgery, and I’m not going to go to someone who’s never been an alcoholic to ask for advice on how to
quit drinking.