LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe was asked by Long Island Pulse whether opening for SLAYER on ongoing tour is a difficult task as everyone says it is, to which he replied:
“For us? No. And I’ll tell you why.
“Our first real tour that we ever did we were opening for GWAR. And GWAR fans – they can be as passionate and as ruthless as Slayer fans.
“If you give them a chance, if they smell weakness, they will attack. And all you’ll hear is, ‘GWAR! GWAR! GWAR!’ It’s certainly the same situation with Slayer – they will ‘SLAYER!’ chant you off the stage if you don’t come correct.
“When we went out on this tour with GWAR – we knew it was like that, so we played at a breakneck speed, three to four songs in a row, never even gave them a chance, no space in between songs, to start chanting. And that sort of hit-it-hard and hit-it-aggressive mentality has stayed with us.
He continues:
“Touring Germany opening up for Slayer… that was interesting.
“We didn’t get chanted off the stage, but at that time, the German Slayer fans were very much there for Slayer. It was kind of like crickets. They’re looking at you like *German accent*, ‘Why are you not Slayer? We are here to see Slayer!’
“[Our video guy] even made up this character called Baron Von Nobody Cares. He was this German guy who would sit there and look at you and go, ‘Ah! You are not Slayer.’
“When you open up for a band like Slayer, you have to come out and you have to be confident and hit it really hard. And that’s what we’ve done from the beginning, and it’s served us well. You can’t slack when you play with Slayer, that’s for sure. Their fans – God knows what they’ll do to you. [Laughs]”
