Lamb Of God Frontman: ‘If You’re Not Part Of The Solution, You’re Part Of The Problem’

Lamb Of God are making 2012 their own with a crusher of a new album, Resolution, arriving January 24 via Epic.  Produced by Josh Wilbur, who worked on the band’s last effort (2009’s Wrath), the album is a deeply introspective and supremely kickass leap into the darkness – check out the fantastic animated video for Ghost Walking. But strangely enough, if singer Randy Blythe has anything to say about it, that may be only the second biggest news story to come out of the LOG camp this year.

Blythe, the band’s ever-outspoken frontman, has announced that he’s running for president in 2012. His goal to be the next leader of the free world, man of a thousand nukes, permanent detainer of American civilians, marionette to the megabanks is driven not by a desire to entrench himself in the oceans of Halliburton money or get his own Goldman Sachs diamond-encrusted bidet. Randy wants to get his hands on the wheel to veer the nation back onto the road of rationale and responsibility, of motivated awareness and kinetic progress. As he says himself, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem.

Needless to say, we had to get this guy on the phone.

I’m curious to the core motivation is for this presidential run, but no matter what comes of it, what matters most is that you’re getting people to start talking about relevant issues. We all need the music, but that’s the meeting point of a million perspectives and life circumstance – once you’ve got their fucking attention, what do you do with it? You go to church and they pepper the sociopolitical instructions throughout. You turn on the TV and you’re inundated with agenda-based bullshit. But with music…

There you go. Someone is smart and has gotten the point. (laughs) I am indeed running for president – I was thinking of going for the Republican bid. I was watching some of these primary “debates” and was like ‘Oh my god, these are the best people out of all the far right wing people in the United States that they can muster up?’ The world has got to be coming to an end. This is a sign. So I figured well, I’m gonna run for the presidency.

You have ideas on how to bring our economy back into balance, I assume?

Yes, I will be putting those out soon. I’ve been writing, and I have a statement I’ve been working on about the economy. That’ll be my next policy statement, and I don’t think it’ll be that popular, but it’ll be real.

A lot of people have hit me up on Twitter, and have told me ‘I’ve never registered to vote, but I just did just to vote for you.’ I know there’s a lot of people out there. I know I’m gonna get some votes. There’s no doubt about it. And hopefully, I’m gonna get the majority vote, and we’ll see what happens. We’ll see if we have another Bush episode.

Ultimately the reality of money sets in when it comes down to the fact that 94% of the presidential winners have been the ones with the most money.

Oh definitely, and as I said before, I’m proud to say that so far I’ve only spent $1.99 on an editing app on my iPhone called Splice for the campaign commercial. What really infuriates me about politics, aside from the bipartisan politics which has completely paralyzed Congress to the point where nothing’s getting done, is that it’s so blatantly about money. It’s so blatantly about who has the most juice and cash in Washington with the lobbyists.

It’s what the Wu-Tang Clan said, man: C.R.E.A.M. Cash Rules Everything Around Me, man. And it’s the truth. So my campaign is all about taking away the bells and whistles. Let’s take away the gratuitous name-calling. These people aren’t really saying much. What they are saying generally though, it’s just…

Batshit crazy.

Yeah, exactly. Batshit crazy. She’s gone now, but the fact that a woman like Michele Bachmann can get up there, spout absolute nonsensical garbage day and night, and say ‘I am a serious presidential candidate, and my facts are accurate.’ Then you’ve got Newt Gingrich, who admits to smoking pot. Whatever you think about smoking pot, whatever your stance is, the following statement should blow anybody’s mind: Newt admits to smoking pot in the 60s. He said yes I’ve done it, I know I shouldn’t have because of the legality. And it’s illegal now in 2012. The big difference is that in the 60s, it wasn’t immoral. But now, in 2012, it’s immoral. He has selective morality! A man who is running on the family values but dumps his wife when she has cancer…

He wants to put people on death row for bringing cannabis into the country! Death for marijuana!

Fucking unbelievable. I’m a sober man. I have smoked pot, I don’t think anything’s wrong with it. I don’t think you should smoke too much of it, because I think it makes you stupid, but it does have its uses. It does in fact have medicinal uses. It’s a plant. I think it should be legal. Like anything else, it can be abused.

Here in California it’s an accepted part of the culture, and often times its easier to find a weed dispensary than a Starbucks or 7-Eleven. I smoke regularly, and a medical marijuana prescription has not only enabled me to legitimately obtain it rather than going through a sketchy dealer, but also to know the quality consistency, and remove the stereotypical Cheech & Chong stigma associated with it. It comes down to a responsible integration into society that isn’t irresponsible or harmful to the people. It comes down to individual rights, to a person’s ability to govern themselves.

Right. This is factual, not some sort of hooplah. Look at the Dutch society, look at Holland. The coffee shops are only now being regulated so that only Dutch citizens can go to them, but not even the majority of Dutch citizens smoke weed or hash. Not all of them at all. I have friends who live there who don’t smoke weed. It’s there, it’s just…

Not a big deal, because it’s not made a big deal.

Exactly. Now you’ve got a guy who says that it wasn’t immoral for him to smoke it, but it is for kids today, and he wants to put to death people for a fucking plant. It’s utterly ludicrous that this man is in the race to hold the highest office in the land. It’s insane. People are babbling about so much nonsense, and paying attention to the total circus going on right now is absolutely insane. So that’s why I’m running for president.

Well here’s hoping you can get on the ballot. Because no matter what you’re dealing with on the likelihood of what we’ll be facing in November, you’re getting the same results, the same investors – the banks – pulling the strings, the same bullshit no matter which side you fall on. The lack of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats at this point really seems to only come down to color coding and grudges. If Obama were white and Republican, he’d be on the money already. They’d be carving his face on Mount Rushmore.

Sure. Sure. It’s so fucked up… I talk to older people, like 80 year old people, about the state of our country as it is now. I’ve talked to people who lived through the depression. Everybody says bad things abotu the next generation, oh, things are horrible now, so on and so forth. I’m asking these people, what do you think about this Congress? And almost everybody who has any political astuteness whatsoever and has been around awhile says this is the worst Congress they’ve ever seen. Ever. It’s like having a bunch of Pee-Wee Herman’s up there going ‘I know you are but what am I?’

It’s fucking ridiculous, and the country is suffering for it. Nothing is getting done. We’re in an incredible amount of debt to China. It’s fucking amazing – how did things get this way? Personally, I think it started with Reagan, but we can go on all day about this stuff.

I don’t know, man. I’m half tempted to just buy a bunch of fucking gold and bury it.

Yeah, Canada’s looking pretty nice, too. But I hate the idea of running away just because a group of corrupted motherfuckers is ruining it for everyone, and tricking them into playing party to it. This is an incredible country, an amazing nation, and we have fucked it up so badly. There has to be a way around, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a pretty process.

It’s not going to be pretty. The basis of my ideas for fixing America is going to hinge on personal responsibility and accountability. Taking a look at this situation and saying ‘Ok, it shouldn’t be this way. This is what we have to do to fix it.’ Not, ‘Oh, this isn’t fair.’ Because life is not fair. We have to deal in reality.

Solution-based reality.

Yeah, let’s stay in the solution. That’s the last thing on my ‘Thanks’ list on the record, which is very, very brief. It says if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Everyone is going to have to be a part of the solution. I’ve got bad news for you: things aren’t just going to turn around.

We’ve been sitcommed into believing that no matter what the problem is, you can tie it up with a bow at the end of the schedule. Things have always bounced back, once we’ve gotten a new face in the cockpit, a new wave of distraction and complacency. But things seem much different now. The explosion of awareness that the internet has brought means we’re not going to be as easily swayed by the big gloss-over. The way our rights are being attacked, the way that information is being attempted to be censored, or the fact that the government has full legal authorization to detail and torture its own citizens without charges – permanently!

And Obama signed that on New Year’s Eve, when everyone was drunk and partying, having a good time. He signed it into law “with reservations,” as if every administration after his would treat it with the same kid gloves. What about after your administration, when the United States has carte blanche to round us up and throw us into detainment camps in fucking Cuba or somewhere. People just aren’t waking up. It’s such a bummer. I have friends who are political anarchists, who are like revolution this, revolution that. And the only thing I believe is going to cause a revolution in America is when things get so repressive that we’ll have a full armed revolt. Everyone is so sedated and pacified by all this technology and media and lies. Things are going on right underneath their noses.

In full, plain view.

Right, it’s not even a fucking secret anymore. It’s not even some illuminati shit. ‘Oh, we’re going to sign into law something that completely strips you of any rights as a citizen whatsoever – forever.’ Get the fuck out of here.

Keep up with Lamb Of God and pick up their new album Resolution at their official site.