Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe Talks About His Upcoming Book ‘Just Beyond The Light’
Lamb Of God singer D. Randall “Randy” Blythe was recently interviewed by Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM show “Wired In The Empire”, and talked about his 2nd book, “Just Beyond The Light: Living With The War Inside My Head”, which is due out February 18, 2025. The book is the follow-up to Blythe’s ’15 book “Dark Days: A Memoir”, which went deep into his ordeal in a Czech Republic prison and his acquittal.
Asked if “Just Beyond The Light” picks up where “Dark Days” left off… Blythe said, “It’s a completely different book. It’s a collection of — I wouldn’t call ’em essays, but different chapters about, basically different people and experiences who have (changed) my perspective for the better.”
He explained, “As I get older, I try not to make the same stupid mistakes again and again and again and again. And surprise, surprise, if you look at people who — you look at them and you think, ‘Man, this person has their life together,’ or, ‘They’ve acted in a manner that I find admirable,’ if you pay attention to them and follow their example, you don’t do stupid things yourself. I’m not saying that I don’t still do stupid things, but I’m trying fully in my old age to learn from others more.”
When Radioactive MikeZ said he found it interesting that Blythe interviewed his then-94-year-old grandmother for the book, Randy said, “Yeah, she passed away. There’s a chapter. Well, I didn’t interview her for the book. I interviewed her because she was 94. She lived to be a hundred and a half. And there’s a whole chapter about her. She raised me for part of my childhood and she was raised during the The (Great) Depression. She did not screw around. She was a very real person who lived through a whole lot. But I interviewed her when she was 94, just for the fact that I heard so many stories from her of growing up in a different time. And I was, like, ‘She’s not gonna be here forever. I might as well get all this stuff down,’ just for my own purposes and for my family to have. She was the last of that generation in my family. So when I started to write this book on perspective and people I’ve learned things from, she was a natural choice. Luckily, I had that interview to draw on. So if you have old people in your life — this is what I’m gonna tell you — if you have old people in your life, interview them now… I’m gonna have to do that with my parents soon. I mean, they’re not ancient or anything, but your memory starts failing as you get older. So it’s time to get that stuff before it disappears.”
The publisher describes “Just Beyond The Light: Living With The War Inside My Head” as “a riveting and revelatory memoir about self-development and maintaining proper prospective through difficult times.”
In “Dark Days”, you read about Blythe’s 2012 arrest in the Czech Republic and how he was charged with manslaughter for allegedly pushing a 19-year-old fan offstage at a show two year prior and causing injuries that led to the fan’s death. Blythe spent 37 days in a Prague prison before being found not guilty in 2013. Right? Yikes!
Now, in “Just Beyond The Light”, you’ll read about how Randy works to maintain positivity in a world that feels like it’s spinning out of control. He say the book is a “tight, concise roadmap of how I have attempted to maintain what I believe to be a proper perspective in life, even during difficult times.” You’ll read about his approach to life, sobriety, art, surfing, fallen friends, growing up in the South and leaving the world a better place.
“Just Beyond The Light” reminds you that “as long as we keep our feet (and minds) planted firmly on the ground that is reality, the sky isn’t falling — it never has been, and it never will.”
If anyone in music has a story to tell, it’s Randy Blythe! I can’t wait to read his new book. If you haven’t read the first, do yourself a favour. One of thee best rock books out there!
