Lamb of God
Randy Blythe with Lamb of God at Hammerstein Ballroom in January (more by Nick Karp)

Lamb of God's Randy Blythe filling in for Mike "IX" Williams on Eyehategod tour

Lamb of God
Randy Blythe with Lamb of God at Hammerstein Ballroom in January

(more photos by Nick Karp)

In a surprising bit of news, Eyehategod have announced that, while frontman Mike “IX” Williams continues to recover from the health problems that have sidelined him for a while now, he will be replaced on their upcoming tour with Discharge and Toxic Holocaust by none other than Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe. I call it surprising because, well, first of all Lamb of God are a much bigger name than Eyehategod. Optimistically, you could say this shows how important EHG are, that such a famous person would want to fill in with them. Cynically, you could say Randy Blythe is trying to increase his own cred. Especially when he announces the news like this:

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a massive EYEHATEGOD fan. I’ve seen them play more times than I can remember, my old side project covered ‘Dixie Whiskey’ for an EYEHATEGOD tribute album, I wear their merch, I even have a freaking EYEHATEGOD tattoo that I got in New Orleans. They are one of my favorite bands of all time, period.

Also, one wonders how many EHG fans actually want to see their faves play with Randy. Vocally speaking, it’s not as clean of a fit as Phil Anselmo was. But in any case, these guys do have history, as Randy pointed out:

I’ve also been friends with the guys in the band since the ’90s… actually, I knew them before I knew the dudes in my own band, and EYEHATEGOD would often crash at my crib when they came through Richmond. So it’s a bit difficult for me to say, ‘I’m super-happy that I’ve been asked to fill in for Mike IX Williams on this upcoming tour with Discharge and Toxic Holocaust.’ In fact, I can’t honestly say that at all because, once again as a fan and, more importantly, a friend, no one would rather see Mike do this tour more than myself.

Either way, this ups the curiosity factor for this upcoming tour, and it wouldn’t hurt if this encouraged some of the many Lamb of God fans to check out the mighty Eyehategod.

Discharge / Eyehategod / Toxic Holocaust — 2016 Tour Dates
10/06/2016 Studio Seven – Seattle, WA
10/07/2016 Dantes – Portland, OR
10/08/2016 Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
10/09/2016 Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
10/10/2016 The Roxy – Los Angeles, CA
10/11/2016 Glass House – Pomona, CA
10/12/2016 Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA
10/13/2016 Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
10/14/2016 Webster Hall/Marlin Room – New York, NY
10/15/2016 Reggies – Chicago, IL
10/16/2016 Reggies – Chicago, IL w/ Negative Approach, Svlphvrvs