Lamb of God’s cash struggle over manslaughter case

Price of justice: Lamb of God

Lamb of God bassist John Campbell admits the band are facing financial difficulty over frontman Randy Blythe’s manslaughter charge.

The frontman was yesterday indicted in the case of the death of fan Daniel Nosek, who passed away a month after a Lamb of God show in Prague in 2010. It’s alleged Blythe pushed Nosek off stage after he’d climbed up three times, and that led to a brain haemorrhage two weeks later, which ended his life after another fortnight.

Blythe spent five weeks in prison in the Cezch Republic, during which time the US embassy all but ignored him and the White House failed to respond to a petition calling for action, even though it reached their 25,000 lower-limit at which a response is required.

Lamb of God have already auctioned a stack of their prized possessions to help pay for lawyers who’ll help prepare Blythe’s defence.

But now Campbell says they still don’t have the cash they need.

He tells MLive: “We’re potentially staring down the barrel of a very expensive trial.

“I parted with some items. I have personal attachments to the basses I play. I took my two favourites and donated them to the auction, and donated a painting that Dave Brockie from Gwar made.

“I was overwhelmed with with how much support we received and we raised a decent amount of money. I’ve been told there’s another auction being planned with more donated items from friends and bands.”

Blythe insists he’ll return to the Czech Republic to stand trial, despite facing up to ten years in jail if found guilty. The legal system in the former Soviet state is such that his indictment doesn’t necessarily mean a trial will follow.

Campbell – whose manager has pointed out the Prague venue has admitted to lax security on the night of the 2010 show – believes Nosek should never have been allowed onto the stage, regardless of whether he was pushed off.

“It was a tragic event,” he says. “It’s not the first time somebody jumped off stage, I’ve done it myself when I was younger. We should take a moment to pause and reflect on a life that was lost. I don’t want to lose focus on that.

“In this day and age, though, I’d prefer not to have people on stage. People pay to see us perform, and that’s not part of the production we have planned. It’s not about a guy jumping on stage and flapping his arms and jumping off. And then there’s that one time where a guy got on stage and murdered Dimebag Darrell Abbott.

“In my opinion he never should have been on stage in the first place.”