No Fights In Glasgow, But They Have The Same Bus

Deep down, everyone wants to be a rock star. It’s a lifestyle that is glorified as being full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. People play Rock Band because they want to be rock stars. People devote their lives to playing in local bands because they want to be rock stars (a decision that leaves many 35 year-olds living in their parent’s basements). But rarely does any fan have a chance to see the real lifestyle from the band’s point of view. Most music DVD’s tend to be 90% live performance, with maybe 15 minutes of backstage footage, consisting mainly of drunken debauchery. However, as anyone music aficionado would tell you, no camera can ever capture the intensity or true nature of a live show. So, rather then capture something that will top out as mediocre, Lamb of God tries to capture the trials and tribulations that come with the touring process. And one thing becomes very clear; the life of a rock star is not nearly as cool as Rolling Stone makes it out to be.

Its not that it’s a bad lifestyle, its just that over the course of the 2 hour documentary that makes up disc 1 of Walk With Me In Hell, we see that touring consists mostly of sitting around all day doing interviews, signing autographs, and trying to make one’s own fun using cheap items bought at an interstate truck stop. And while such things can be exciting for a few days, we begin to see that it really wears on even the toughest people, especially when they are away from their home for 3 months, stuck on a cursed tour bus (They have the same tour bus from the famed Glasgow Fight) with rental gear that seems to blow out on a nightly basis. And it is the band’s ability to shine light on their hardships that make the documentary fascinating. Every fan knows that bands go around the world, playing concerts, and that fans at these shows mosh their brains out. Lamb of God is willing to pinpoint the bad shows, the bus accidents, and the shear boredom of being stuck on a bus for months at a time, all without asking for the sympathy on the fans.

The best moments would surprise you. Bungee jumping in New Zealand is far superior to a Grammy nomination (a “Ceremony for plastic people” says drummer Chris Adler). The highlight of a European tour with Heaven and Hell is a game of Family Feud pitting the band against the crew. And somewhere around when singer Randell Blythe proclaims meet and greets “awkward” and explains how he feels that he is being poked with a stick, the viewer begins to realize that these are real people with real human traits. Ironically, this enables the band to connect with their fans on a deeper lever. They have interests in random things like Bar-B-Qs with friends, watching NASCAR, and of course, boozing. They are, in fact, like the fans themselves. With these highlights come the struggles as well. Even rock stars are not immune to power outages, get nervous before going on television, and they certainly have to wait out plane delays like the rest of us.

The second disc consists of the material more common to the typical music DVD. The deleted scenes are entertaining, and it becomes quite obvious that the band could do stand-up comedy should their musical careers fail. They include an hour-long documentary on the writing of their Grammy-nominated album Sacrament, and for the music junkies, they throw in footage of their show at the 2007 Download Festival in England (footage that can also easily be found on YouTube, but its cool nonetheless). Its not as great as the first disc, but its solid material.

All in all, it’s a great package. Enlightening, unique, funny and intense, all seemingly made for the fan. So if you like Lamb of God, or just want to have an insider’s view at the life of rock stars, pick it up.