Ex-Man Podcast Ep. 122 – John Campbell (Lamb of God)

Doc welcomes Lamb of God bassist, John Campbell, to the show and they go deep on the recent protest movement and civil unrest in response to the killing of George Floyd, and talk about Lamb of God’s decision to release an album during the pandemic, how they’ve dealt with splitting with longtime drummer, Chris Adler, how new drummer, Art Cruz, has energized the band, his perspective on the evolution of LoG’s sound, how the band’s politics and relationship with its fans intersect, and what makes Lamb of God special.

This episode features the songs “Mary Go Round” by Memory of a Melody and “New Colossal Hate” by Lamb of God.

Follow John on Instagram @jayceerva and Twitter @JClogbass

Follow Doc on Instagram and Twitter @DocCoyle

Please support this episode’s sponsor War Machine Marketing and check out their extensive item search at warmachinemarketing.com or email them at ro@warmachinemarketing.com

Please support this episode’s sponsor Memory of a Melody at www.memoryofamelody.com

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Doc Is Touring with Mark Morton of Lamb of God

Hello friends! I will be playing guitar with Mark Morton from Lamb of God’s solo band on a short US tour this month. Having been friends with Mark forever and even filling in for him before in LoG, it’s an honor to be considered for this gig. If you haven’t checked out the record, it’s called Anesthetic and it’s available now everywhere you buy or stream music. You may have heard the incredible track “Crossed Off” which features the last recorded material from the late Linkin Park frontman, Chester Bennington.

The rest of the band is rounded out by Art Cruz (Winds of Plague, Prong) on drums and Mark Morales and Nick Villareal from Sons of Texas on vocals and bass. We will be co-headlining with Light The Torch feat. Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage) and one of my favorite bands, Moon Tooth.

You can purchase advance tickets and VIP packages HERE. Dates below. Hope to see you guys there in the front row \m/

Ep. 78 – Paul Conroy (ex-Roadrunner A&R, ex-Lamb of God Manager, ex-Ferret Records/Good Fight)

Doc welcomes former artist manager, A&R, and entrepreneur Paul Conroy and they talk about how he got his start in the music business in Philadelphia, getting hired by Roadrunner Records, his challenges as an A&R, leaving Roadrunner to manage Lamb of God, how insecurity as a manager got the best of him and led to him partnering with Carl Severson at Ferret Records, his philosophy on how passion drives his entrepreneurial spirit, selling Ferret and launching Good Fight Entertainment, burning out and changing his focus to health and wellness, leaving the music industry and moving to the west coast to enter sports entertainment, his current company Plus Foundry, and Paul inquires Doc about his life transitions and recent success.

This episode features the songs “My Resistance” by Hallow Point and “Untitled” by Five Pointe O.

Follow Paul on Instagram @pauljosephconroy

Follow Doc on Instagram and Twitter @DocCoyle

Check out and support our show sponsor Hallow Point here www.facebook.com/hallowpointmetal/

Support our show sponsor and buy official band merch at Rockabilia.com. Use the code PCJABBERJAW for 10% off. Buy the Rockabilia.com Exclusive Ex Man T-shirt here – www.rockabilia.com/doc-coyle-the-e…irt-402964.html

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This Is The End

Headbangers ball

“This is the end!” This is the emphatic, anthemic line in the God Forbid opening track from the album IV: Constitution of Treason, which was released during the peak of our powers in 2005. In fact, it wasn’t the end. The end came much later. At the time, it felt like we were invincible, destined for heavy metal immortality. And we were in the lower tier of the NWOAHM (or Metalcore or whatever you want to call it) in all metrics for determining the success or popularity of bands. If you look at album, ticket, and merchandise sales, Myspace friends, Youtube views, Facebook “likes”, or the ever mystical buzz on the street, God Forbid was probably never half as big as any of the rest of the Big 4 of Quitters (I should trade mark this) including Bleeding Through, Shadows Fall, and now Chimaira. Knowing that, even we felt invincible. That’s how intoxicating achieving any discernible success with your art can be. Shadows Fall and Chimaira hanging it up in the last couple weeks have brought an outpouring of sadness, shock and disappointment from fans. It seems like the end of an era, and maybe it is.

Hearing that these great bands are moving on makes me sad and disappointed, but not shocked. The truth is that amongst peers a good majority of our conversations have to do with figuring out how to stay relevant by finding new audiences, getting great tours, signing with the right label, writing the next game changing album, and more. Teetering on the edge of existence has been much of our collective realities for half of our careers. As the O.G. quitter, I’m here to explain why this is happening and why you shouldn’t be surprised.

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In Memoriam – A God Forbid Retrospective

gfep1
It’s only been a week since we closed the door on God Forbid, but with so much outpouring of affection, sharing of memories, disclosures of sadness bordering on mourning from friends, fans, fellow compatriots in the music industry, and my own reflections burrowing their way from my subconscious to the surface, I thought I should share some of my thoughts about what kind of legacy we left.

In all honesty, it feels silly to use a word like legacy when talking about my own band, but I was actually having some sentimental feelings about the musical catalog God Forbid has amassed when I was preparing for the last couple shows we did, before I decided to leave the group. I was practicing a few songs I hadn’t played in a while, and in that time, I started listening back to some songs and albums I hadn’t heard to in quite some time. And in that moment, I felt a deep sense of pride and accomplishment. For perhaps the first time, I heard a distinct sound that permeated from our first album to our last. Although that sound had evolved over time and become more nuanced and composed and lost some of it’s teeth, much of the feel was there. The groove was consistent. Dynamics always played a part. Darkness and melody persisted and coexisted. The words spoke about pushing through and striving for better.

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RIP Mick Deth

mick-deth-d--large-msg-121873598697

I am truly shocked and saddened to hear of my buddy Mick “Deth” Morris’ passing. I wasn’t aware of his heart condition. It’s increasingly weird as the older you get, the more people you know die before their time.

I met Mick when 18 Visions opened up for Mushroomhead and Lamb of God at the Birch Hill Nite Club in NJ in 2001. He was always super cool, humble, affable guy. Although we never did extended touring with 18V, we got to do some spot dates together like Furnace Fest 2002, and a show later that year w/ Everytime I Die, Bleeding Through and Avenged Sevenfold opening.

18 Visions deserves credit for being a trailblazer. For better or worse, they brought style to hardcore scene. They wrote the script for bands like Motionless in White and Falling In Reverse to follow. And when 18V did it, they were playing with real hardcore bands, and it was not always cool with the status quo. That takes some balls.

We stayed in touch over the years as he started to work for Hatebreed, and even chatted about jamming together at some point. Unfortunately, it never happened. I was just enjoying his Instagram feed last night. This sucks. I’ll miss you dude.

THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGIN’ (Posted Oct. 5th 2011 on Metalsucks.net)

Singularity

There seems to be a firestorm in the metal world regarding the state of the industry, Spotify, illegal downloading, and the philosophical struggle between capitalism and artistic integrity. Lines have been drawn in the sand and it’s getting fucking personal. I have remained rather silent on the sidelines but all of this action has inspired me to enter the fray.

But I’d like to approach this discussion from a different angle than the one that has been taken thus far – one which deals with some issues that are beyond music. Perhaps you could call it a political discussion, or a cultural discussion, or even a philosophical discussion. I want to talk about the idea of ownership, and what exactly that means in our modern, western paradigm, which is one rooted in competition-based capitalism.

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SAD BUT TRUE (Posted Mar. 18th 2011 on Metalsucks.net)

The Dude

I was inspired to put some thoughts down after reading Sergeant D.’s post about what a terrible decision it is to commit yourself to the band life at a young age, because eventually the wheels will fall off and you’ll end up just like some morose version of the Anvil story: Sad, old, broke, and disillusioned by shattered dreams of rock stardom.  I know his blog was supposed to be funny and sarcastic, and was even sprinkled with a hint of sour grapes: Not getting to be that “cool band guy,” but justice being served down the line by seeing how those guys ended up. But I have to say that post hit home for me, because in many ways it was about me. I mean generally, not specifically. I’m pretty sure Sergeant D. didn’t follow me around and base his post on me autobiographically.

I graduated high school mentally unprepared for the real world; I never really grasped the idea that I would have to get up everyday and work a job I didn’t feel connected to for the rest of my life. Being a “grown up” was something I didn’t want any part of and couldn’t relate to.  Music was the only thing I really loved, and I seemed to be good at it, or, at least, it seemed to come easier to me than most of my peers in the local scene I was involved in. I didn’t picture myself being a musician for a living, either. My heroes, like Pantera and Megadeth, were mythical to me. The idea that you could actually do that with your life just didn’t seem real at the time, so I just went with the flow and didn’t really set any long term life goals or follow any solid decrees. I only lasted one semester in college, and left to work to focus on God Forbid because it felt like we were on to something. Within a year of leaving school, the band was signed to Century Media, and within two years, we all quit our jobs and transitioned to being a full-time touring band.  That was ten years ago.

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I AGAINST I (Posted Nov. 2nd 2010 on Metalsucks.net)

Dolph Lundgren is really from Sweden

Dolph Lundgren is really from Sweden

For my opening salvo, I suppose I should mention that it has been a long break between blogs. I’ve been meaning to get back to it, but this summer has been a very busy one filled with the musical composition of the new God Forbid album as well as a new project I’ve been working on, in addition to the daily pursuit of living life and getting by. I hope to contribute more frequently in the near future.

If you’ve followed my articles in the past, you may notice that I often address music history, and pertaining to this site, heavy music specifically. I have a great respect for artistic pioneers and the roots of where the most admirable and brilliant music stems from. I was the type of kid who would read liner notes and interviews by my favorite bands to find out who influenced them. I would always want to climb that musical family tree to see where it lead.

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THE LOOKS THAT KILL (Posted Mar. 17th 2010 on Metalsucks.net)

color me

I am going to assume that a decent portion of the followers of this site are themselves musicians with bands of their own. That is generally how it goes with metal. There are seamless lines blurred between the “fans” and the “bands” because, like myself, many metal patrons represent both categories. Without this large sector of musician fans, technically proficient bands that cater directly to this base (like Dream Theater, Meshuggah, and Necrophagiast) would be much less successful. So to those musicians, I would like to use this blog to shine a light on one of the harsh truths in all music and entertainment that many musicians choose to ignore –

Image matters a lot in this industry. In fact, it’s probably just as important as the music.

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