Lamb of God guitarist Willie Adlercaught up withUltimate Guitar and talked about the band’s experience with theAs The Palaces Burn documentary and wishing he could be an awesome guitar player! We’re not quite sure what he’s talking about with the last part because he clearly already is, but check it out below anyway!
In the film [As The Palaces Burn], Jose Mangin from Sirius XM said, “Metal has always been an onest and real organic outlet to get all those f–kin’ demons out.” Do you agree with that?
Absolutely. Jose is 100 percent the real deal. He lives it, breathes it, and I love that about him. It is very much alive and well and a community-driven lifestyle. It’s what people make their mantra and it’s code for a lot of people. This whole thing will completely encompass you. It’s really great and like Jose said in the film, it is an aggressive outlet. But at the same time it’s that therapeutic outlet and it’s what a lot of people find they have common bond with a lot of other metalheads. The film showing bits of this is just so powerful to bring these people together in that therapeutic type of moment.
Was there a guitar player you wanted to be back in the day?
Umm, when it came to metal, man, it was Kirk and James and just the combination of the two. As soon as I got “Kill ‘Em All” on cassette and a 45. I think I had a little Fisher-Price record player - a little red record player. I would just jam the 45 of “Kill 'em All” and then I finally got the tape. That shit changed my life.
You’ve also talked about a guitar player like Leo Kottke. Did you ever want to play music like that?
You know what? I wish I could, man. I wish I could be as awesome a guitarist and as percussive a guitarist as Leo Kottke. I think what he does is pretty damn amazing. Metal’s just my calling. I can admire all these dudes and wish and wish. I should probably just try, hah hah hah. Get somebody knows like my buddy Paul [Waggoner] fromBetween the Buried and Me to teach me how to chickenpick and all that crazy stuff. I really dig it but I think I’m just intimidated by it.
Metal is obviously where you were meant to be.
Metal is my comfort zone. I do - you just reminded me. I really kind of need to step out of the box and figure out some other stuff. That’s not to say I’m gonna stop playing metal. I actually love what I do but yeah, I do. I need to learn a little bit more.
The band has been pretty honest about its indulgence in alcohol. Did that ever get in the way of the music?
It was fulltime, man. It was a fulltime gig. Beer came along with it because there wasn’t no, “Well, we gotta record this. Not now.” It was, “Oh man, we gotta record? That’s gonna interrupt my drinking, hah hah hah.”
How can you go in and play those insane guitar parts when you’re drunk?
You know what? I don’t anymore. Yeah, I think a lot of us slowed down quite a bit as the focus has really had to be about the music. 'Cause we’re not all that young anymore. At least speaking for myself, I definitely want to be in a completely sober state of mind when I do that.
Do you remember the drinking impacting the music?
Umm, there were a few tours I know that I had probably some pretty sloppy shows just due to my drinkin’. You know it sucks for the fans that were there and kinda in the back of my head that there’s nothin’ really I can do but really try and put on the best shows possible in the future.
In an interview with Mark Morton, he said you had an “Abstract approach to songwriting and doesn’t really have a foundation in traditional rock.” Would you agree with that?
Absolutely. I’m not gonna lie and say I had all kinds of training. No, man. I started off with piano and then guitar. Chris had a buddy that brought a guitar over to the house and I just kinda picked it up. I really fell in love with it even though I really obviously couldn’t play then.
Your songwriting just comes from an emotional place - if it feels good, it is good?
I have no idea what I’m doing on the thing. All I know is what sounds really good to me and what just kinda makes my heart skip a beat when I’m writing riffs and writing a tune. I think gradually over the last two records, I’ve found myself kind of pulling that box in a little bit but only in the respect of a conventional song and the way that if you want to get in the lingo of chorus/verse/pre-chorus and that kind of shit. Whereas on the first few records it was,“Riff after riff - how can I outdo that last riff?” And have one song be a six-minute riff-fest.
Mark even said your writing on the “Resolution” album has really gotten focused.
I think I’ve kind of reined myself I a bit but no, Mark, is absolutely spot on where I’ve never been taught to think that way so I don’t think that way. It obviously reflects in a lot of my songs and a lot of my riffs and what patterns I choose to follow. Mark will tell me sometimes, “Ah, you’re doing this in mode whatever” and I’ll be like, “Alright, cool.”
You actually made the conscious effort to adhere a bit more to accepted song forms?
Yeah, I figured I’d try and smooth it out a little bit. I was getting lost in the riffs at some point. There were a lot of gems in the past I could have elaborated on instead of packing in a sh-t ton of riffs. And Mark has helped me a great deal with seeing that and developing a certain idea as opposed to packing a shit ton of 'em into five minutes.
Check out the rest of the interview atUltimate Guitar
