BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//EVDB//www.eventful.com//EN VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:Lamb of God in Tucson\, AZ at Rialto Theatre - Eventful BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20081217T000000 DTSTAMP:20081214T233053Z SUMMARY:Lamb of God DESCRIPTION:From Buy tickets at TicketsNow.com!: Buy Tickets for Lamb of God at Rialto Theatre-Tucson on 12/17/2008.\nFrom Event details at rialtotheatre.com!: wednesday December 17 6:30pm doors / 8pm showtime   Lamb of God  (METAL!)with Job for a Cowboy\, The Faceless all ages    ON SALE SATURDAY\, OCTOBER 18TH The roots of Lamb of God were plante d in 1990 when Mark Morton\, Chris Adler and John Campbell were floor mates at Virginia Commonwealth University. The trio began playing at A dler's house in Richmond weathering chilly conditions. "There was no h eat at the house\," recalls Campbell. "We would freeze our asses off\, get really drunk and hang around the kerosene heaters trying to write metal songs. Kerosene fumes and Black Label beer were definitely what fueled our early days." After graduation\, Morton moved to Chicago t o pursue a master's degree\, but the band continued. A new guitarist\, Abe Spear\, replaced Morton as the band retired its instrumental soun d and added Blythe on vocals. The quartet\, known then as Burn the Pr iest\, became a fixture in the tightly-knit Richmond music scene. To c ompete with the high-level of musicianship displayed by their contempo raries\, the band adopted a rigid practice schedule. "To this day\, we practice five days a week out of necessity\," says Campbell. "The ban ds in Richmond can flat outplay you and if you don't practice\, they w ill blow you off the stage. Bands like Breadwinner and Sliang Laos - t wo local math-metal bands - could play insanely complicated music note perfect. They inspired us to raise the bar musically and taught us th e work ethic we needed to be a success." The band was playing around Virginia when Morton moved back from Chicago and re-joined the group. Soon after\, Burn the Priest released a self-titled full length album on Legion Records. Abe left soon after\, which opened a spot for guita rist\, and brother to Chris - Willie Adler. A year after the second A dler joined\, Burn the Priest changed its name to Lamb of God and sign ed a record deal with Prosthetic Records. The band's independent-debut \, New American Gospel\, was released in 2000. "This album was all abo ut creating a rhythmic and pummeling musical landscape with riff after riff\," explains Morton. Drummer Adler notes: ÒThis is a classic reco rd. We had all the elements come together to make one of the heaviest\ , yet contagious records of our career. It was difficult to contain us - we didn't even understand at the time what we had created." Two ye ars of extensive touring to support the album raised Lamb of God's pro file before the band released the critically acclaimed\, As The Palace s Burn (2003). ATPB won record of the year honors in such notable maga zines as Revolver and Metal Hammer while garnering mainstream press in Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. The band hit the road again and began headlining tours across the globe. In the fall of 2003 Lamb of God was a co-headliner on the first ever MTV's Headbanger's Ball To ur which elevated Lamb of God beyond the underground. The band then re leased Terror and Hubris\, a DVD featuring early live performances\, v ideos for "Ruin" and "Black Label" and behind-the-scenes footage highl ighting the work ethic\, humility and sense of humor of one of the mos t respected and influential bands around today. The DVD proved to be a commercial success as it entered the Billboard Music DVD Charts at #3 2. Gradually\, Lamb of God's persistence paid off. Their 2003 disc\, As The Palaces Burn earned them a new level of respect and admiration\ , but it was 2004's virulent major label debut (Epic Records) Ashes of the Wake that turned the band into true contenders for the metal thro ne. By mid 2006\, the record had sold over 275\,000 copies. Revolver m agazine voted it the album of the year\, a Guitar World readers poll d eemed it best metal album and awarded the band "most valuable players\ ," "best shredders" and "best riffs." The video for "Now You've Got So mething to Die For" earned "best video" from both Headbanger's Ball an d Revolver. And a DVD chronicling the tour and life on the road with t he band\, Killadelphia\, has gone gold. Lamb of God supported Ashes wi th more relentless touring\, now playing mostly arenas and festivals\, starting with a headlining run on Second Stage at Ozzfest 2004\, and ending by headlining the North American Sounds of The Undergroud Festi val in 2005. The political angst that fueled the lyrics on As The Pal aces Burn continues unabated on Ashes of the Wake. However\, Blythe ad mits that his plans to write songs about personal responsibility quick ly changed. "Mark and I write most of the lyrics together\, and at the start of this album we agreed that we wanted to concentrate on intern al instead of external politics\," he explains. "But as we got into it \, considering the condition of the world today\, we felt obligated as responsible artists to give accurate social commentary\, and that mea nt writing a few indictments against the powers that be." Mixing a ca ll to arms with a sneering disdain balances Ashes of the Wake. "In the end\, I think the album is stronger because we show the relation betw een internal and external politics instead of just focusing on one or the other\," Blythe says. "These songs are a reality check for everyon e because they rail against a wrong-headed government and against the apathetic people that ignore the government and allow it to exist." A fter Ashes of the Wake\, they had been praised as one of the leaders o f the new American metal movement\, and while they were flattered to b e considered part of something so influential\, this time they wanted to stand alone. "I believe it's important for us to create a legacy fo r this band\, and I don't want that legacy to be in association with a nyone else\," Adler says. "In our minds\, we're a cut above and we fee l like we put out a whole lot more." Towards the end of 2005\, the ba nd stopped all touring and came home to Richmond\, VA\, to begin writi ng the next chapter. An intense 8 month writing process followed. "We pretty much killed ourselves working on it five to six days a week for six to eight hours a day\," says drummer Chris Adler. "It was importa nt to push ourselves into uncomfortable territory as players. A lot of times one of us would say\, 'I'm not sure if I can play that.' The ty pical response was\, 'Well\, you've got a year to figure it out.' We p ushed ourselves to step it up and threw out a lot of decent material b ecause we were insisting on only the best." One reason Lamb of God pus hed so hard is because they wanted to create something that couldn't b e classified\, categorized or marginalized. August 22\, 2006 brought Sacrament\, a stunning example of how diverse\, articulate and pummeli ng metal can be. It's a record that emphasizes just how far the band m embers have come as players\, writers and people and stands as a true testament of triumph over adversity. With Sacrament\, Lamb of God has stoked the flames by stripping the flesh to the bone and examining the carnage. The songs are bleak and dark\, yet key ingredients of a ride that's as breathless\, exhilarating and terrifying as an overdose. G uitarist and co-lyricist Mark Morton notes the band chose the name Sac rament based on a specific lyrical reference as well as a more general symbolic perspective. "We like it because it employs the idea of the traditional religious Sacrament\, which is something you do as ritual to get to a different level of your faith\," he says. "Also\, I though t it was symbolic in terms of us putting out another record and gettin g to the next stage of our musical development." "This is definitely a personal record and it's the darkest thing we've ever done\," adds Bl ythe. "It stems from a lot of depression and a fucked up worldview. In the last couple years I've been going through a lot of weird\, bad sh it." The biggest difference between Sacrament and Ashes of the Wake i s the lyrical content. In the past\, Lamb of God has lyrically been mo tivated by the hypocrisy\, greed and turmoil of politics and politicia ns. This time the band turned within to reveal an even greater source of despair and frustration. Songs like 'Pathetic' and 'Descending' fo r instance are about the whirlpool of addiction and alcoholism\, 'Walk With Me In Hell' addresses the destruction of codependency and 'Black en the Cursed Sun' confronts suicidal depression. "The lyrics were so intense for me\, when I was recording\, it was like breathing pain in stead of breathing air\," Blythe says. "So\, when it was done\, I coul dn't listen to the record for another two months. It just took so much out of me to get all this stuff out\, I didn't want to touch it right away." In addition to being unbelievably heavy\, Sacrament is a sinc ere expression of the turmoil that has tumbled through the last few ye ars of the band's existence. In an era of stagnant\, contrived metal\, Lamb of God is a harrowing rush of honesty\, a declaration that no ma tter what anyone else is playing\, Lamb of God will always follow thei r own hearts. "This band was started because no one out there was mak ing the music that we wanted to hear\," singer Randy Blythe says. "So\ , we decided to make that music\, and from that point it has just been a continuation of that philosophy. We had never changed anything we d o to appeal to anyone\, appease anyone or seek any sort of approval fr om anyone other than ourselves." Presented by Phenomenon\, Pro-motion\ , & The Rialto Theatre$25 general admission advance$28 general admissi on day of show * prices may be subject to service fees \n LOCATION:Rialto Theatre @ 318 East Congress Street, Tucson, Arizona 85 701 United States SEQUENCE:1229297453 UID:E0-001-016754475-2 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-016754475-2 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR