So ye, Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying emailed me, my favorite band ever : I asked him some personal questions, like what being a Christian ment to him, why he has tattoo's and stuff. So here is what the best man in the WORLD wrote-

 

 

 

 

 

Warning, wall of text

 

[hide=]Hi Greg,

 

 

 

My definition of a Christian is someone who believes in Christ's resurrection and chooses to follow his teachings as the Son of God who brings us redemption. I think it's pretty much impossible to follow Christ's teaching and just view it as a loose guideline because Jesus was so direct in what he said.

 

 

 

I don't mention God in my lyrics for the same reason I don't mention my wife's name in songs I wrote about her. The songs I write to God are personal letters to Him and therefore it seems most personal to say "You."

 

 

 

Regarding tattoos... I feel comfortable getting tattoos for the same reason I feel comfortable cutting my hair on the side of my head or trimming the edge of my beard (or just shaving my face entirely). Leviticus 19:27 tells us not to do those things and then Leviticus 19:28 tells us not to mark our bodies for the dead. In Old Testament times God wanted to make sure the Hebrews were clearly different than the people groups around them. I feel that God still desires that we are clearly different than the people of the world, but now we are challenged to do so in different ways because Jesus came to fulfill the law. It is clearly OK to be clean shaven because the law was fulfilled, but for some reasons people forget about that when it comes to the issue of tattoos.

 

 

 

Being clean shaven and wearing a suit and tie like every other guy on Wall Street doesn't make people any more or less holy than the guy who has tattoos. Both of those people need to separate themselves from the world in the way we treat the poor, the oppressed, and those hurting the most. So, I've decided to be myself and look how I like to look while putting my real energy for trying to serve others, bring peace, and trying do whatever I do with excellence before God.

 

 

 

Thanks for your honest in asking me these questions and giving me a chance to explain. I think these are good questions and I appreciate that you care to know.

 

 

 

tim[/hide]

Pretty cool, that's nice to see some band members who actually do that.

 

It might have been made up by his P.A., who knows.

Never really heard of them (then again I'm kinda out of the christian music scene), but it's pretty cool that he e-mailed you. Kinda chips away at my image of celebrities that are self centered [puncture]s that only care about you spending money on them.

 

 

 

Edit: Ha, on their website, under the FAQs, there's "Will you marry me?" Made me laugh. :

Never really heard of them (then again I'm kinda out of the christian music scene), but it's pretty cool that he e-mailed you. Kinda chips away at my image of celebrities that are self centered [puncture]s that only care about you spending money on them.

 

 

 

I've talked to him at concerts before too, he is a very outreaching person. He had no stuck up attitude, and I wish more people would be like this tbh 8-)

Dude that's awesome! It would be so cool if the singer from my favorite band emailed me :x

 

 

 

Unfortunately I don't really know the band that well :\

I love it when celebrities are actually cool and will take the time to talk to people. Funnily enough, its usually members of a band that do. For example, my dad met Mike Ness (singer of Social Distortion for those who don't know) at a car show once and talked to him for a few hours. He didn't learn who he was though until someone came up and was like "OMG can I have a picture with you??" :lol:

Wow. That's a pretty rare thing to happen.

Haha, I've tried that a few times.

 

 

 

The first one was some member of Canadian deathcore band Ion Dissonance. It was the guitarist, I think. My message was something to the effect of hey dude, your album is awesome and you should come and tour Australia. The reply was one of friendly gratitude to the compliment and he asked if I knew any booking agents. :lol: I didn't think I'd be of much help so I didn't reply back.

 

 

 

The second was a member of a band probably no one here has heard of. They're a band from Wollongong in NSW, Australia, called Hospital the Musical. My comment was something like I heard your music on myspace and I love it. It's really raw and aggressive and I'm definitely gonna pick up your EP. Keep up the awesome work. Again, the response was one of friendly gratitude. Its nice to know that these guys really dig the feedback from fans.

 

 

 

The final one, and I doubt this one more than the other two, was from Chris Adler, drummer of Lamb of God. Yeah, you can see why I kind of doubt that "Chris" (as he called himself in the e-mail) was the Chris Adler of LOG. My message was something to the effect of Hey, I heard you guys are coming to Australia again for a tour. I saw you guys last time and it was awesome, Im definitely going again! His response was something like We LOVE it there! See you there Chris. Again, a nice, friendly message.

 

 

 

I think it's the people who have to work the hardest to make themselves in the industry (whatever industry it is) that are the nicest. It seems to be the no talent, 15-minutes-of-fame, I'll thrash out this garbage and become a star overnight kind of people that are mean or snobby to fans.

I don't really care for AILD but he seems very nice.

 

 

 

Though I am an Agnostic (or somewhat like that), I completely respect what this guy said. He may just play heavy metal music, but everyone isn't always how they seem (that's a duh).\

I find it great when celebrities actually care about their fans and take some time to communicate with them. Sounds kind of cliched, and to be perfectly honest, I've never heard of this guy (Though that's probably due to the fact I don't really listen to music), but still. I wish that could happen with me and er...Whoever I admire, I have no idea.

It's pretty cool he emailed you. My friend emailed Wreckless Eric and got a reply, which is pretty cool as well. It's nice when these guys take the time to email their fans back.

The first one was some member of Canadian deathcore band Ion Dissonance. It was the guitarist, I think. My message was something to the effect of hey dude, your album is awesome and you should come and tour Australia. The reply was one of friendly gratitude to the compliment and he asked if I knew any booking agents. :lol: I didn't think I'd be of much help so I didn't reply back.

 

You should have pretended to be an agent... :)

 

What album were they up to when that happened?

The first one was some member of Canadian deathcore band Ion Dissonance. It was the guitarist, I think. My message was something to the effect of hey dude, your album is awesome and you should come and tour Australia. The reply was one of friendly gratitude to the compliment and he asked if I knew any booking agents. :lol: I didn't think I'd be of much help so I didn't reply back.

 

You should have pretended to be an agent... :)

 

What album were they up to when that happened?

 

 

 

This would have been around the end of last year or so. A little after they released Minus The Herd.

I've actually messaged Porter Mcknight, Atreyu's bassist and back-up screamer, over Myspace. I asked him if he could book a show down here, he said he'd talk to his booking agent about it, so i guess that's pretty cool.

Wow. Consider yourself lucky, I didn't even know that they had the time/kindness to do that anymore.

Is that a Christian-Rock band by any chance?

 

Atleast he's not the kind of guy who is like "So my friend, REPENT FOR ALL YOUR SINS AND ACCEPT CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR!

 

I hate people who try and force thier religion on you.

Is that a Christian-Rock band by any chance?

 

Atleast he's not the kind of guy who is like "So my friend, REPENT FOR ALL YOUR SINS AND ACCEPT CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR!

 

I hate people who try and force thier religion on you.

 

 

 

I hate that too, and I'm Christian :-k

 

it was people like that who turned me from Christianity for a while, but I made some friends and I was like "Woah! If these guys are genuine then I want to be a Christian like them!"

 

they never force anything upon you and are just like regular people, even some really Atheist people I know like those people

Is that a Christian-Rock band by any chance?

 

Atleast he's not the kind of guy who is like "So my friend, REPENT FOR ALL YOUR SINS AND ACCEPT CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR!

 

I hate people who try and force thier religion on you.

 

 

 

I hate that too, and I'm Christian :-k

 

it was people like that who turned me from Christianity for a while, but I made some friends and I was like "Woah! If these guys are genuine then I want to be a Christian like them!"

 

they never force anything upon you and are just like regular people, even some really Atheist people I know like those people

 

 

 

 

 

Most Christians are actually exactly like that, Mage. Same as the rest of the planet. It's just the vocal minority plus the media wanting any and every story they can find that gives it a bad wrap. Of course, with examples like Governor Bush being present for all the world to see, it's little wonder why people aren't exactly reassured by someone having that title.

It really depends on the popularity of the bands theyre in. I talk to band members all the time on the SMNnews forums, but most of the bands on there are small-ish death metal or grindcore bands. I have spoke to the guys from Cryptopsy and Cattle Decapitation though, who are pretty big.

 

 

 

Anyway, congratulations on getting a reply from that guy.