The frontman of a Christian metal band has admitted to pretending to be religious in order to sell more records, while implicating other bands of the same practice.
It’s a particularly pointed statement given the singer in particular who’s revealed his faith was all an act is Tim Labesis, the frontman of As I Lay Dying who was earlier this year convicted to a six year prison term for plotting to have his wife killed.
The 33-year-old vocalist faced a San Diego court last May after pleading guilty to a murder plot in which he offered $1,000 to an undercover police officer posing as a hitman to assassinate his wife Meggan Lambesis.
It doesn’t sound like a Christian thing to do, which makes sense given the jailed singer has revealed in a recent interview that he’s not Christian at all. Instead, he’s been an atheist for years and only upheld a fake belief in religion to appeal to As I Lay Dying’s Christian metal fanbase. “We talked about whether to keep taking money from the Christian market….”
“In the process of trying to defend my faith, I started thinking the other point of view was the stronger one,” Lambesis tells Alternative Press (via The Independent) of “dropping” Christianity for atheism in his college years as a philosophy student. “I interpreted the evidence how I wanted and felt it was intellectually dishonest to consider myself a Christian.”
Lambesis adds that he “wasn’t the first guy in the group to stop being a Christian,” but conceded that the five-piece would ignore questions about their faith with fans as a matter of convenience.
“We talked about whether to keep taking money from the Christian market.’ We had this bizarrely ‘noble’ thing, like, ‘Well, we’re not passing along any bad ideas. We’re just singing about real life stuff. Those kids need to hear about real life, because they live in a bubble,” says Lambesis.
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“When kids would want to pray with us after shows, I’d be like, ‘Um, go ahead and pray!’,” he adds; “A lot of Christian parents said, ‘Yes, you can buy this As I Lay Dying CD, because they’re a Christian band.’ They don’t even think to actually check the lyrics.”
Catering to the Christian market obviously worked, no doubt contributing to the band’s success at home, with half of As I Lay Dying’s six studio releases landing in the Top 15 on the US Album Charts, including 2007’s An Ocean Between Us peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 200. “I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian bands.”
The convicted singer also claimed that other supposed Christian bands are guilty of lying about their faith, he doesn’t name and shame but implicates bands that have toured with As I Lay Dying.
“We toured with more Christian bands who actually aren’t Christians than bands that are. In 12 years of touring with As I Lay Dying, I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian bands.”
The lengthy Alternative Press interview, conducted during the time of Lambesis’ arrest last year, contains further insight into the frontman’s estranged relationship with his wife, his then-plans to raise enough money from touring to ‘settle down’, and about As I Lay Dying’s six-album-strong success.
The band have been on indefinite hiatus since Lamebsis’ incarceration in May; the remaining members have since formed a new heavy metal group called Wovenwar with Shane Blay (of Oh, Sleeper).
When As I Lay Dying’s Josh Gilbert spoke to Tone Deaf at the start of 2013, the band were in high spirits, enjoying the success of their 2012 album Awakened landing at #11 on the US Charts.
“We feel so great. We’re just happy to be able to play overseas in a place like Australia to awesome fans and any time we can get over there we’d love to,” said Gilbert. As I Lay Dying were last in Australia on a 2011 tour with Disturbed, having previously played on the Soundwave 2008 lineup.
