Despite the As I Lay Dying show cancellation last week, Tim Lambesis is doing fine. Lambesis was released from prison in late 2016 after being sentenced to six years imprisonment in May 2014. He went to prison on a felony charge of solicitation of murder after attempting to hire a hitman to kill his then-wife. He served about two and a half years and was released right at the end of 2016. We covered this story exhaustively in 2013 and 2014. In 2018, As I Lay Dying made their quiet, controversial return. They released a new song and began booking tour dates. But there has been some blowback, including at this show.
Lambesis has since remarried, which we were the first to report when a wedding registry for him and his wife was made public. Today, on Valentine's Day, he decided to make the news offically official, introducing his wife to his fans.
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While this love fest was going on, Zao guitarist/vocalist Scott Mellinger spoke to the Brewtally Speaking podcast – and while he had positive things to say about all the other members of the band, he was not so kind to Lambesis:
"With what little I know, I never thought those dudes would ever get back with that guy. I really never thought so. But I understand having music in your blood. The hard work that that group of guys took on themselves to do As I Lay Dying and turn it into what it became… I mean that band was one of the biggest metal bands at one time.
"So the allure of that, it's hard to argue… it sucks cause you can't win. It's a lose/lose proposition really, in my opinion. Do I think those guys deserve to be a band? I think Nick, Phil and Jordan deserve anything and everything that they get, because they're the best dudes ever.
"Do I think Tim Lambesis deserves to be in a band? Fuck no. That dude wouldn't be in a band if he went through with what he tried to go through. If he ended up not talking to a cop and talking to a real dude, like his wife might not be here, and it's hard for me to even rationalize or any of that kind of stuff.
"And I get it; it's real easy now to look back on it and say I'm sorry and I'm repentant. Like if it would've worked out she would've been taken care of. That's it, done. What are you gonna repent for then, ya know?
"It's just such a hard thing to think about cause, like I said, I love those three guys so much. They're some of the best dudes ever and I want to see them succeed in everything they do. It's just a really big time bummer that they had to get involved with that guy, and Tim to turn into the guy he turned into and now be in the situation they're in."
The sentiments here are ones we've heard privately from other musicians in the music community.
Lambesis, try as he may, with all his apologies, will have a very hard time being accepted into the music scene.
