Interview with Blessthefall guitarist Eric Lambert
By Simay
This is my third and final Warped Tour interview that The Anarchist had set up for me. I got to watch Blessthefall on stage before I talked to their guitarist Eric, and I was completely blown away: lots of arms and heads flying along with the music, necks with popped-out veins singing along to every word… And the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking, “I’m a 23-year-old college graduate, struggling at a 9-5 job. These five kids are between 18 and 21, they totally know what they’re doing, and they kick ass at it!”
Read along to find out what kind of reactions they get to being openly religious, how “lamaxcore” ended up being hand-printed on shirts, and the devoted fans who’ll offer money just to have something they’ve touched.
Once again, thanks to JuJu Burns for the pictures and for helping me go through the day.
Simay: How does it feel to be the youngest band on tour?
Eric Lambert: I think I’m the youngest “person” on the tour, actually. It’s cool. I mean, sometimes people think [that] we’re kids, but they’ll still check us out and be stoked. And we’re stoked. I like being the young ones. It’s cool.
Simay: On your Myspace [in the genre section] there’s “Screamo” and “Healing & Easy Listening.” How does that work together?
Eric Lambert: Just when you’re sick, you listen to it. It makes you feel better. [Laughs] Uhm, no. I guess you can say we’re screamo, hardcore. I think that Healing & Easy Listening is just a joke since we had really nothing else to put there. Yeah, rock, hardcore… That’s us.
Simay: You guys are openly religious. What kind of reactions are you getting to that?
Eric Lambert: Kids actually ask us that all the time. Mostly, kids that are from another religion [are] stoked, super stoked. We never got negative feedback about it, actually, so it’s really great. We don’t push ourselves. Some people are like, “Hey, Jesus loves you, and you should love Jesus.” We don’t pressure kids. We just let them believe in what they believe in.
Simay: What’s up with the lamas?
Eric Lambert: That lama thing will never go away. [Laughs]That was probably before I was even in the band. Our drummer and singer were on their way to a show and they saw a bunch of lamas while they were driving. So they told the kids standing in line, “You guys are lamacore!” And I guess that they went with it for a year, then we just kinda stopped that. Bu kids still make shirts that say “lamaxcore” and stuff, and I don’t think it’s going away any time soon.
Simay: What’s the meaning behind your band name?
Eric Lambert: Because we’re religious, Blessthefall is when someone falls down, we try to pick them up, try to help them with music and try to help people.
Simay: I know you’ve been asked this many times, but I just have to go for it: you’re the band that shut down Neckbeard’s in your hometown. How did that happen?
Eric Lambert: I can’t say we shut it down, but I think we’re the reason that brought the attention to the venue. It was a home show, and we were really stoked. I didn’t even really know what to expect of it. I got there, and there was a line wrapping around the building. The venue holds about 200 people. I think we [had] about 700-800 kids in there. And I guess the fire department got called, and they showed up. So we decided to do two different sets, so we split the kids. Kids were crowd-surfing outside, I guess. There were just so many problems with the venue that they had to shut it down.
Simay: Your singer Craig got injured in the [Guys Like you Make Us Look Bad] video. How did that happen?
Eric Lambert: Yeah, that was me. It was during the video shoot, and we were just rocking out, you know, trying to get good video quality and everything. I guess I kinda misunderstood what direction he was going. I threw my guitar back, and it went straight to his face. So it knocked out his teeth. But he’s a trooper, he didn’t stop the video shoot and everything was cool.
Simay: I heard that before you guys were in a band, you went to see Warped Tour in your hometown…
Eric Lambert: Yeah. Counting this tour as one, not [counting] every single day, I’ve probably been to six or seven Warped Tours. So I’ve been going since I was maybe in fifth grade.
Simay: How does it feel now that you get to be on stage?
Eric Lambert: It’s weird being on the other side of the freaking barricade. It’s really weird, but I’m stoked. I kinda see myself in the crowd ‘cos I used to be down there screaming all the words. So, it’s really cool.
Simay: Someone on YouTube, underneath your video, said that they took out Craig’s sharpie out of his back pocket. Do you have any other fan stories like that?
Eric Lambert: [Laughs] Kids try stealing stuff from Craig all the time. They ripped off his bracelets and stuff. I know, I’ve had kids steal batteries out of my wireless… Kids just do that. Down in Mexico, kids were bargaining for my socks. They wanted to pay me for my socks. I ended up giving it to them. They were all smelly, but [the kids] were happy about it. It’s kinda weird but… Kids just want everything. It’s just crazy. But hey, if it makes them happy…
Simay: What are you doing after Warped Tour?
Eric Lambert: After Warped Tour, we’re going out [on tour] with this band, Escape the Fate. And then Love Hate Hero. Then we got Europe with Silverstein, and then there’s some talk that we might be on the recent Taste of Chaos, we’re not sure yet. But we’ll be writing for a new album to come out this summer, so we’ll be writing this whole year too.
