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TIM LAMBESIS Of AS I LAY DYING: “I Don’t Consider Myself A Victim” In The Implosion Of Original Lineup

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As I Lay Dying‘s implosion was nothing short of spectacular.

It started with every member of the band, bar the lead singer Tim Lambesis, exiting the band with relatively similar statements stating that their morals or beliefs were put to the test, and they simply couldn’t move forward in November of 2024.

Then, Lambesis offered a non-denial denial regarding the situation, attempting to put the situation to bed before leaked security footage made its way onto the internet, showing Lambesis being violent towards himself and highly agitated during a heated argument with his wife.

Lambesis made a second statement that then offered another explanation for the behaviour, claiming his wife was physically and verbally abusive, suggesting that the leaked footage was a conspiracy to defame him because he served his ‘abusive’ wife with divorce papers.

By mid-January of this year, two days after doing an interview that offered Lambesis‘ side of events, more footage of Lambesis was leaked online, this time physically abusing his dog, and his wife refuted his claims, and returned with accusations of her own.

Lambesis has a history of violence after being convicted of a murder-for-hire plot that surrounded his ex-wife in 2014, with ex-As I Lay Dying guitarist Ken Susi explaining that despite giving him a second chance after Lambesis‘ original prison stint, he couldn’t condone his behaviour any longer. Susi then detailed how some of the security footage ended up on social media (as transcribed by thePRP):

“I’m not going to defame anybody, but I’m going to go out and say that [Lambesis], personally with his statements after the band, have just depicted me and the other bandmates as unstable… It defamed my character. The guy wrote something along the lines of like ‘Phil [Sgrosso, ex-As I Lay Dying guitarist] quit, quit later, and the band took [Sgrosso]’s side and others rushed to statements when when they were worried about rumors that were circulating.’

Like that was on November 4th, right. He wrote that on his on the personal As I Lay Dying page to a fan that was commenting about stuff. That was incredibly incorrect. I think the 25 years that I’ve been in bands, I’ve been pretty fucking vocal and honest to people… I wouldn’t quit over a rumor. Christ. I was in the band with a guy that plenty of rumors circulated about. But the thing is those rumors were actually fucking true.

If you want to know what exactly happened and why the band broke up is because we were at Metalfest and we had the greatest fucking time in my kitchen. We had all the the all the band, all the members, all the crew, everybody and a few people were staying at a hotel. And then me, being a good host, after the festival.

Now, mind you, [Lambesis] and his wife, they weren’t they weren’t vibing on tour. You know things… We were unsure if his wife was even going to come to this short weekend of shows, But I’m going to say, they were staying in a hotel down the street and I offered, I said, ‘Hey, you’re going to go get a tattoo. My wife works from home. I got to go to Fishman. If your wife wants to just chill all day, my wife and your wife are friends. You’re welcome to just stay here and save the money. And you can use one of our cars. You don’t have to rent a car.’

Like just go do your thing. But what ended up happening is, my wife and I are having a kid. She’s putting a bassinet together right now… But we [had] just announced to my whole family that we’re having a baby. We got my mother crying, my father crying. [Lambesis]‘s wife is witnessing this, taking video in our house, it was a joyous occasion the day after Metalfest.

And then within 2-3 hours later, there was like an incident where now mind you, I’m just going to pick up the, I’ll pick up the fucking camera right now. I got these huge honking security cameras all over the house, and a label on the front door saying you’re being filmed 24/7, right?

And this guy  like comes into my house in the middle of the night, corners his wife in my kitchen and spits in her face. And then retracts four or five steps back and has some type of episode, which I’ve never seen out of somebody before in my entire life.

And then starts screaming and running around my house for help. And it alarmed my wife. She woke up and she’s like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve heard him scream for help before.’ I’m going to go see what’s going on.

But ultimately, I’m not 20-years-old. I’m not going to turn a blind eye to domestic violence. I’m not going to turn a blind eye to like improper behavior. You know, when shit happens, you fucking handle it. And in that scenario, I didn’t know what happened. I separated them, I brought them down to my studio. I asked him specifically what the fuck is going on.

And I, is there anything I need to know? And he was just like, ‘Oh my marriage’, this and that. And I’m like, ‘cool.’ I go upstairs. I asked [Lambesis‘ wife] what’s going on. She tells me the truth.

I actually pull up the camera footage in front of her and I see exactly what was said. He spit on me. He threw a fit. I was trying to calm him down the whole 9. And to be totally honest with you, that’s what fucking happened.

Later on, you know, he tried to change. I went back downstairs. I said, ‘I’m disappointed in you.’ And he’s like, ‘I didn’t spit on her face. I spit at her feet.’ And I’m like, ‘Why are you spitting in my house in general?’ If you’re going to lie about it, you know? And the honest to God truth is, you’re not going to insult me. I asked him to leave immediately. He left. And at that point, the rest is history.

If [Lambesis], wants me to like… When I quit the band, he sent a message through his wife, through his wife’s phone, saying he would sue me if I ever release that footage because he didn’t know — he was filmed without his consent, or he was posting up like, [Lambesis‘ wife] would sue me.

But like, ultimately I’m not fucking scared. I have the receipts. With [Lambesis]’s permission, if you want to check if I’m a credible source, if you want to see if I’m a upstanding person, I’ll release it. If you want me to release it, that’s fine. [Lambesis], like I have no problem with it.

But I’m not going to sit here and let you say things like, ‘Oh, [Sgrosso] left the band.’ Or you were really distant from the band and you know, everyone was like trying to pull you back in, but you were just in this place and blah, blah. You, you know, you’re creating a lie. You’re creating a lie for the fanbase. And it makes me look bad. It makes the guys look bad. You did something wrong. You have to own up to it.

And to be honest with you, I sent the video to [Sgrosso] and I just said, ‘[Sgrosso], you are the other like operating officer in this band. You are technically HR. You know, I prefer you don’t share this with anybody.’ But I just said, ‘I have to quit the band. I’m out of here. I don’t want to deal with this type of shit.’ And then I also said that we had like, you know, money on the line for a tour and pyro and all this other shit.

I said, I’ll finish the tour, I’ll do the European Tour, as long as like this guy has help or he goes to get help, you know? I really didn’t want to be a part of the project anymore, but I did understand like how much money was on the line for those guys. It’s a big investment when you go overseas with scrims and pyro and all this other crap, and the deposits that are laid down.

And I didn’t want to leave them high and dry, even though the the severity of the issue was like so serious, but I was willing to see through that. But by the time it went into the As I Lay Dying, like band circle, that’s when things imploded.

Nobody wanted to be a part of it anymore. They didn’t care about the finances. They didn’t care about anything. And and that’s really what went down, you know, it is what it is. What am I going to say? I’m telling the truth. I just, I just don’t like the ‘the band broke up because of communication problems and everyone followed [Sgrosso]‘ or, you know… [Lambesis] literally blew up the tours that I was supposed to be on, right? With all the income that I was going to make on that. I never got paid on royalties for the songs that I did write, or help write, on the record.

You know, he threatens me, obviously, again, I said, with a lawsuit, if I talk about or, you know, send footage around that he obviously knew because I have cameras in my common areas and a sign at the front door that he’s being filmed. And, you know, basically lying [about me online.]

I’ve been in this business for 20 years, right? 20 years, and actually longer than him. And to portray the band and us, like for leaving the way he did. I just don’t think it’s cool. And it’s what it is.

Just don’t abuse your wife in my fucking house and put my integrity on the line. And someone needs to say something. I don’t. I don’t feel like this is the.. I didn’t come on the show to to intend to do so. But since we’re in the moment, I’m going to fucking say it on your show over anybody else’s because I love you as a person, and people do deserve to know. Don’t subscribe to something that’s not good. But again, I have the receipts.”

After several months of silence, Tim Lambesis has resurfaced with the newest version of As I Lay Dying, featuring Chris Clancy on bass, Bill Hudson and Don Vedda, and Jack Daniels on guitars, with Tim Yeung on drums, and a brand new single, “Echoes.”

Rather than bask in the ‘new beginning’ for As I Lay Dying, Lambesis took it upon himself to respond to some hate comments circulating the internet, with one his responses in particular, framing him as a victim while he claims isn’t a victim in the same breath. Lambesis:

“I agree because I don’t consider myself a victim. This is the best quality of life for me thus far and all the loss from last year is one of the greatest blessings I’ve ever had in my life. So thankful. Maybe you misunderstand me standing up against false narratives about me as me thinking I’m a victim. I’m just part of the few people in society who cares to dig for truth rather than the media’s narrative.”

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