Lamb of God have teamed up with Fever 333 singer Jason Aalon Butler for a spirited cover of the Bad Brains classic “I Against I”. The quarantine performance follows the recent release of Lamb of God’s deluxe edition of their self-titled 2020 album.
It’s no secret that Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe is a huge Bad Brains fan. In fact, he even fronted the legendary hardcore group during a few songs at a handful of gigs in 2017. Lamb of God recorded “I Against I” for their 2018 covers album Legion: XX, which they released under their original band name, Burn the Priest.
Blythe was “blown away” by Fever 333’s performance at the 2019 Sonic Temple festival (as were we, when we claimed they “stole the show” in our recap of the Ohio fest that year). That led to a friendship between Blythe and Butler, and ultimately to this new quarantine performance of “I Against I”.
Blythe explained in a press release:
“The idea to cover ‘I Against I’ goes back at least 20 years to a camping trip the band was on,” stated Blythe in a press release. “[Lamb of God guitarist] Mark [Morton] & I were sitting in the back of our buddy’s Jeep ripping through the mountains, Bad Brains was cranking on the stereo, & I was singing along to that particular song. Mark looked over at me & said, ‘We should cover that tune.’ So we thought about it for a couple of decades and finally got around to doing it for the Burn the Priest Legion: XX record (hey, sometimes we move a little slow…).
As we all know, this pandemic has sucked for live music, but the quarantine jams bands have been doing have been pretty fun, especially when you bring in guests. I saw Fever 333 for the first time at the Sonic Temple fest — I had never listened to them, but I was blown away by their live show. I remember thinking ‘Man, these dudes are WILD — their energy reminds me of the punk shows I saw in the ’80s’ and I’ve been friends with those dudes from that day. I even texted Darryl from Bad Brains that afternoon to tell him to check them out. It was only natural to ask Jason to join us & bring that energy to this song by the almighty Bad Brains, my favorite band of all time.”
Meanwhile, Butler was equally blown away by the fact that Blythe was checking out Fever 333’s set at Sonic Temple:
“It is truly an honor to be a part of this one as I have the utmost respect for Randy and the boys since becoming homies after having my mind blown when I looked over at the side of the stage at Sonic Temple fest and saw him watching us play. It’s been a pleasure getting to know him and an honor to rock L.O.G. celebrating one of the most important punk rock/musical acts of all time, Bad Brains. From legends to legends to the student. All love.”
Lamb of God were slated to co-headline a massive North American tour with Megadeth in 2020. The dates were moved to 2021 due to the pandemic. As of now, the tour is set to kick off July 9th in Clarkson, Michigan, but it remains to be seen if the outing will take place as currently scheduled.
Watch Lamb of God and Fever 333’s Jason Aalon Butler perform Bad Brains’ “I Against I” below, followed by our pre-pandemic video interviews with Randy Blythe and Fever 333.
