The Lamb of God frtonman joined punk and hardcore royalty to pay homage to the founding fathers of the sound during Pharrell’s weekender in Washington D.C.
Perhaps unexpected for a primarily hip-hop festival but not totally unexpected for fans of Randy Blythe or Pharrell Williams, Blythe joined legendary punk OGs Bad Brains for a set at Pharrell’s Something in the Water, streamed live on Amazon Prime.
The set paid homage to Black Dots, the band’s 1996 demo album originally released by Caroline Records. The album consists of one of the band’s earliest recording sessions, which took place in 1979 at Inner Ear Studios with recording engineer Don Zientara.
Blythe kicked off the set with a high intensity “Are you ready DC!?” before launching into “The Big Takeover” to get the crowd moving. An initially uncertain crowd quickly got kicking.
“Don’t be scared Washington-fucking-DC. We came here to spread love and unity and destroy Babylon.” Blythe assured before delving into “The Spudmonsters”.
In addition to paying homage to the album, Blythe also paid homage to the band’s first vocalist, Sid McCray, who passed away in 2020.
This is certainly not the first time Randy Blythe has performed with Bad Brains; his love of the band running deep. He has joked in the past that “if you don’t know about [Bad Brains], you’re a defective human being,” and showed his admiration with Lamb of God’s “I Against I” cover from their 2018 album as Burn the Priest, Legion: XX. He has taken the stage with them on a number of occasions, including a secret show in New York in 2017.
The performance at a show like Something in the Water is sure to reach a swath of new fans for the mammoth punk rock force. And, as Randy said during his set: “If you don’t know what you’re witnessing…you are witnessing many legends!”
Watch fan captured footage of Blythe leading the band in a charged rendition of the Bad Brains’s classic “Banned in D.C.” below.
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